Wednesday College Basketball Odds, Pick, Prediction: DePaul vs. St. John’s Betting Preview

DePaul vs. St. John's Odds

Wednesday, Jan. 5

6:30 p.m. ET

FS1

DePaul Odds
Spread	Total	Moneyline
+4.5 -110	152 -110o / -110u	+164

St. John's Odds
Spread	Total	Moneyline
-4.5 -110	152 -110o / -110u	-200

Odds via FanDuel. Get up-to-the-minute college basketball odds here.

St. John's finally will get back to action after having four conference games postponed due to COVID-19 issues within its program. It will be the team's first game in 18 days — after the Red Storm lost as 13-point favorites to Pittsburgh.

Mike Anderson’s squad opened the season 8-3, but has only covered the spread once in its last eight games.

The Red Storm welcome DePaul — which started out 9-1 — but has lost two Big East games in a row. The Blue Demons have beaten up on eight teams that rank outside the top 100, but have struggled as the competition has stiffened.

Both offenses have thrived — averaging over 77 points per game — mainly because of the blistering pace that each program wants to play at. That fast tempo will lead to many transition opportunities, which provides value on the total.

DePaul Blue Demons

DePaul looks to double its win total from last season and prove that its non-conference schedule was no fluke.

The Blue Demons have only one win over a KenPom top-100 team despite sitting at 9-3 on the season. The program has found success on the offensive end of the floor, averaging 77 points per game while ranking 43rd nationally in tempo.

In its last two games against Big East teams, DePaul allowed the opponents to dictate the tempo.

The Blue Demons were held to an average of 56 points while connecting on just 14-of-44 3-point attempts (31%) against Butler and Providence. They made just 34% of their 106 field goal attempts in those games and did not look like the same team that we saw in non-conference play.

But St. John’s will also want to get out in transition, which presents a perfect opportunity for this offense to find its groove again.

The unit is led by Javon Freeman-Liberty, who is putting up over 20 points and eight rebounds per game. The Blue Demons have another three players who are averaging double digits in scoring while hitting over 46% of their field goal attempts.

DePaul has been struggling from behind the arc, hitting just 32% of its 3-point attempts. But St. John's has been horrid at defending the 3-point line, ranking 267th nationally.

This will be another strong opportunity for the Blue Demons to get back on track with their outside shooting.

The must-have app for college basketball bettors

The best NCAAB betting scoreboard

Free picks from proven pros

Live win probabilities for your bets

DOWNLOAD NOW

---

St. John's Red Storm

The St. John’s program had its last four games postponed due to COVID running rampant through the roster, but it is finally getting Big East play underway.

St. John’s plays at a lightning quick pace, as it ranks 10th nationally in adjusted tempo. The group ranks second in the country in offensive possession length due to the amount of transition opportunities it creates.

That quick pace has led Mike Anderson’s group to the 11th-best scoring offense in the country, averaging 83 points per game.

The leading scorer is Julian Champagnie, who is averaging over 20 points per game while hitting 43% of his 67 3-point attempts. Posh Alexander has scored in double digits in every game this season and is averaging 16 per contest.

The Red Storm have shot a combined 54% from the field this season, which ranks 31st in the nation. They get out in transition at every opportunity they get and are phenomenal at sharing the basketball, having assisted on 63% of their field goals this season.

The defense has been elite at creating turnovers, ranking in the top 25 in the country.

DePaul vs. St. John's Betting Pick

DePaul opened the season going over the total in seven of its first eight games this season. Since then, the Blue Demons have gone over just once in the last six games.

But recently, they have played teams that play at a slow pace, such as Butler, Providence and Loyola Chicago, who all rank outside the top 200 in tempo.

The same can be said about St. John’s, which opened the season going over in seven of its first nine games.

Both teams play at a tremendous pace and use little time on the shot clock when on offense. Each offense averages over 63 field goal attempts per game, which ranks in the top-30 nationally.

This has all the makings of a back-and-forth matchup that will feature transition buckets early and often.

Pick: Over 151.5 (Play to 153)