Iowa vs Penn State 1/22/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Penn State Nittany Lions and the Iowa Hawkeyes meet Saturday in college basketball action from Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Penn State is 8-7 on the year so far. The Lions lost to Ohio State in their last outing. As for Iowa, they’re 13-5 and coming off a loss to Rutgers. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Penn State went 5-5 over their first 10 games, losing to UMass, LSU, Miami, Ohio State and Michigan State along the way. Since then it’s been a 3-2 run with wins over Indiana, Northwestern and Rutgers mixed with losses to Purdue and Ohio State. 

In the Ohio State game last weekend, the Lions posted just 22 points in the first half. Penn State got better from there but still lost 61-56. Sam Sessoms topped the team on 15 points, and Jalen Pickett chipped in 11 points with five assists.
Over on the Iowa side, they hit a nice 7-0 run over their first seven games. Losses to Purdue, Illinois and Iowa State followed, but then the Hawkeyes got back to business with a 6-1 run. In their last game on Wednesday, the Hawkeyes lost again to Rutgers. 

Matched up against the Scarlet Knights on Wednesday, the Hawkeyes had a three-point lead heading into the break. Iowa scored just 19 points from there in a rough 48-46 loss. Keegan Murray led the way on a double-double with 13 points and 13 boards. 

The Hawkeyes are 4-1 ATS in their last five at home and the over is 15-5-1 in their last 21 overall. The over is 23-8-1 in Iowa’s last 32 at home.
Meanwhile, the Lions are 4-1 ATS in their last five road games and 5-0 ATS in their last five overall. The over is 4-1 in Penn State’s last five Saturday games. 

PICK: I’m probably staying with Iowa here. The Hawkeyes are coming off an odd and uncharacteristic game versus Rutgers on Wednesday. The 46 points were the lowest of the season by far; Iowa is a much better scoring team than that this year and I think they’ll storm back with a vengeance in this matchup. 

As for Penn State, they’ve hit 67 points or fewer in each of their last three games—all tough matchups. Even if they’re able to bounce back well in this outing, I don’t think the Nittany Lions will be able to keep up the pace for long.