The St. John’s Red Storm welcome the Incarnate Word Cardinals to Carnesecca Arena. Action begins at 7:00 pm ET on Friday, Dec. 18 and can be seen on FS1.
The Red Storm enter this game hoping for similar success after topping Syracuse 84-72 in their last matchup. Federico Mussini was the team’s leading scorer with 17 points on 5-for-7 shooting. The Cardinals, meanwhile, are feeling some disappointment after their close 99-97 loss against Our Lady of the Lake in their last game. Kyle Hittle led the game in scoring with 29 points.
St. John’s is a nine-point favorite against Incarnate Word and the Over/Under (O/U) for this game is sitting at 138 points. The Red Storm have gone 7-3 Straight Up (SU) and 3-6 Against The Spread (ATS). Opposing teams know they’re in for a battle when they play St. John’s’s stingy defense. The Red Storm are one of the top teams when it comes to defense, allowing just 56.8 points per home game. Opponents have consistently had their shots rejected by the Red Storm, ranking third in the country in blocks per game with 7.0.
In the other locker room, it’s hard to argue with the ATS success of Incarnate Word. The Cardinals are clearly doing something right with a 1-0 record ATS to go along with a 3-5 record SU so far. The Cardinals convert their free throws at a high percentage, ranking 28th in the nation at .747. Moving on to the Incarnate Word defense, the Cardinals are a terror in the passing lanes, averaging an impressive 11.0 steals per game.
This game will be the first meeting for St. John’s and Incarnate Word in recent seasons.
Predictions: SU Winner – IncWor, ATS Winner – IncWor, O/U – Over
Notes
St. John’s is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games.
Incarnate Word scores just 64.0 points per away game (ranked 262nd). St. John’s ranks 24th in points allowed at home, giving up 56.8 points.
With 69.5 possessions and .981 points per possession, the St. John’s Red Storm perform worse on both metrics than the Incarnate Word Cardinals. Incarnate Word averages 76.8 possessions and 1.010 points per possession.
Incarnate Word has an average effective field goal percentage of 47.6%. St. John’s is a losing 1-3 when opponents have a similar or higher effective field goal percentage.
Incarnate Word ranks 74th in assists, recording 15.6 per game. St. John’s performs worse at 226th with 12.8 assists per game.
The St. John’s Red Storm average 7.0 blocks per game, the third-ranked team in the country. The Incarnate Word Cardinals rank a lowly 252nd in blocking with just 2.8 per game.
Incarnate Word ranks 314th in offensive rebounds, while St. John’s ranks at 39th in defensive rebounds.
Though Incarnate Word is one of the best in the country in forcing turnovers with opponents averaging a TO% of 23.4% (ranked 19th), St. John’s has a winning 3-1 record SU when it has a TO% of 23.4% or greater.
