Butler vs St. John’s Prediction College Basketball Picks 1/4/25

The Butler Bulldogs and the St. John’s Red Storm meet Saturday in college basketball action from Carnesecca Arena. Here’s a Butler vs St. John’s prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Butler vs St. John’s pick. We will examine:

The Butler Bulldogs’ recent form and player performance

The St. John’s Red Storm’s recent form and player performance

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Butler Bulldogs

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the St. John’s Red Storm

Recent betting trends in games played between Butler and St. John’s

A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Butler vs St. John’s game

Butler Bulldogs Betting Preview

Butler got off to a great start this year, but things haven’t been going well over the last month or so. The Bulldogs took a 7-1 run over their first eight games with only a two-point loss to Austin Peay in that time. Butler otherwise beat Missouri State, Western Michigan, SMU, Merrimack, Northwestern, Mississippi State, and Eastern Illinois in that time. Since then it’s been a string of losses versus Houston, North Dakota State, Wisconsin, Marquette, UConn, and Villanova.

In the Villanova game on New Year’s Day, the Bulldogs came out of halftime looking at a slim 31-30 advantage on the scoreboard. Butler was outscored 43-34 the rest of the way, resulting in a 73-65 loss. Leading the team in the losing effort was Jahmyl Telfort with 25 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, and two steals. Also in double-figures was Pierre Brooks with 10 toppings and three rebounds. Boden Kapke topped the team off the bench, with six points and two rebounds in 19 minutes of work during the defeat. The Bulldogs only got one other bench point.

St. John’s Red Storm Betting Preview

Over on the St. John’s side, they won their first four games of the season. Those victories came courtesy of Fordham, Quinnipiac, Wagner, and New Mexico in succession. St. John’s hit a rough 1-2 stretch in the next trio, beating Virginia among a pair of losses to Baylor and Georgia. The Red Storm would then hit their stride with victories over Harvard, Kansas State, Bryant, DePaul, Providence, and Delaware, but then fell in their most recent appearance versus Creighton for an 11-3 overall record through 14 games this year.

In the Creighton matchup on New Year’s Eve, the Red Storm came out of the first half with a 28-26 edge. St. John’s was outscored the rest of the way 31-28 however, and took the tough loss 57-56 in the end. The Red Storm’s leading scorer was Zuby Ejiofor with 16 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Deivon Smith was the only other team player in double-figures with 10 points, four steals, and two rebounds. Topping the team off the bench was Vince Iwuchukwu with four points and two boards in eight minutes of work during the defeat.

Why the St. John’s Red Storm will win

• St. John’s has won each of its last 13 games at Carnesecca Arena against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Butler has lost seven of its last eight games at Carnesecca Arena.
• Butler has lost the first half in each of its last four games at Carnesecca Arena against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Butler vs St. John’s Prediction

I’ll stay with St. John’s in this one. The Red Storm could use a bounce-back showing here though, following their disappointing loss to Creighton this week. St. John’s managed a pretty dim overall effort in that one with just 36.8 percent shooting from the field and 22.2 percent (2-of-9) from outside alongside a 41-34 rebounding deficit. The only bright spot was St. John’s 16 points off 19 Creighton turnovers, which helped immensely in keeping the game close.

The 56 points were pretty uncharacteristic for the Red Storm so far this year. They normally score a lot better. St. John’s has 72 or more points in all but two other games.

As for Butler, they got out-rebounded pretty badly versus Villanova 43-30 and hit just 12-of-23 (52.2 percent) from the line in their last outing. The Bulldogs have given up 71 or more points in each installment of this current six-game losing streak, so St. John’s should have some openings on Saturday.