St. John's Red Storm vs. Xavier Musketeers Picks, Odds, Prediction and Line Movement for Saturday, January 24, 2026

Big East action on Saturday is led by this St. John's vs. Xavier prediction at 1:30pmET. St. John's (14-5, 7-1 BEast) is off to another strong start and has won five straight games. Rick Pitino goes for his 900th win against Xavier (11-8, 3-5 BEast), who is coached by his son Richard. These teams met twice last season, with the Red Storm winning and covering both games. Check out more college basketball free picks and predictions at Winners and Whiners.

Mitchell leads Red Storm over Pirates

Seton Hall can be a challenge for most Big East teams. They were 14-4 coming into Madison Square Garden on Tuesday and coming off two straight losses. But they gave the Red Storm all they could handle in a 65-60 home win for the Johnnies, who were favored by 10.5 points. Dillon Mitchell led St. John's with 17 points and 11 boards, while Bryce Hopkins added 13 and eight rebounds. It wasn't a pretty effort on offense as the Red Storm shot just 36% from the field and 17% (2-of-12) from three-point range.

Zuby Ejiofor (6-9, 245) leads the Red Storm with 15.8 points per game, 1.9 blocks and 7.3 rebounds, while shooting 53.4% from the field. Hopkins adds 13.6 points and 5.3 rebounds, while shooting 46% from the field.

St. John's is not ranked in the AP Top25, but they are ranked 22nd on KenPom, which also ranks them 29th in Adjusted Offensive Efficiency and 18th in Adjusted Defense.

Xavier can't get by Bluejays

Xavier, coached by Richard Pitino, who will be facing father Rick on Saturday, came into Wednesday's game at Creighton coming off two straight home wins over Butler and Providence. Creighton came out on top 94-93 despite the Musketeers shooting 57% from the field and 12 of 24 from beyond the arc. Austin Swartz hit the game-winning jumper for the Bluejays with one second left. That came after he missed what would have been the tying free throw and hit a bank shot for the victory from seven feet. The Bluejays didn't shoot quite as well (54%), but did make 17 of 24 free throws, while Xavier went to the line just eight times. Tre Carroll led the Musketeers with 129 points on 12-of-14 shooting from the field.

Carroll (6-8, 235) is a transfer from FAU who averaged just 4.0 points per game last season and is averaging 17.3 points and 5.7 rebounds for the Musketeers. Roddie Anderson, a Boise State transfer, adds 12.5 points and shoot 38.1% from the field (29.8% 3pt).

KenPom has Xavier ranked 87th overall, 95th in Adjusted Offensive Efficiency and 91st in Adjusted Defense.

Spread Pick and Prediction for St. John's vs. Xavier

St. John's vs. Xavier Prediction, Odds and Pick

• St. John's to cover (4 units)

Rick Pitino jokingly said that he'd leave his team in Cincinnati if they lost to Xavier. He's going to get his 900th win at some point and why not against Richard? Xavier has a nice team, but they've lost some bad games to Marquette and DePaul. UConn and Creighton destroyed them from Cincinnati by a combined 54 points. Xavier's defense is also subpar, ranking 311th in field goal defense (46.6%). They also rank 250th in rebound rate and the Johnnies are at 250th. St. John's will take advantage.

Over/Under Pick for St. John's vs. Xavier

• Over (4 units)

Both teams are in the top 75 in tempo, so they like to push the ball and both will press at times. St. John's has gone over in three of their last four games. Xavier has gone over in three straight and seven of eight games. At home, they allow 75.5 points per game, while St. John's averages 88.8 points per game ont the road. Xavier averages 79.6 points per game at home. This game will be high-scoring and uptempo.