Villanova Wildcats vs St. John's Red Storm Prediction, 2/28/2026 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Villanova Wildcats vs St. John's Red Storm

Date: Saturday, February 28, 2026

Location: Madison Square Garden in New York, NY

TV: ESPN+

Madison Square Garden is the location where the St. John's Red Storm (22-6) will try to defeat the Villanova Wildcats (22-6) on Saturday.

The Villanova Wildcats faced Butler and went home with a win by a final score of 82-73 in their last game. In the matter of fouls, the Wildcats finished with 19 and Butler finished the game with 15 fouls. They also buried 3 of their 13 attempts from 3-point land. Butler ended up going 81.5% at the free throw line by making 22 of their 27 tries. Additionally, Butler totaled 33 rebounds (9 offensive, 24 defensive), but wasn't able to record a block. Butler doled out 10 dimes and had 4 steals in the matchup. Pertaining to defense, Villanova allowed the other team to shoot 45.3% from the field on 24 of 53 shooting. They also dished out 17 assists in this game while forcing the opposition into 11 turnovers and getting 8 steals. With regard to grabbing boards, they collected 24 with 5 of them being offensive. At the charity stripe, the Wildcats converted 10 of 14 attempts for a percentage of 71.4%. Villanova walked away from the game having earned a 49.2% field goal percentage (31 out of 63) and made 10 out of their 32 three-point attempts.

Acaden Lewis is one player who was a major factor in this contest. He scored 20 points on 8 out of 14 shooting. He played 35 mins and grabbed 2 rebounds. He went 57.1% from the field and also totaled 4 dimes.

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Villanova enters this contest with a record of 22-6 for the campaign. They currently have an average of 77.9 points per outing (140th in D-1) while hitting 45.8% from the field. The Wildcats are hitting 35.6% on 3-point shots (274 of 769) and 68.8% from the charity stripe. As a team, Villanova is collecting 34.9 boards per game and has tallied 432 assists for the year, which has them ranked 118th in college in terms of passing the ball. They turn it over 10.0 times per game and as a squad they are committing 16.0 fouls per contest.

On defense, the Wildcats are forcing their opponents into 12.8 turnovers per contest and they draw 16.9 personal fouls. They rank 160th in D-1 in giving up assists with 376 conceded this season. The Wildcats are giving up a field goal percentage of 44.8% (716 of 1,600) and they surrender 34.6 rebounds per game as a team. They relinquish 33.6% on three-point shots and they are 80th in D-1 in points per game allowed (70.1).

When they last stepped on the court, the St. John's Red Storm took a defeat with a final score of 72-40 against Connecticut. The Red Storm were able to corral 17 defensive rebounds and 11 offensive rebounds for a total of 28 for the matchup. They also coughed up the ball 7 times, but didn't record a steal for the team. Connecticut earned 18 fouls for this contest which got the Red Storm to the free throw line for 17 shots. They were able to bury 13 of the free throw attempts for a percentage of 76.5%. In the matter of shots from beyond the perimeter, St. John's knocked down 5 of their 20 attempts (25.0%). When the game finished, the Red Storm finished the game shooting 11 out of 56 from the field which had them at 19.6%. The Red Storm permitted Connecticut to knock down 28 out of 59 attempts from the floor which had them sitting at 47.5% in the game. They shot 28.0% from downtown by connecting on 7 of 25 and walked away from this one shooting 9 out of 11 at the free throw line (81.8%). In regard to rebounding, St. John's permitted Connecticut to pull down 37 in all (7 on the offensive side).

Joson Sanon ended up being a major contributor for the Red Storm for this game. He buried 3 of 10 in this game for a field goal percentage of 30.0%, and had 1 rebound. He scored 10 points in his 18 minutes on the court, but finished this game without an assist.

St. John's has a record of 22-6 for the year. In terms of offensive execution, the Red Storm are shooting 45.1% from the field, which has them ranked 194th in the country. St. John's has 2,305 points on the campaign (82.3 per contest) and they snag 38.9 rebounds per game. They are dishing out assists 15.8 times per contest (73rd in the nation) and they are turning it over 10.7 times per contest. The Red Storm are committing 17.6 fouls every game and they go 72.9% from the charity stripe.

The Red Storm are ranked 106th in D-1 in PPG given up with 71.3. They are forcing their opponents into 14.0 turnovers per game and allow teams to shoot 42.3% from the field (78th in college hoops). The St. John's defense allows 32.4% on shots from 3-point land (188 of 580) and their opponents are knocking down 72.3% of their foul shots. They allow 12.1 assists and 34.8 rebounds on a nightly basis, which is 72nd and 218th in those categories.

Who will win tonight's NCAA game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Villanova

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