Marquette vs. St. John's: Game time, odds, and 3 things to watch

Game Time: 3:45 p.m. ET

Radio: ESPN 540 AM Milwaukee (Marquette) || AM 570 The Mission (St. John's)

Gamblin' Info

Spread: Marquette opened as a 5-point favorite over St. John's. The line leapt to 6 at the Wynn and 6.5 everywhere else. Spread info comes from OddsShark.

Records ATS: Marquette (7-11) || St. John's (6-13)

O/U: The O/U opened at 141.5. BetDSI is at 142.5. Continue to be different, guys. You're doing a great job.

3 things to watch

1. New York City Woes: When it comes to New York, Marquette really wouldn't want to be part of it. Sorry Frank Sinatra, but the Golden Eagles have not fared well in their last six trips to Madison Square Garden. Overall, the Golden Eagles have lost five of their last six matchups inside The World's Most Famous Arena. The only victory they've had? A win over Seton Hall in this past year's BIG EAST Tournament. Other than that, losses to Notre Dame, Villanova, Xavier as well as the Johnnies are on the stat sheet for Marquette. Wojo and Co. will look to change their, um, MOJO on Saturday night in The Big Apple.

Of course, this part of the preview was written BEFORE Marquette-St. John's was postponed yesterday and BEFORE it was announced it would be held at Carnesecca Arena. Whoops. MU hasn't had many woes in Queens. In fact, the last time these two played at Carnesecca, THIS happened:

2. Yakwe vs. The Marquette Big Men, Round 2: Kassoum Yakwe and St. John's' interior defense on the whole did a good job of keeping Henry Ellenson and Luke Fischer at bay the last time these two teams squared off. Though both finished with a combined 33 points they were hard to earn against St. John's' shot blockers. Yakwe, in particular, picked up six blocks on the day which was more than the entire Golden Eagles team picked up at all (4). We'll see what adjustments, if any, were made in St. Johns' gameplan against Yakwe and the rest of the interior defense. It could wind up making a huge impact on the end result when all is done and dusted.

3. Duane's World: Despite two clunkers vs. Villanova and Xavier, sophomore Duane Wilson has been on a tear since the Marquette-San Jose State matchup back on December 8, 2015. In that time, a span of 11 games, the Milwaukee native has averaged 12.7 points and 3.1 assists. What's more, Wilson has shot relatively well from the field, amassing a 2-point field goal percentage of 45.8 percent and a 3-point percentage of 39.3. Both of those numbers were hampered by Duane's clunkers vs. the Wildcats and Musketeers, the latter in particular when he shot a disastrous 2-for-15 from the field. Those do appear to be outliers though as he has performed consistently aside from that. He'll have another chance to get back on the right track on Saturday night at MSG.