NCAAB Odds, Pick for Creighton vs St. John’s

The Big East race is coming down to the wire, and UConn seems to have a firm grasp on the regular season title, even though Creighton took care of business against the Huskies in Omaha this past Tuesday.

This is the second meeting of the season between the Jays and the Johnnies. The first clash was a great matchup, as the Bluejays outlasted the Red Storm, 66-65. That was the least amount of points Creighton has scored at home this season, so St. John's should be confident that it can hold down this elite Bluejays offense.

Creighton comes into this matchup sitting third in the conference and has won four straight Big East games. The Jays are obviously a lock for the NCAA tournament and are looking to grab the season sweep against St. John's.

The first matchup against the Johnnies resulted in an extremely poor shooting performance from the Jays. They only shot 36.7% from the field, which is a whopping 21.3% lower than their season-long effective field goal percentage (via Vincerix).

St. John's is a solid defensive team, but this was simply a case of horrible shooting by Creighton. It's impressive that the Jays had enough in the tank on both ends to win the game while shooting that poorly from the floor.

This time around, the Jays will likely shoot the ball much better, even though they're on the road.

If you've been following any college basketball news, you would've seen the recent Rick Pitino quotes. He bashed his team, calling it "unathletic" and calling this year "the most unenjoyable experience I've had."

The Johnnies responded as positively as possible to the comments by grabbing a win at Georgetown in the following game. But that doesn't mean much.

To me, it seems like St. John's has quit on the season.

Withstanding the inevitable Creighton runs are a must when it comes to defeating the Jays, and I'm not sure how many times St. John's will be able to rebound before the end of the year.

This matchup is a clear case of two teams going in opposite directions. Creighton has hit a stride and looks like it's heating up at the right time, similar to UConn last year.

On the other hand, St. John's is an utter mess at the moment, and I don't see it putting a clean 40 minutes together.

Schematically, the two teams match up fairly well, but Creighton has a massive shooting advantage over the Johnnies. The fact that it was able to beat St. John's despite one of its worst offensive outputs of the season is all you need to know.

Road teams in conference play is never a pretty bet, but Creighton checks enough boxes here against this crumbling St. John's bunch.

This game will be close out of the gates, but every mini 6-0 run for the Bluejays will be a small dagger in the side of St. John's.

Creighton will get the job done on Sunday.

Pick: Creighton