The St. John’s Red Storm take on the Marquette Golden Eagles in A Big East battle on Tuesday night at the Fiserv Forum.
The Red Storm are coming off a loss to Seton Hall and they are 12-7 on the season but only 1-5 in conference play. Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles are fresh off a win over Georgetown and Marquette has a record of 13-5 and they are an even 3-3 in conference play. Marquette has won six out of the last 10 meetings between these two teams but St. John’s won two out of the three games between these two teams last season.
After starting the season with an 11-1 record, the St. John’s Red Storm have struggled with the start of conference play. The Red Storm are just 2-5 SU in their last seven games played and they are coming off a close defeat at the hands of Seton Hall. St. John’s played good defense and had 13 steals in the game but they let a 14-point lead slip away.
LJ Figueroa leads St. John’s in scoring at 14.7 points while also averaging 2.3 steals per game. Mustapha Heron is putting up 13.8 points per outing while Rasheem Dunn is putting up 11.9 points per contest. Nick Rutherford is scoring 5.3 points while leading the Red Storm in passing at 3.8 assists per game.
The Red Storm shot 41.3% from the field and 28.8% from behind the three-point arc. They are averaging 40.1 rebounds per game and are averaging 14.7 assists per game. St. John’s ranks 91st in scoring at 75.7 points per game and are allowing opponents to score an average of 68.5 points per contest.
The Marquette Golden Eagles have won back to back games over Xavier and Georgetown behind the stellar play of Markus Howard. Howard followed up his 35-point effort against Xavier by scoring half of his team’s 84 points against Georgetown. Koby McEwen hit four clutch foul shots in the final seconds to seal the victory.
Howard is the second-leading scorer in the NCAA at 28.2 points per game this season. Sacar Anim is putting up 12.1 points per game while leading the team in field goal percentage at .446. Brendan Bailey is scoring 7.9 points and grabbing 5.5 rebounds for Maquette.
The Golden Eagles are averaging 77.6 points per game, 53rd in the nation. They are 42nd in rebounding at 40.3 boards grabbed per contest and are averaging 13.9 assists per game this season. Marquette is ranked 168th in scoring defense at 68.6 opponents points per game allowed.
St. John’s is 1-5 SU in their last six games played. The Red Storm are 0-6 SU in their last six games played on the road. Marquette is 11-4 SU in their last six games played. The Golden Eagles are 9-1 SU in their last 10 games played at home. Head to head, the Marquette is 6-4 SU in their last 10 games played against St. John’s.
Markus Howard has scored at least 34 points in three out of his last four games played. Howard has been the lifeblood of the Maquette offense and in their last game against Georgetown, he scored half of his team’s 84 points. On the other hand, St. John’s led for more than 30 minutes only to lose against Seton Hall. The Red Storm had trouble containing Myles Powell as the latter scored 23 of his 39 points in the second half to lead Seton Hall to victory.
St. John’s had a hard time stopping Powell. They will face an equally gifted scorer in Markus Howard who ranks second in the nation in scoring. I think that this is going to be a close game with Howard trying to single-handedly beat the Red Storm. I like Golden Eagles here but I don’t think it’s as one-sided as the odds are calling it.
PREDICTION: MARQUETTE GOLDEN EAGLES
The Red Storm are 6-1-1 ATS in their last eight games played. St. John’s is 1-1-1 ATS in three road games played this season. The Golden Eagles are 11-7 ATS in 18 games played this season. Marquette is 7-3 ATS in 10 home games played this season. Head to head, the St. John’s is 11-4 SU in their last 15 games played against Marquette. The Red Storm are 6-3 ATS when playing on the road against the Golden Eagles.
The oddsmakers are pretty high on Marquette because they have won two in a row and St. John’s is just 1-5 in conference play. The Golden Eagles are playing at home so, I respect the fact that they are favorites here. However, Marquette’s offense relies heavily on Markus Howard and St. John’s should be able to formulate a defensive scheme which will force Howard’s teammates to step up, which I think they can’t. I’m not sure if St. John’s wins this but I think they’ll be able to cover the spread here.
PREDICTION: ST. JOHN’S +8.5
The total has gone under in seven out of the last eight games played by St. John’s. The under is 6-0 in the last six games of the Red Storm away from home. The under is also 6-1 in their last seven games against the Big East Conference. The total has gone over in eight out of the last 10 games played by Marquette. The over is 5-1 in the Golden Eagles’ last six games played at home, and also over in five out of their last seven games played against the Big East Conference. Head to head, the over is 6-4 in the last 10 meetings between these two teams.
152 is a big total for college basketball but these are two teams that play in a fast-paced up-tempo game. When it comes to averages, these teams combined to score over 153 points this season. St. John’s is ranked 11th in pace while Marquette is at 61st in the nation. The Golden Eagles have hit the over in eight out of their last 10 assignments. With both teams possessing the ability to put up points in a hurry, I like the teams to hit the over.
PREDICTION: OVER 152
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