St. John's Red Storm (13-7) vs. Xavier Musketeers (10-10)
January 31, 2024 6:30 pm EDT
The Line: Xavier Musketeers -1; Over/Under: +155
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The St. John’s Red Storm and the Xavier Musketeers meet Wednesday in college basketball action from Cintas Center. St. John’s is coming off a win over Villanova that brought the team to 13-7 overall. As for Xavier, they’re .500 through 20 games after a loss to UConn. Let’s get into our St. John’s vs. Xavier prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
St. John’s Red Storm
The Storm posted a pretty solid 12-4 record over their first 16 games this year. The losses in that time were versus Michigan, Dayton, Boston College and UConn. St. John’s lost to Creighton, Seton Hall and Marquette in the next three outings, then beat Villanova last week.
In last Wednesday’s matchup with Villanova, the Storm were up 32-22 going into the second half. St. John’s hit another 10-point advantage from there and took the victory 70-50 in the end. Joel Soriano was the team’s leading scorer with his 21 points, nine rebounds and one assist.
Xavier Musketeers
Over on the Xavier side, they stumbled to a 7-8 record over their first 15 games with wins over Robert Morris, Jacksonville, Saint Mary’s, Bryant, Cincinnati, Winthrop and Seton Hall. After wins over Providence, Butler and Georgetown, the Musketeers lost to Creighton and UConn.
Matched up against UConn in their Sunday game, the Musketeers were drilled in the first half 48-22. Xavier didn’t get any closer than that in a 51-34 run the rest of the way for a 99-56 defeat. Leading the team in scoring was Dayvion McKnight with 18 points, four assists and one rebound.
ANDREW’S FREE ST. JOHN’S VS XAVIER PREDICTION
I’ll stick with St. John’s, but this should be a pretty interesting matchup overall. The Red Storm posted a solid 46.7 percent shooting from the field and a 42-23 rebounding edge over Villanova in their last outing. It wasn’t all perfect though, as St. John’s hit just 26.3 percent from outside and missed five of their 14 free throws (64.3 percent). Still, it was a nice win after three tough losses this month.
As for Xavier, they’ve had a couple of tough games themselves in the last pair. The Musketeers are scoring well these days with 75 or more points in five of their last six outings. They should match up pretty well with St. John’s, but I think the Red Storm can power out the cover/win if all goes well. It’ll be a fun one to watch.
