NCAA Basketball Best Bets for February 7: St. John’s & UConn Head Friday Lineup
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Willie Bee
- February 7, 2025
Top NCAAB Pick: UConn -3 (-108) at Heritage Sports (visit our Heritage Sports Review)
What the college hoops slate on Friday lacks in quantity, it more than makes up for in quality with several teams bound for the NCAAA Tournament taking the floor. One of those squads is two-time defending national champ UConn at home against current Big East leader St. John’s.
Virginia Commonwealth Rams vs. Dayton Flyers
Friday, February 07, 2025 – 07:00 PM ET at UD Arena
Before we get to the big game in the Big East, a stop in the A-10 is necessary. And before we get to the matchup between VCU and Dayton, scolding Joe Lunardi is necessary.
How in the world can ESPN’s 5-foot-4 college hoops guru NOT include both the Rams and the Flyers at least on the bubble of his current Field of 68?
Back to the clash between VCU and Dayton. The Rams and Flyers are running second and fourth, respectively, behind George Mason atop the A-10, and the first of two meetings between them finds BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review) favoring VCU by 1.5.
Rams Coming Off 2 Easy Wins
After closing January with a loss at Saint Louis, VCU enjoyed a couple of lopsided wins to begin February. The Rams smoked rival Richmond last Saturday, holding the Spiders to a measly 13 points in the first half on the way to a 90-49 laugher.
Virginia Commonwealth followed that up with a 30-point win over LaSalle a few days ago, using a 13-0 run midway through the first half to pull away for the win. Both games were on the Rams’ home floor and they were favored by nearly 20 in each contest.
Dayton is also riding a 2-game win streak, but didn’t have it quite as easy as VCU in beating Saint Louis and Davidson. The Flyers were getting a bucket on the NCAAB odds in the road win at Saint Louis and failed to cover as 9.5-point chalk at home against Davidson.
Underdog Has Covered 6 of the Last 7 Meetings
The Rams and Flyers split their regular season contests a year ago, each recording home wins while VCU covered both times as the underdog. The clash in Dayton saw VCU zoom ahead by as many as 17 in the first half, only for the Flyers to rally and post a 91-86 triumph in overtime.
Both sides have trended ‘over’ this season, but I’ll play the ‘under’ trend – 2-5 O/U last 7 – in recent matchups.
NCAAB Pick: VCU/Dayton Under 140 (-115) at BetOnline
St. John’s Red Storm vs. Connecticut Huskies
Friday, February 07, 2025 – 08:00 PM ET at Gampel Pavilion
An opportunity for Rick Pitino and St. John’s to have one of the biggest weeks in Red Storm history awaits with this short trip into the Nutmeg State to take on the Connecticut Huskies.
St. John’s is coming off a huge victory over Marquette earlier this week, giving the Red Storm a 9-game win streak and allowing them to retain sole possession of first place in the Big East race. The Huskies are favored by 3 to break that win streak, with 140.5-141 for the scoreboard target.
UConn Also Off Win Over Marquette
Top-rated sportsbooks favored the Red Storm by 2.5 against Marquette and they pulled away late in the tight affair for the 70-64 decision. The contest was knotted at 55 with a little more than 5 minutes remaining, and St. John’s dominated the Golden Eagles on the glass to the tune of a 50-28 edge in rebounding.
Connecticut has won a couple of games in a row since a rough 2-3 patch in January, the most recent dubya also coming at the expense of Marquette last Saturday in Milwaukee. The Huskies led the entire way, building a lead as large as 21 in the first half before settling for a 77-69 victory.
Favored by 6-6.5, UConn just managed to cash tickets for backers to break a 4-game skid against the spread. Those same oddsmakers are apparently asking too much of the Huskies when playing at home, and Dan Hurley’s crew has yet to cover any of the five Big East home games.
Johnnies 7-2 ATS Last 9 Meetings
This is the first of two relatively quick get-togethers between the old rivals. The Huskies will head to NYC in a little more than two weeks for the return visit against the Red Storm, and Connecticut won all three battles last season to build a 38-33 lead in the series.
After sweeping the regular season clashes from St. John’s, the Huskies held off the Red Storm in the semis of the Big East Tournament for a 95-90 decision. That contest went past the total after the two regular season games stayed ‘under,’ and St. John’s has covered 7 of the last 9.
A little extra rest for the Huskies this week coupled with the Red Storm in a prime hangover spot following the win over Marquette makes for a college basketball pick on the home side.
NCAAB Pick: UConn -3 (-108) at Heritage Sports
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
