The Xavier Musketeers and the St. John’s Red Storm meet Wednesday in college basketball action from Madison Square Garden. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a St. John’s vs Xavier Prediction.
Xavier Recap
The Xavier Musketeers come into this game looking to build on their 59-57 road win over Marquette last time out to improve to 12-7 on the year. After this game, the Musketeers will head home for a game against UConn.
Musketeers Win 3rd In A Row
Zach Freemantle leads the Musketeers in scoring and rebounding with 16.8 PPG and 7.8 RPG while Ryan Conwell added 16.5 PPG with 2.3 APG and Dayvion McKnight has 10.4 PPG with a team-high 4.8 APG to lead the Musketeers in assists up to this point in the year, rounding out the trio of double-digit scorers for Xavier so far this season. Dailyn Swain also added 9.3 PPG with 5.2 RPG and 1.9 APG and Marcus Foster has 8.3 PPG with 4.2 RPG and 1.9 APG as well on the year. As a team, Xavier is averaging 77.3 PPG on 45.6% shooting from the field, 38.1% from three, and 78.3% from the foul line this season.
Why the Xavier Musketeers will win
- Xavier has won four of its last five night games at Madison Square Garden.
St. John’s Recap
The St. John’s Red Storm come into this game looking to build on their 79-51 win over Seton Hall last time out to improve to 16-3 on the year. After this game, St. John’s will head back on the road for a matchup with Georgetown.
Red Storm Win 5th Straight
RJ Luis Jr. leads the Red Storm in scoring with 17.8 PPG and 6.5 RPG along with 2.4 APG while Zuby Ejiofor has 14.5 PPG with a team-high 8.2 RPG. Kadary Richmond has 10.8 PPG with 5.1 RPG and a team-high 4.8 APG to lead St. John’s in assists and Deivon Smith has 10.3 PPG with 5.5 RPG and 4.3 APG while capping off the group of double-digit scorers for St. John’s so far this season. Simeon Wilcher has 8.9 PPG while Aaron Scott has 8.5 PPG with 4.6 RPG. As a team, St. John’s is averaging 80.6 PPG on 45.5% shooting from the field, 30.6% from three, and 69.6% from the foul line this season.
Why the St. John’s Red Storm will win
- St. John’s has won each of its last 14 night games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
- Xavier has lost 14 of its last 15 games against AP-ranked opponents.
Total Points Facts
- Each of Xavier’s last eight games against AP-ranked opponents at Madison Square Garden have produced a total of 147 or fewer points.
- Each of St. John’s’ last four night games against non-AP-ranked opponents at Madison Square Garden have produced a total of 148 or fewer points.
St. John’s vs Xavier Prediction
I’m on St. John’s in this game. The Johnnies for me are just the better team, especially when they’re playing at home, it’s hard to go against them. Xavier was the benefactor of some bad shooting from Marquette, but Marquette isn’t hitting a ton of threes in the conference. Neither is St. John’s, but that’s because the Johnnies don’t shoot many threes at all. I think that Xavier in a home environment runs past Xavier here and snags the win and cover.