A huge revenge bout is set to go down in the Big East early Sunday afternoon when Connecticut travels to Madison Square Garden looking to even up the season rivalry with the front running St. John’s Red Storm. The two-time defending champs enter this tilt off a miraculous win and near CBB odds cover against Villanova battling back from an 8 point halftime deficit to score the 66-59 win. As for Rick Pitino’s Johnnies, they went through the motions yet thoroughly handled DePaul on Wednesday night to log win No. 23 for the season and move to 14-2 in conference.
The Johnnies snapped a four-game losing streak to the Huskies back on February 7 after going into the Gampel Pavilion and scoring the 68-62 outright win as 4-point underdogs. I expect oddsmakers to have host St. John’s laying between 5-6 points on the College Basketball odds, with the total set in the upper 130s at the crypto sportsbook for this prime Big East showdown.
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UConn Huskies
The Huskies’ defense had its hands full with Wooga Poplar and the Wildcats well into the second half. Trailing by 14 points with fewer than 12 minutes remaining, the switch flipped for UConn who closed the game on a 27-6 run to tally the home win and non-cover as 9-point favorites. After serving up 34 points to the visitors over the first 20 minutes, the defense clamped down in the second half only allowing 25 points to hold an opponent under the 60 point plateau for the first time since late-November.
The key to the comeback was a second half explosion from Liam McNeeley, who scored 16 of his 20 overall points over the final 20 minutes, as well as the Huskies ability to dominate near the rim. They outscored Nova 38-16 in the paint which offset a horrid showing from beyond the arc with Huskies’ shooters only managing to convert 4-of-19 attempts.
St. John's Red Storm
The Johnnies matched their highest Big East win total in 26 years after going into Chicago and toying with the Blue Demons before coming out with the 82-58 win and easy cover as 12-point road favorites. With only four games remaining on the regular season docket and owning a 2.5-game lead atop the standings, it certainly looks like Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino is going to lead this program to its first conference title since the 1991-92 season when Lou Carnesecca was calling the shots.
With the game tied at 20 twelve minutes in, St. John’s would hit back-to-back threes to begin what ended up being a 16-2 run that allowed the Johnnies to take complete control. Even with leading scorer RJ Luis watching on from the sideline, the Red Storm drained 46.4 percent of its shots and nine threes to put 41 points on the board in each half. The defense did the rest, holding DePaul to a 32.7 percent success rate and forcing 16 turnovers.
Connecticut at St. John's Same Game Parlay Picks
Connecticut jumped out to an early 21-8 lead in the first meeting, but St. John’s ate into the deficit the rest of the way coming up with a number of scoring runs putting it in a position to steal the game late. RJ Luis and Kadary Richmond led the way for the Red Storm with 33 combined points, 13 rebounds, and seven assists allowing the Johnnies to avenge their Big East tourney loss to the Huskies from last season. The comeback win was fueled by 22 Connecticut turnovers that led to 18 points the other way for the visitors who also outscored the Huskies 26-22 in the paint.
I laid the points and hit the under in the first showdown between these teams. The parlay picks ended up splitting with St. John’s winning outright and the 130 combined points falling short of the closing 142-point Over/Under. I bought way too much into McNeeley’s return to the hardwood in that one, but I simply can’t ignore the fact that UConn held a huge 43-33 advantage in the rebounding battle with McNeely responsible for 11 of those caroms. Already having the blueprint of what to expect, I can’t help but think Hurley will have his kids out for blood. With that, I’m playing the rematch the exact same way I attacked the first matchup by backing UConn and the under as my college basketball parlay picks for this intriguing Big East clash.
CONNECTICUT HUSKIES (ATS)
CONNECTICUT/ST. JOHN’S UNDER
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