Northwestern Wildcats vs Penn State Nittany Lions Prediction, 1/23/2021 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Northwestern Wildcats vs Penn State Nittany Lions

Date: Saturday, January 23, 2021

Location: Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, PA

TV: BTN

Odds/Point Spread: Northwestern (+6)

The Penn State Nittany Lions (4-6) play the Northwestern Wildcats (6-7) at Bryce Jordan Center on Saturday. Penn State opens this contest as 6-point favorites. The total opens at 146.

Northwestern will play this game with a mark of 6-7 this year. The Wildcats are connecting on 37.0% on shots beyond the perimeter (114 of 308) and 72.9% from the charity stripe. They currently have an average of 75.9 pts per contest (99th in college hoops) while hitting 44.7% from the field. They lose possession via turnover 9.8 times per contest and as a squad are committing 17.2 fouls on a nightly basis. As a team, Northwestern is pulling down 34.9 boards per game and is sitting with 219 dimes this year, which ranks 37th in the nation in terms of passing the ball. Defensively, the Wildcats have forced 11.8 turnovers per game and they draw 16.8 personal fouls. They are surrendering 34.1% on shots from distance and they rank 221st in Division 1 in PPG allowed (71.8). The Wildcats are giving up a shooting percentage of 43.2% (332 of 769) and they relinquish 35.5 boards per game as a team. They are currently ranked 305th in college hoops in giving up assists with 202 conceded for the campaign.

The Northwestern Wildcats faced off with the Wisconsin Badgers and took a loss by a final of 68-52 in their last contest. Northwestern finished with a 41.2% FG percentage (21 out of 51) and converted 7 out of their 23 3-pointers. From the charity stripe, the Wildcats converted 3 of their 7 tries for a rate of 42.9%. When discussing grabbing rebounds, they earned a total of 25 with 2 of them being on the offensive end. They also doled out 10 assists for this game while getting 3 steals and 2 rejections. When it comes to defense, Northwestern let their opponent shoot 41.2% from the floor on 21 of 51 shooting. Wisconsin distributed 14 assists and had 5 steals for this contest. In addition, the Badgers had 29 rebounds (4 offensive, 25 defensive) and had 2 blocks. Wisconsin finished 90.9% from the free throw line by making 10 of their 11 tries. They also buried 10 of their 27 shots from beyond the arc.

Chase Audige is a guy who played a role in this matchup. He left the arena with 16 points on 6 of 12 shooting. He played for 29 minutes and collected 3 rebounds. Audige ended up shooting 50.0% from the field and distributed 2 dimes. An additional guy that was a major factor in the game for the Wildcats was Miller Kopp. He grabbed 2 boards and collected 2 assists. He ended up shooting 50.0% from the floor in this game by connecting on 4-of-8 (10 points). Overall, Kopp played for 31 min.

Penn State has a win-loss mark of 4-6 on the campaign. As an offensive unit, the Nittany Lions are shooting 42.5% from the field, which has them ranked 265th in Division 1. Penn State has totaled 761 points for the season (76.1 per game) and they average 37.0 rebounds per contest. Their rate of dishing out assists is at 13.5 times per contest (174th in D-1) and they turn it over 11.9 times per contest. The Nittany Lions are responsible for committing 20.6 fouls per contest and they go 70.3% from the free throw line. The Nittany Lions on defense are ranked 290th in college basketball in points given up per game with 76.0. The Penn State defense concedes 30.3% from downtown (63 of 208) and their opponents are connecting on 71.1% of their free throw shots. They have allowed 14.4 assists and 35.1 rebounds per game, which ranks them 264th and 170th in those defensive categories. They are forcing their opponents into 14.5 TO's per game and allow teams to shoot 46.7% from the field (304th in college basketball).

The last time they took the court, the Penn State Nittany Lions went home victorious with a score of 75-67 when they faced the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. The Nittany Lions recorded 26 defensive rebounds and 12 offensive boards for a total of 38 in this game. They also turned away 2 tries while recording 10 steals for the contest. The Scarlet Knights committed 18 fouls in the game which got the Nittany Lions to the charity stripe for 24 shots. They were able to knock down 15 of the free throws for a clip of 62.5%. In relation to 3-pointers, Penn State buried 6 of 19 tries (31.6%). When the final whistle was blown, the Nittany Lions shot 27 for 55 from the floor which gave them a rate of 49.1%. The Nittany Lions allowed the Scarlet Knights to bury 27 out of 61 tries from the floor which left them with a rate of 44.3% for this contest. They wrapped up this game 41.2% from downtown via 7 out of 17 and ended up going 6 of 11 from the free throw line (54.5%). In regard to how they rebounded, Penn State permitted Rutgers to collect 26 in total (7 offensive).

Izaiah Brockington ended up having an impact for the Nittany Lions in this matchup. He knocked down 6 of 15 in this game giving him a rate of 40.0%, which had him finishing with 17 points. Brockington grabbed 3 rebounds in his 37 minutes played and accumulated 2 assists for the matchup. An additional guy that was pivotal for Penn State was Myreon Jones. He ended up finishing with 17 points in 26 minutes played by going 4 out of 10 from the floor in this contest. Jones walked away from this one going 40.0% from the field while earning 3 assists and 2 total rebounds.

Who will win tonight's college basketball game against the spread?

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Northwestern (+6)

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