College Basketball Picks: Connecticut vs St. John’s Picks

ESPN will feature two basketball betting games on Thursday night that will feature top 25 teams as the #9 Connecticut Huskies travel to take on the St. John’s Red Storm with a scheduled tip off time of 7:00pm EST. Following the Big East match-up in college basketball picks between UConn vs St. John’s, ESPN will also feature a Big Ten match-up between Illinois vs #25 Minnesota at 9:00pm EST. Both games can be seen live on ESPN, online at ESPN3.com or on ESPN Mobile TV while Alabama vs #24 Vanderbilt will also play at 9:00pm EST on ESPN2.

Online sportsbooks have opened with the Huskies as a 1.5-point favorite in college basketball odds vs the Red Storm for Thursday’s game. Bookmakers also favor Connecticut -125 on the money line vs St. John’s +105 for the game on ESPN basketball. UConn comes into Thursday’s game after bouncing back from two straight losses to defeat the Seton Hall Pirates 61-59 last Saturday. Although the Huskies won the game by 2-points, they failed to cover the spread in college basketball picks as 3-point favorites to go 10-6 ATS for the season. UConn has the betting trends in their favor after defeating four top 12 squads this season and hold a 4-1 record when playing on the road vs St. John’s.

That being said, the Red Storm has also taken down three top 15 teams at Madison Square Garden this season and 10-3 when playing at home. However, St. John’s will need to overcome a 59-66 loss at UCLA last Saturday after having two straight wins vs Duke and Rutgers. St. John’s lost by 7-points to the Bruins and also failed to cover the spread as 3-point favorites in college basketball odds to drop to 8-13 ATS for the season. With a win vs Connecticut tonight, St. John’s could put themselves in position to reach the March Madness tournament for the first time since 2002. The key to a Red Storm victory as underdogs in basketball betting odds will rely on free throw shooting as St. John’s has gone 11-2 when they are at the line more than 21-times in a game.

College Basketball Picks: St. John’s Red Storm +1.5