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The Red Storm come in as a -7.5 home favorite against Xavier, a game that will be broadcast nationally on FS1 Wednesday evening.
The Red Storm are 12-0 on their home court. St. John's is the top team in the Big East with 39.6 points in the paint led by Zuby Ejiofor averaging 9.2.
The Musketeers are 4-4 in conference matchups. Xavier averages 77.3 points and has outscored opponents by 8.5 points per game.
St. John's is 3-1 Straight Up in the last four games vs. Xavier on their home court. All three of those wins were by more than the current 7.5 spread. The 2022 loss had the Red Storm as a +1 home dog.
St. John's average of 6.2 made 3-pointers per game this season is just 0.5 fewer made shots on average than the 6.7 per game Xavier gives up. Xavier has shot at a 45.6% rate from the field this season, 5.7 percentage points above the 39.9% shooting opponents of St. John's have averaged.
Xavier started the season hot enough but has more recently gone 5-6. They are currently on a three-game win streak however.
Zach Freemantle had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Xavier hung on in the final seconds to beat No. 7 Marquette 59-57 to earn its third straight victory while snapping the Golden Eagles’ six-game winning streak Saturday.
Xavier (12-7, 4-4 Big East) never trailed and led by as many as 19 but needed to make a stop in the final seconds to preserve the victory. Xavier’s Dailyn Swain appeared to knock the ball away as Marquette’s Stevie Mitchell was driving to the basket before a potential tying shot could be attempted.
St. John's comes into this game winners of eleven of their last twelve games.
RJ Luis Jr.'s 24 points helped St. John's defeat Seton Hall 79-51 on Saturday night.
Luis added eight rebounds for the Red Storm (16-3, 7-1 Big East Conference). Zuby Ejiofor scored 15 points while shooting 4 of 9 from the field and 7 for 8 from the line and added nine rebounds. Kadary Richmond finished 5 of 7 from the field to finish with 12 points.
