Notre Dame Fighting Irish at St. John’s Red Storm, Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Sunday, January 16, 2011, 12:00 pm Eastern, TV: ESPN3
Opening Line: St. John’s -2
Current Line: St. John’s -3
Opening Total: 135.5
Current Total: 134.5
Money Line: St. John’s -155 / Notre Dame +135
The ninth-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14-3, 3-2 Big East) will try to earn their first conference road win of the season when they visit the St. John’s Red Storm (10-5, 3-2) at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. The Irish have lost their first two league road games by a combined 34 points and have not won two straight meetings with the Red Storm (-3) since 2005.
Notre Dame crushed St. John’s 76-61 in the first meeting this season at home a little more than a week ago on January 8 behind a career-high 26 points from Ben Hansbrough, who connected on 4 of 9 shots from beyond the 3-point arc. The Irish built a massive 44-25 halftime lead and cruised from there despite behind outscored in the second half. However, they could not build off that momentum and lost badly at Marquette two days later, 79-57.
All three of Notre Dame’s wins in conference play have taken place at home, which is not the case for the Red Storm. But St. John’s has dropped two in a row since opening up 3-0 in the Big East, including impressive road wins at West Virginia and Providence. The latest setback was a 76-59 home loss to Syracuse on Wednesday, as the Orange blew open a close game with an 18-3 run in the first half and followed that up with a 19-6 in the middle of the second half.
The Red Storm have failed to cover both of their last two losses after going 4-1 against the spread during a five-game winning streak. Leading scorer Dwight Hardy will need to turn things around offensively if his team is going to bounce back here with a home victory. Hardy missed 11 of 15 shots against Syracuse and scored 12 points after totaling only eight against the Irish. He had scored 20 points or more in the previous four games before the two-game skid.
St. John’s has beaten Notre Dame the last two times at the Garden when the Irish have been ranked but has struggled against Top 25 teams in general. The Red Storm have lost 33 of their last 36 games against ranked opponents, with two of the three wins coming against Notre Dame. They are 5-2 ATS in the last seven meetings with the Irish, and the UNDER is 5-0-1 in the past six games between the teams.
Notre Dame is 1-3 ATS in its last four games overall with the UNDER going 3-1-1 in the past five. It is also worth noting that two of the Irish’s five lowest-scoring performances of the year have come in their first two road games against Big East opponents.
Our college basketball handicappers are red hot as conference play hits full stride. Don’t miss out on any more basketball betting winners this season.
