The Iowa Hawkeyes take on the Penn State Nittany Lions. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Iowa Penn State prediction and pick.
The college basketball season is taking a lot of weird twists and turns, and one of them is the nosedive being endured by the Iowa Hawkeyes. This team hasn't just lost three of its last four games. It's worse than that. Iowa's last two losses were extremely bad. One loss was as a 31.5-point favorite against Eastern Illinois at home. The other loss was a 16-point stink bomb at Nebraska in a game the Huskers led by more than 20 at one stage of the proceedings. Losing games is one thing; suffering embarrassing losses to grossly inferior teams is quite another matter. Iowa and coach Fran McCaffery urgently need to halt this downward spiral. If they don't, Iowa will be headed for the NIT and this season will turn into a complete disaster.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Iowa-Penn State College Basketball odds.
College Basketball Odds: Iowa-Penn State Odds
Iowa Hawkeyes: +2.5 (-115)
Penn State Nittany Lions: -2.5 (-105)
Over: 147.5 (-110)
Under: 147.5 (-110)
Why Iowa Could Cover the Spread
Penn State might be a good team, but we don't really know just yet. Penn State is trying to improve under coach Micah Shrewsbury. Penn State beat Illinois and Butler. However, the Nittany Lions lost to Clemson and Virginia Tech along with Michigan State in conference play. The Nittany Lions have a mixed portfolio — not terrible, but not a lot of high-end wins, either. Illinois is the only real big result for them so far. They have to add more results if they want to have a good chance of making the NCAA Tournament. Defending their home floor against comparable Big Ten opponents is a must. They didn't do that against Michigan State; they have to do so here, but should anyone trust them? We have to see it to believe it with Penn State. This team has not earned the benefit of the doubt, even though Iowa has obviously been struggling.
Why Penn State Could Cover the Spread
The Nittany Lions are at home, and they are facing an Iowa team which just lost on the road at Nebraska by 16 points. Iowa scored only 50 points in that loss. Meanwhile, Iowa allowed 92 points to Eastern Illinois at home. It's not as though Iowa has only one problem. The Hawkeyes have a complete problem. They are losing games at both ends of the floor. They are playing really bad basketball, and it's hard to trust a team when that's the case, especially on the road in the Big Ten. Iowa has been so conspicuously and extremely bad that the mess surrounding the Hawkeyes probably won't be cleaned up in time for this game. It might get fixed in a few weeks, but not all at once. Penn State can and should benefit from that.
Final Iowa-Penn State Prediction & Pick
You should frankly stay away from this game, because the two teams aren't reliable. If you have to lean one way, though, take Penn State.
Final Iowa-Penn State Prediction & Pick: Penn State -2.5
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