The Xavier Musketeers and the St. John’s Red Storm meet Wednesday in college basketball action from Carnesecca Arena. Xavier is 17-11 on the year. The Musketeers lost to Seton Hall in their last game. As for St. John’s, they’re sitting at 15-13 and coming off a loss to DePaul. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Xavier was sitting at 16-5 back on February 2, but they’ve gone just 1-6 since then. The lone win was over UConn; the losses in that time came to DePaul, Seton Hall, St. John’s, UConn, Providence and Seton Hall again.
In the Seton Hall rematch back on Saturday, the Musketeers had an eight-point deficit by the break. Xavier didn’t get any closer than that in an eventual 82-66 loss. Tops in scoring was Colby Jones on 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Over on the St. John’s side, they’ve had a choppy season themselves but have been able to fend off the looming .500 mark well lately. The Red Storm are just 2-4 in their last six however, with losses to Villanova, UConn, Creighton and DePaul.
On Sunday versus DePaul, the Storm trailed 41-47 by halftime. St. John’s got better from there with 53 points, but couldn’t come back in an eventual 99-94 defeat. Julian Champagnie was tops on the team with 20 points and seven boards.
St. John’s is 5-11 ATS in the last 16 at home and 6-2 ATS in their last eight overall. The over is 8-3 in the Storm’s last 11 after an ATS loss.
Meanwhile, the Musketeers are 2-8 ATS in their last 10 after an ATS loss and 0-4 ATS in the last four overall. Xavier is 1-6 ATS in their last seven Wednesday games.
PICK: I’m going to try St. John’s here, but probably not going near it. Both these teams have been sketchy lately and could use a good showing in this one. That said, St. John’s has done a pretty good job at putting up points lately; they’ve hit 69 or more in eight of their last nine outings. Xavier has been at 66 or fewer in two of the last three themselves, but they’ve faced some tough competition in that time.
The last time these teams met up, St. John’s managed an 86-73 road win. This rematch won’t be easy, but I think the Storm can repeat the performance.