St. John's Red Storm vs UConn Huskies Prediction, 12/23/2023 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: St. John's Red Storm vs UConn Huskies

Date: Saturday, December 23, 2023

Location: XL Center in Hartford, CT

TV: ESPN+

XL Center is where the UConn Huskies (10-2) will attempt to defeat the St. John's Red Storm (8-3) on Saturday.

The St. John's Red Storm faced Xavier and notched a win by a score of 81-66 in their last contest. In regard to personal fouls, the Red Storm finished with 18 and Xavier had 16 personal fouls. They also converted 4 of 21 attempts from 3-point range. Xavier finished shooting 81.8% at the charity stripe by making 18 of 22 attempts. In addition, Xavier snagged 42 rebounds (16 offensive, 26 defensive), but finished the game with no rejections. Xavier recorded 8 assists and had 3 steals in the matchup. When discussing defending, St. John's allowed the other team to go 34.9% from the field on 22 of 63 shooting. They also distributed 17 assists for the contest while forcing the other team into 17 turnovers and having 6 steals. When talking about rebounding, they earned 36 with 11 of them being on the offensive end. At the free throw line, the Red Storm buried 12 of 18 shots for a rate of 66.7%. St. John's walked away from the contest with a 46.3% FG percentage (31 out of 67) and converted 7 of their 20 three-point attempts.

Joel Soriano is a player who was a major factor in the game. He ended up going 53.8% from the field and dished out 5 dimes. He was on the hardwood for 35 minutes played and also grabbed 14 rebounds. He notched 18 points on 7 of 13 shooting.

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St. John's will play this contest with a win-loss mark of 8-3 on the season. They lose possession by turning the ball over 12.6 times per game and as a basketball team are committing 18.5 personal fouls on a nightly basis. As a team, St. John's is pulling down 41.6 boards per game and has accounted for 191 assists this season, which is 46th in the nation in terms of passing the rock. The Red Storm are shooting 35.5% on three-point shots (89 of 251) and 69.7% from the charity stripe. They are averaging 80.1 pts per contest (74th in the nation) while hitting 44.8% from the field.

Defensively, the Red Storm are forcing 14.9 turnovers on a nightly basis and they draw 15.7 personal fouls. They are 79th in college basketball in giving up assists to their opponents with 123 conceded on the year. The Red Storm defense is allowing an opponent FG percentage of 40.9% (260 of 635) and they surrender 34.4 rebounds per game as a squad. They give up 33.3% on 3-pointers and they are ranked 138th in D-1 in opponents PPG (69.1).

When they last stepped on the court, the UConn Huskies took a loss by a score of 75-60 when they played Seton Hall. Regarding how they attacked the glass, UConn permitted Seton Hall to get 30 in all (13 on the offensive side). They finished 37.5% from distance by shooting 3 out of 8 and walked away from this one shooting 14 out of 18 at the free throw line (77.8%). The Huskies allowed Seton Hall to knock down 29 of 56 tries from the field which had them shooting 51.8% in the game. Overall, the Huskies went 22 for 58 from the floor which had them shooting 37.9%. With respect to 3-point shots, UConn buried 4 of their 21 tries (19.0%). They were able to bury 12 of those for a rate of 92.3%. Seton Hall was called for 16 personal fouls for this game which got the Huskies to the charity stripe for a total of 13 tries. They also gave up possession 16 times, while recording 5 steals in the matchup. The Huskies snagged 13 defensive rebounds and 16 offensive rebounds for a total of 29 in this game.

Tristen Newton ended up being important for the Huskies in this contest. He knocked down 5 of 12 for the matchup giving him a field goal percentage of 41.7%, and accounted for 6 rebounds. He racked up 16 points in his 34 mins on the hardwood and had 1 assist in the matchup.

UConn has a win-loss record of 10-2 on the year. In terms of offensive execution, the Huskies are shooting 50.2% from the floor, which ranks 15th in college basketball. UConn has accounted for 1,010 points for the year (84.2 per game) and they collect 39.8 rebounds per game. Their rate of earning assists is at 18.2 times per contest (19th in college basketball) and they are turning it over 10.3 times per contest. The Huskies commit 16.3 fouls every game and they shoot 73.2% from the charity stripe.

The UConn defense allows 36.2% on shots from beyond the perimeter (75 of 207) and opponents are knocking down 66.2% of their free throw shots. They surrender 10.9 dimes and 28.8 rebounds on a nightly basis, which is ranked 63rd and 6th in D-1. The Huskies on defense are ranked 41st in college hoops in PPG allowed with 64.2. They are forcing 12.0 TO's every game and have allowed teams to shoot 40.6% from the floor (78th in college basketball).

Who will win tonight's NCAA basketball game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take St. John's

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