The resurgent Red Storm of St. John’s host Creighton in a battle for first place in the Big East Sunday afternoon at MSG.

Both these teams just had long winning streaks snapped earlier this week, which negates one of our main college basketball handicapping theories for this game, the “bounce back” play.

Instead, we're relying - to a degree - on what happened when these teams last met for our free college basketball betting pick.

NCAAB Betting Odds

Sunday's CBB betting market opened St. John's at -4.5 for Sunday, with an over/under of right around 140. Early betting action bumped both the Storm to -6 and the total to 142.

Creighton Betting Preview

The Bluejays just had a nine-game winning streak snapped by a 70-66 loss at home to Connecticut Tuesday night. Creighton, favored at -3.5, led that game 37-23 late in the first half. But with the game tied late the Blue Jays got out-scored 5-1 down the stretch to take their first defeat since Jan. 3.

Creighton held the Huskies to just 39 percent shooting from the floor but shot just 40 percent themselves.

Tuesday was only the fourth time over their last 10 games the Bluejays shot under 50 percent from the field.

Back in early January Creighton lost a game to Marquette to fall to 9-7 on the season. The Bluejays then won their next nine games in a row, including victories over UConn and Marquette, both ranked at the time.

At 11-3 in conference play, Creighton trails 12-2 St. John's by one game in the battle for first place in the Big East. And at 18-7 overall, the Bluejays have played themselves inside the projected NCAA tournament field.

St. John's Betting Preview

Meanwhile, the Red Storm just had a 10-game winning streak, which was snapped by a 73-71 loss at Villanova on Wednesday night. St. John's, favored at -2.5, trailed by 11 midway through the second half, then used a 14-0 run to take a lead. The Storm still led by a point late but fell down on a Wildcats 3-pointer with nine seconds left, then missed one of their own as the clock ran out.

SLU only shot 44 percent from the floor Wednesday while allowing Villanova to shoot 53 percent.

So that's 12 games in a row that the Storm shot less than 50 percent from the field. On the other end of the court, though, Wednesday night was the first time all season St. John's allowed an opponent to shoot better than 50 percent.

Back on New Year's Eve the Red Storm lost a game to this Creighton team 57-56. They then won 10 straight, including victories over ranked Marquette and Connecticut.

At 12-2 in conference play, St. John's leads the Big East by one game over the second-place Bluejays. And at 21-4 overall, the Storm are still in the running for good seeding for the upcoming Big Dance.

By the Numbers

Creighton is shooting 48 percent from the field this season, 34 percent from 3-point range and 75 percent from the free-throw line. The Blue Jays are also holding opponents to 40 percent FG shooting and out-rebounding foes by a 34-31 per-game average. This while playing what ESPN ranks as the 9th-toughest schedule in the country.

St. John's is shooting 45 percent from the floor, just 29 percent from 3-point land, and 69 percent from the line. But the Storm are also holding foes to just 40 percent FG shooting and winning the battle on the boards by a 36-30 margin. This is while playing ESPN's No. 41 schedule.

Creighton-St. John's Recent History

The Bluejays own this series as of late, winning eight of the last nine meetings outright, going 6-2-1 ATS. Creighton also took the first meeting between these teams this season back on New Year's Eve in Omaha 57-56.

The Storm actually led that game most of the way until the Bluejays finally took the lead for good with about 12 minutes left and held on by their wingtips from there.

Also, that game played way under a total of 151, as the teams combined to shoot just 39 percent from the floor.

In fact, the last four meetings between these teams played under the totals.

Totals Report

• The Under is 15-10 in Bluejays games this season, which are averaging 144 total points.
• The Under is 13-11 in Storm games, which also average 144 points.