Connecticut Huskies at St. John’s Red Storm, Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Thursday, February 10, 2011, 7:00 pm Eastern, TV: ESPN
Opening Line: UConn -1
Current Line: UConn -1.5
Opening Total: 132.5
Current Total: 133.5
Money Line: UConn -125 / St. John’s +105
The 10th-ranked Connecticut Huskies (18-4, 6-4 Big East) will try for their fifth straight road win on Thursday when they visit Madison Square Garden for this conference matchup with the St. John’s Red Storm (13-9, 5-5). The Huskies (-1.5) have won their last three league road games following arguably their most impressive victory of the season at #3 Texas back on January 8 in overtime, 82-81.
UConn is coming off a 61-59 win at Seton Hall last Saturday though that might have been more remarkable regardless of the opponent. The Huskies trailed the Pirates 56-46 with eight minutes left and avoided their third loss in a row overall by going on a game-ending 15-3 run. Leading scorer Kemba Walker continued to struggle with his shooting but still managed to hit some big shots when his team needed them, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:32 remaining.
Walker finished the game by making 7 of 19 shots from the field en route to a team-high 19 points, and he also converted only 2 of 7 free-throw attempts. He has averaged 16.8 points on 31.8 percent shooting in the last six games, with Connecticut going 2-4 against the spread during that stretch.
St. John’s certainly hopes Walker’s shooting woes continue as the team tries to beat a Top 15 team at MSG for the fourth time this season. The Red Storm has already beaten #5 Duke, #8 Notre Dame and #11 Georgetown at home but will look to rebound following a 66-59 loss at UCLA on Saturday.
In fact, the only cover for St. John’s in the last six games came against the Blue Devils in a 93-78 shocker as an 8-point underdog on January 30. The UNDER is 4-1 in the past five. The Red Storm could not give head coach Steve Lavin a win in his return to Westwood due mostly to a huge disparity at the charity stripe. Lavin’s team went to the free-throw line just seven times while the Bruins scored 27 points there themselves.
The good news for St. John’s is that the officiating has definitely provided a different result at home. The Red Storm are averaging 27 trips to the free-throw line in their last six home games compared to less than 13 per game in their past five on the road. They are 11-2 when get to the charity stripe at least 21 times.
The Huskies were stunned 73-51 by St. John’s as 4.5-point favorites in the last meeting, which took place during last year’s Big East tournament. UConn had won the previous nine games between the teams, going 6-3 ATS. The UNDER has cashed in the last three meetings along with seven of the past eight.
Now that you have read this Big East college basketball betting preview featuring St. John’s & UConn, check out the NCAA basketball odds on this and all the games to compare the best lines at multiple sportsbooks.
