The St. John’s Red Storm and the UConn Huskies meet Sunday in college basketball action from XL Center. St. John’s enters this one at 12-6 overall. The Storm beat Butler in their last game on Tuesday. As for UConn, they’re 15-3 this year after a loss to Marquette on Wednesday. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
St. John’s kicked off the season on an 11-1 run, taking only a loss to Iowa State in their first 12 games. Since then the Storm are just 1-5 with losses to Villanova, Xavier, Seton Hall, Marquette and Providence before a win over Butler.
Matched up against Butler on Tuesday, the Storm took a 39-29 edge into halftime. St. John’s kept the pressure on with a 38-32 second half in a 77-61 victory. Joel Soriano doubled up on 20 points and 10 rebounds in the win.
Over on the UConn side, they kicked off the season on a dominant 14-0 run. The Huskies have since gone just 1-3, however. UConn has losses to Xavier, Providence and Marquette alongside a win over Creighton in that stretch.
Back on Wednesday in the Marquette game, the Huskies were up 37-33 at the break. UConn fell behind on a 49-39 second half and lost 82-76. Donovan Clingan led the team on a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
PICK: I’ll probably stick with UConn in this one. It’s a tough one, though; neither team has been doing all that well lately. The Huskies shot a solid 48.3 percent from the field with 35 rebounds in their last game versus Marquette, but they also committed 16 turnovers and allowed 50.8 percent shooting on the other side. UConn has been through a gauntlet lately, losing their last three games to ranked teams. This one’s not going to be much easier, as St. John’s has hit 77 or more points in three straight outings and can turn up the offense as needed. I think the Huskies will still power out the cover, but it’ll be close.