Georgetown Is A Live Dog Against St. John's

St. John's vs. Georgetown, 6:30 ET

I'm not a happy camper this morning. Basketball did not treat me well last night. I had two plays in the NBA go down - one was strange, the line on Zion Williamson was super low for rebounds and assists and he still didn't cover it. The other one was the Magic losing in double overtime. That happens, but the way that they pissed the game away was the most frustrating part. Still, nothing in the NBA compares to the way that Arizona beat Iowa State yesterday. A more than half court buzzer beater sent the game into overtime and Iowa State laid down in overtime. Now I'm trying to get the money back in this game between St. John's and Georgetown.

St. John's comes into this game with the 15th ranked team in the nation and a 17-3 record. They are doing well in conference games as well at 8-1 for now. If you ask my fellow Outkick handicapper, Geoff Clark, he will tell you that they might have the best defense in college basketball. I'm not quite as high on them as he is, but I recognize this is a really talented team. He also might be biased because he went to St. John's, but either way, he is certainly onto something. St. John's has won six straight games, and 12 of their past 13 contests. They've only allowed more than 75 points twice in that span. In fact they've allowed more than 75 points just three times this season. Their losses this year have come against Baylor in a double overtime neutral court game around Thanksgiving, Georgia in the same tournament, and at Creighton on New Year's Eve. Apparently, if they just avoid the holidays, they will go undefeated. What's impressive about this team is they've lost three games by a total of five points. On the road, not including neutral court games, St. John's has beaten Seton Hall by 28, Xavier by 20, Providence by 2, and the one loss to Creighton by 1 point. They faced Georgetown recently, January 14th and beat them by just five points.

Jan 22, 2025; New York, New York, USA;  St. John's Red Storm forward Zuby Ejiofor (24) celebrates in overtime against the Xavier Musketeers at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Georgetown doesn't have the best team in the world, but they've put together a decent campaign to this point in the season. They are 13-7, but in the middle of a tough stretch and their team is not responding very well to it. They've lost five of their past six games. Their one victory was a bit of a surprise as they beat Villanova by one point on the road. They then lost their next game, also on the road, to Providence. Before that they lost four straight to Big East opponents. They dropped games to Marquette, UConn, St. John's, and DePaul. None of the losses have been by a ton of points. Each of the losses was by 10 or fewer, with only one being 10 points exactly. Georgetown, for the most part, has not had every player in each game. There is just one rotation regular that has played all 20 games. There are actually only three players who have played all 20 games. Most have played 17 or more, but not having everyone always available does throw things off.

It is a bit puzzling to me that Georgetown is getting 4.5 points here when they lost the game on the road by five points last time they faced St. John's. Maybe they just played really well in that game and the book isn't expecting that to happen again. The reality is that they only shot 21% from deep in the game, and had almost double the amount of turnovers. They were also up 15 at one point in the game and up 10 at halftime. I think the right side here is Georgetown. I get that they aren't playing all that well, but they are competitive, at home, and recently played this opponent with room for improvement. I'm taking the points, not the moneyline. 

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