FSU basketball: Noles slight betting underdogs against St. John’s

FSU basketball (3-9) will look for their third consecutive win when they take on the St. John’s Red Storm (10-1) Saturday afternoon.

FSU has defeated Louisville and USC Upstate in their last two games, but FSU showed some promise in a couple of losses to ranked teams before those two wins. Maybe that’s why the Noles enter Saturday’s contest as small +6 betting underdogs on a neutral court.

The over/under betting total is 152, which implies a 79-73 win for St. John’s. The teams have one common opponent, Nebraska, who defeated FSU by 17 points. St. John’s defeated Nebraska by 20 points.

The Red Storm have an impressive record but have only defeated two Power 5 teams this season, Syracuse and Nebraska. St John’s enters the game with four players averaging double figures. The team shoots 46.6 percent overall, 69.8 percent from the charity stripe, and 30.2 percent from three-point land.

They rebound the ball much better than FSU and average 9.4 steals per game while averaging 80 ppg. FSU shoots 41.6 percent overall, 72.2 percent from the charity stripe, and 32.7 percent from three-point land. However, FSU only averages 67.5 ppg.

That’s a lot of factors favoring St. John’s to only be six-point betting favorites. That game is in Florida and on a neutral court, but the betting line seems too good to be true. FSU will need to play as they have in the last two games to have a shot at the upset.

They have averaged 46.5 percent shooting in the last two games and only 11 turnovers. They’ve also averaged 76 percent from the free-throw line and 37 percent from three-point land.

That’s a recipe for success, but they will have to win the battle of the boards or at least break even in that area. It’s an aspect they’ve struggled with against lesser-talented teams. The game will begin at 2:30 p.m. ET, and you will likely find the game on the ESPN3/ESPN Watch App.