Opening Arkansas vs St John’s Odds, Spread & Total – Red Storm Favored
By Sascha Paruk in College Basketball
Published:
- The #10 Arkansas Razorbacks held on to beat Kansas on Thursday
- The #2 St John’s Red Storm blew out Omaha to setup a round-of-32 clash with the Razorbacks
- The opening Arkansas vs St John’s odds list the Big East champs as favorites
The #10 Arkansas Razorbacks (21-13, 15-18-1 ATS) and #2 St John’s Red Storm (31-4, 21-11-2 ATS) are set to clash in the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Saturday, March 21, at Amica Mutual Pavillion in Providence, Rhode Island. The opening Arkansas vs St John’s odds heavily favor the Big East champs punching their ticket to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999.
Opening Arkansas vs St John’s Odds
The opening spread favors St John’s by 5.5 points while the the Red Storm are -245 chalk on the moneyline. The Razorbacks come back as +200 underdogs to advance. The game total is sitting at 140.5.
Arkansas made the Sweet 16 three consecutive years from 2021 to 2023 before having that streak snapped last season when they missed the NCAA Tournament entirely.
St John’s heads into the second round as the eighth-favorite in the odds to win March Madness at +2800.
Arkansas Survives Kansas Comeback Attempt
The Razorbacks looked destined for a first-round win when they built an 11-point halftime lead on Kansas on Friday night. But the Jayhawks battled all the way back to take a 67-64 lead in the final three minutes before John Calipari’s team managed to regain the lead for good at 68-67, going on to win 79-72. The teams finished with the same shooting percentage (43%) and equal in rebounding (31). But Arkansas was +6 in turnovers, which proved the difference.
Forward Jonas Aidoo (6.4 PPG, 4.8 RPG) had his best outing of the season with a game-high 22 points and five boards. Point guard DJ Wagner added 14 points and six dimes while playing all 40 minutes.
Arkansas didn’t play any Big East teams during the regular season. St John’s faced one SEC team, falling 66-63 to Georgia in the Bahamas back in November. Arkansas beat UGA 68-65 at home in late January.
ARK vs STJ Ratings Comparison
Ratings are from prior to Thursday’s games.
St John’s, at least on paper, is a more-efficient team both offensively and defensively than the Razorbacks. But playing the mighty SEC, Arkansas faced a significantly tougher overall schedule than the Red Storm who, as mentioned, lost their only previous matchup with an SEC team (Georgia) this season.
St John’s Dispatches Omaha Without Issue
The Johnnies got an early score from #15 Omaha, falling behind 7-0. But they had built a modest five-point lead by halftime and absolutely dominated the second 20 minutes en route to an 83-53 victory.
St John’s has now won ten straight games, including three games in three days in the Big East Tournament to pair their regular-season conference title with a tournament crown. While their games tend to be high scoring due to their up-tempo pace, defense is St John’s calling card. They sit first among all 364 DI teams in Defensive Efficiency at KenPom. They surrender just 65.9 PPG (31st in DI) despite playing at the 49th-fastest pace.
The Red Storm managed to go 21-11-2 ATS in the regular season in Rick Pitino’s second season on the bench and they have just one straight-up loss since the calendar flipped to 2025.
RJ Luis Jr, a 6’7 junior guard, is averaging a team-high 18.4 PPG and 7.2 RPG, while 6’9 junior forward Zuby Ejiofor is scoring 14.6 PPG and leads the team in rebounding at 8.0 RPG. Seton Hall transfer Kadary Richmond (12.7 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 5.4 APG) has looked more than comfortable running the point in his first season in New York.
Check out SBD’s other picks for Friday!
- Baylor vs Mississippi State Picks & Predictions
- Robert Morris vs Alabama Odds, Picks & Props
- Colorado State vs Memphis Odds, Player Props & Picks
- Lipscomb vs Iowa State Betting Predictions & Player Props
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Managing Editor
Sascha has been working in the sports-betting industry since 2014, and quickly paired his strong writing skills with a burgeoning knowledge of probability and statistics. He holds an undergraduate degree in linguistics and a Juris Doctor from the University of British Columbia.
