Saint John’s vs. Seton Hall College Basketball prediction, preview
It’s the Big East regular season finale for both squads on Friday night, and while Seton Hall is playing for pride, Saint John’s has much more on the line in this one. The Pirates have had a nice season, particularly covering numbers on the road, and are 12-4 at home (although just 6-10 ATS). Given the results earlier in the week in the conference, the Pirates are locked into their seeding for the Big East Tournament next week at Madison Square Garden.
Saint John’s is not locked into anything, and a win would net it the No. 1 overall seed in the Big East. A win would also land the Johnnie’s at minimum a share of the Big East regular season crown — it would be a share with UConn, assuming the Huskies can win as big favorites at Marquette on Saturday. A loss for UConn would mean an outright regular season title for the Red Storm.
Regardless of what happens on Saturday afternoon, Saint John’s needs to win on Friday to accomplish a preseason goal of winning the conference. When asked what a regular season Big East title would mean to the team, multiple players have expressed that it would “mean everything.” The Johnies will be honed in on just this game, with plenty of time off until they open up Big East Tournament play on Thursday, following a bye.
It’s been back and forth for SJU the last few games, but this sets up as a spot we see it at its best. After a 32-point loss at UConn, the Red Storm bounced back with a 32-point win of their own over a good Villanova team. Then they looked past a hopeless Georgetown squad during the week, trailing by eight points at halftime, but coming back to win. Rick Pitino won’t let his team come out flat again on Friday.
Seton Hall is a decent matchup for Saint John’s in many ways. Both teams have good size and battle hard on the defensive end — each ranking top-15 on KenPom in defensive efficiency. The Pirates play at a much slower tempo, while the Red Storm will look to force turnovers and get out in transition, which they should be able to do.
Saint John’s holds many massive edges that should help it pull away in this one, though. The Johnnies have their issues offensively, but rank 52nd on KenPom, compared to just 155th for Seton Hall. Saint John’s is also a far superior rebounding team. While both teams rank similar on the offensive glass, SJU crashes the defensive glass at a much better rate.
The Red Storm have been tremendous on the road all season, with its only loss coming at Connecticut. Between rebounding, turnovers and Saint John’s actually playing for something in the game, I like the Johnnies to pull away and claim the Big East’s top seed.
