The St. John’s Red Storm (2-0) will be at home when they face the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (2-0). Action starts at 7:00 pm ET on Thursday, Nov. 19 and will air on FS1.
The Red Storm won big over UMBC 75-53 on Monday. Federico Mussini was the game’s leading scorer with 18 points on 5-for-10 shooting. The Scarlet Knights, meanwhile, are coming off an 82-70 win against Howard on Sunday. Deshawn Freeman shot 7 for 11 and led in scoring with 17 points.
St. John’s is a seven-point favorite in this game and the Over/Under (O/U) is set at 143 points. The Red Storm come into this game unbeaten with a 2-0 record Straight Up (SU) and 1-0 Against The Spread (ATS). It’s been a struggle for opposing teams to score on the Red Storm. The 55.0 points that St. John’s’s defense allows per game makes them the 25th-ranked defense in the country. The Red Storm have really locked down opponents on the defensive end, ranking 14th in the country with a .291 opponent field-goal percentage. An area where the Red Storm are particularly strong is shot blocking, where they average 8.0 blocks per game, 13th in Division I. Expect St. John’s to have lots of opportunities at the line against the Scarlet Knights, who are one of the most foul-prone teams in the nation with an average of 26.0 fouls per game.
The Scarlet Knights are a force on the offensive glass, grabbing an average of 16.0 offensive rebounds per game. Shifting to the other side of the court, the Scarlet Knights allow very few three-pointers on defense with 2.0 given up per game.
St. John’s and Rutgers meet for what will be their first head-to-head battle of the season. Rutgers won the last game in the matchup, but St. John’s still leads the head-to-head record, 6-4 SU,. However, Rutgers holds the advantage ATS with a record of 6-4.
Predictions: SU Winner – Rut, ATS Winner – Rut, O/U – Over
Notes
St. John’s 9-3-1 SU in its last 13 games.
St. John’s 8-0-1 SU in its last 9 games at home.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of St. John’s last 5 games when playing Rutgers.
St. John’s is 16-5 SU in its last 21 games when playing Rutgers.
St. John’s is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games when playing Rutgers.
St. John’s is 10-2 SU in its last 12 games when playing at home against Rutgers.
St. John’s scores an average of just 70.5 points per game (ranked 251st). Rutgers ranks 93rd in points allowed, giving up 64.5 points per game.
The Rutgers Scarlet Knights have a defensive rating of 87.2 (ranked 68th), while the St. John’s Red Storm have an offensive rating of 101.8 (ranked 220th).
With 69.2 possessions and 1.018 points per possession, the St. John’s Red Storm perform worse on both metrics than the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Rutgers averages 74.8 possessions and 1.030 points per possession.
Rutgers ranks 51st in assists, recording 18.0 per game. St. John’s performs worse at 177th with 13.5 assists per game.
Rutgers, the 73rd-ranked team in rebounding, registers an average of 43.5 rebounds per game. St. John’s does worse, ranked 168th with 39.5.
The St. John’s Red Storm average 5.0 steals per game. The Rutgers Scarlet Knights are undefeated at 2-0 when they allow at least 5 steals.
