The St. John’s Red Storm will try and climb the ranks in the Big East this Thursday night when they square off against the No.12 Louisville Cardinals at the KFC Yum! Center. Game time for this conference clash is set for 9 p.m. (ET), and it will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.

St. John’s is coming off a 77-58 blowout loss to Syracuse this past Sunday as a 13.5-point road underdog. It was second setback in the last three games to fall to 15-9 overall and 7-5 in conference play. It is now 9-10 against the spread this season, and the total has gone “over” in its last five games.

The Cardinals have had their share of problems ever since climbing to No.1 in the polls with a 3-4 straight up record in their last seven games. They dropped a 104-101 decision to Notre Dame in overtime last Saturday as six-point road favorites. They are now 19-5 SU and 12-12 ATS this season. The total has stayed “under” in four of their last five games.

St. John’s at Louisville Betting Storylines

The Red Storm have done a good job at beating the teams they were supposed to this season, but have come up short against the better competition they have faced. Their only victory over a  ranked team was a four-point win over Notre Dame back in mid-January as seven-point underdogs at home. St. John’s is going to have to find a way to elevate its game to have any shot against Louisville on the road.

They come in shooting 43 percent from the field and averaging 68 points a game. These numbers drop off slightly on the road (42.4 percent and 65.6 points) where they are giving up an average of 68.9 points a game to their opponents. St. John’s does have a pair of solid scorers in D’Angelo Harrison (18.3 points) and Jakarr Sampson (14.8 points), but, as a team, it is shooting just 30 percent from three-point range, which has certainly not helped the cause.

Rick Pitino cannot be too happy with his team over the past few weeks, but he also realizes the talent remains for a deep run this season if it can work through this recent rough patch. Louisville is averaging 74.7 points a game and shooting 44.7 percent from the field. It has done a good job under the boards with 38.1 rebounds a game and has five different players scoring nine or more points a game.

At the head of this list is Russ Smith with an average of 18.3 points a game. He has shown flashes of brilliance this season, but he remains inconsistent shooting the ball in hitting less than 40 percent of his shots from the field and just 31.7 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc. Chane Behanan is adding 11.2 points and 7.5 rebounds while Peyton Siva is dishing out six assists and averaging 10.3 points a game.

St. John’s at Louisville NCAA Basketball Betting Odds and Trends

Louisville has been opened by BetOnline as an 18.5-point home favorite with the over/under line still OFF the board at our deadline for this article.

The Red Storm are 3-4 ATS in their last seven road games and 1-3 ATS in their last four games overall. The total has gone over in six of their last eight Thursday games.

The Cardinals are 2-5 ATS in their last seven conference games and 0-4 ATS in their last four games following a SU loss. The total has stayed under in 19 of their last 27 games following a SU loss.

Louisville has won seven of the last nine meetings SU, but St. John’s holds a slight 5-4 edge ATS. The total has stayed under in five of the last seven games.

St. John’s at Louisville Picks and Betting Predictions

This game is a perfect opportunity for St. John’s to pull off an upset given the Cardinals current form. It would be far too bold (as well as unwise) to predict a SU win on the road against a team that is still one of the best in the nation. However, with 18.5 points, a small play on the Red Storm is definitely the way to go in this one as Louisville wins with relative ease but continues to struggle with its overall game.

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Read more articles by Dave Schwab