The Michigan Wolverines will travel to New York, New York to face the St. John’s Red Storm at Madison Square Garden in a Big Ten vs. Big East battle on Monday evening with tipoff scheduled for 6:30 PM ET, and the game will air on Fox Sports 1.

Michigan had a disastrous season last year after entering the season ranked in the Top 25 with a ranking of 22^nd, however, the Wolverines would lose three of their first four games including losses against Arizona State, Kentucky, and Virginia would mark the start of an underwhelming season in which the Michigan Wolverines would finish with a record of 18-16 and a Big Ten record of 11-9 which would lead to a tie for 5^th place in the Big Ten Conference. However, the Wolverines would lose their final two games of the regular season and would be eliminated from the Big Ten Tournament in the 2^nd round against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights by a score of 50-62 which would also cause Michigan to miss the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2014-15 college basketball season, except the Covid year, however, they would be invited to play in the NIT in which they won in the 1^st round against the Toledo Rockets by a score of 90-80 before being eliminated in the 2^nd round against the Vanderbilt Commodores by a score of 65-66. This season, the Michigan Wolverines have started the season off at 2-0 following a 99-74 win at home against UNC-Asheville and a 92-62 win at home against the Youngstown State Penguins.

The St. John’s Red Storm missed the NCAA tournament last season for the 4^th consecutive season after finishing with a regular season record of 18-15 and their 2^nd losing season in the Big East with a record of 7-13. The season started off strong for the Red Storm as they would win their first eight games of the season including winning the Empire Classic Tournament against the Syracuse Orange by a score of 76-69 and would enter Big East Conference play with a record of 11-1. St. John’s finished in 8^th place in the Big East and would lose to the Marquette Golden Eagles in the Quarterfinals by a score of 70-72 following a win in the 1^st round against the Butler Bulldogs by a score of 76-63. This season, the St. John’s Red Storm have gotten off to a 1-0 start following a 90-74 win at home against the Stony Brook Seawolves, however, they will face a tougher opponent on Monday evening when they host the Michigan Wolverines.

BookMaker has the St. John’s Red Storm listed as 2.5-point favorites at home against the Michigan Wolverines on Monday evening. This will be the first time since the 2000-2001 college basketball season that these teams have faced each other. The Michigan Wolverines are 2-0 ATS overall this season while the St. John’s Red Storm are 0-1 ATS overall, 0-1 ATS as a favorite, and 0-1 ATS at home on the year.

Michigan has looked a lot better to start the season compared to how they finished the regular season last year and although St. John’s will be a tougher test than their first two games this season, the Wolverines have covered the spread in both of their games while the Red Storm are 0-1 ATS on the year. As a result, I am buying the .5 point and taking the Michigan Wolverines with the points when they travel to face the St. John’s Red Storm on Monday evening.