The Saint Joseph's Hawks take on the Virginia Tech Hokies in Philadelphia, PA. Tip-off is set for 12 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network.
Saint Joe's is favored by 3.5 points on the spread with a moneyline of -165. The total is set at 143 points.
Here are my Saint Joe's vs. Virginia Tech predictions and college basketball picks for December 21, 2024.
Saint Joe's vs Virginia Tech Odds
| Saint Joe's Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-3.5 -110 | 143 -112 / -108 | -165 |
| Virginia Tech Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+3.5 -110 | 143 -112 / -108 | +140 |
- Saint Joe's vs Virginia Tech spread: Saint Joe's -3.5
- Saint Joe's vs Virginia Tech over/under: 143 points
- Saint Joe's vs Virginia Tech moneyline: Saint Joe's -165, Virginia Tech +140
- Saint Joe's vs Virginia Tech best bet: Saint Joe's -4.5 (Play to -7.5)
My Saint Joe's vs Virginia Tech best bet is on the Hawks spread, with the best odds currently available at BetRivers. For all of your college basketball bets, be sure to find the best lines by using our live NCAAB odds page.
Saint Joe's vs Virginia Tech NCAAB Betting Preview
Saint Joe's Basketball
There's always a team outside of power conferences that flashes the potential to beat anyone in America but tends to play down to their competition.
Saint Joe's fits the billing perfectly, as the Hawks own wins over Texas Tech and Villanova while devaluing those victories with losses to sub-100 KenPom teams — Princeton, Charleston and Central Connecticut State.
It's worth nothing that the Hawks could be without star guard Xzayvier Brown, who missed the last game with a hamstring injury. Those soft tissue injuries can linger, so Brown might not be at 100% even if he plays.
I was very impressed by Saint Joe's last performance sans Brown, though. The Hawks got the best version of Erik Reynolds II, the most important player to the team's success. He has the ball in his hands less this year, which seems to be affecting him, as he is shooting just 38% from the field and 26% from 3.
In the win over American, Reynolds scored 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting with six dimes. Playing the point guard role again is the antidote Reynolds needs to be himself.
The key for the Hawks offensively is perimeter scoring. Saint Joe's is attempting 3s on 43% of its field goal attempts while hitting 34%. The three real shooting options are Reynolds and bigger players in 6-foot-9 Rasheer Fleming and 6-foot-8 Dasear Haskins, who replaced Brown in the starting lineup.
Speaking of bigger, this Saint Joe's team has no shortage of length and size, especially subtracting a 6-foot-1 guard for Haskins. The Hawks started three players 6-foot-8 or taller against American — Fleming, Haskins and center Justice Ajogbor.
Fleming is a Swiss Army knife, but it's almost an insult based on his talent. The gifted junior leads the Hawks in points, rebounds, steals and blocks. He does everything for the Hawks and is the best player on the floor in this one.
Virginia Tech Basketball
The toughest domino to fall for Virginia Tech was losing projected starting point guard Hysier Miller in September due to problems prior to joining the program. Not only was Miller supposed to start at point guard, but he would probably be the Hokies' most reliable scoring option.
Mike Young has had to rely on defense more than offense this year, which is unfamiliar territory for him.
The Hokies' offense ranks 177th in offensive efficiency — the second-worst of the Young era by 30 spots. Sporting a nightmarish 21.4% turnover rate is probably Virginia Tech's biggest problem, and you can attribute the turnover woes to the lack of a true point guard — like Sean Pedulla in the past.
Losing Miller shifted sophomore Brandon Rechsteiner into the lead-guard spot, and he struggled. That led to Young giving Ben Hammond — a 5-foot-11 freshman — a larger role, as he seemingly stole the job from Rechsteiner. Hammond reached double-digit points in his last two games while playing more than Rechsteiner.
The real advantage the Hokies want to rely on is their interior play. Their two leading scorers are bigs Tobi Lawal, a more athletic lob threat, and Mylyjael Poteat, who fits in as a big-body post scorer.
Perhaps the Hokies will improve if Rodney Brown Jr., who scored 11+ points in back-to-back games, Hammond and Tyler Johnson continue to improve.
But that's the only saving grace in this spot. Virginia Tech looked less talented and overmatched against each of its previous top-100 KenPom foes.
Saint Joe's vs. Virginia Tech Betting Analysis
Given that most of Virginia Tech's sparse offensive production comes from the bigs securing offensive rebounds, the size of the Hawks should minimize the Hokies' strength on the glass.
In each of the Hokies' six losses, they lost by five-plus points and lost five of the six by double-digits.
If Saint Joe's wins, there is a great chance it approaches double-digits, so the Hawks ATS is a terrific play here.
Pick: Saint Joe's -4.5 (Play to -7.5)
