The Penn State Nittany Lions and the Maryland Terrapins meet Monday in college basketball action from Xfinity Center College Park. Penn State is currently 11-12 on the year. The Lions beat Minnesota in their last game. As for Maryland, they’re 12-14 and coming off a win over Nebraska. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Penn State has been a pretty choppy season all year. The Nittany Lions were sitting at 8-7 back in mid-January, and they’ve gone just 3-5 since then. The good news is that Penn State has won consecutive games over Michigan State and Minnesota.
On Thursday versus Minnesota, the Lions jumped out to a 27-19 lead at the break. Penn State kept the pressure on from there with a 40-27 run and won 67-46. Tops in scoring was Jalen Pickett on 20 points, four rebounds and two assists.
Over on the Maryland side, they managed an 8-4 run over their first dozen games this year but they’ve only been able to win consecutive games once since then. After a recent five-game losing streak, the Terrapins finally got a win over Nebraska in their last outing.
Matched up against Nebraska on Friday, the Terrapins had a slim two-point lead by halftime. Maryland outscored the Cornhuskers 48-34 in the second for a 90-74 win. Fatts Russell led the Terrapins on 23 points with five boards and two assists.
Maryland is 4-10 ATS in their last 14 at home and 3-10 ATS in their last 13 after an ATS win. The Terrapins are 2-5 ATS in their last seven Monday games.
Meanwhile, the Lions are 5-1 ATS in their last six overall and 5-0 ATS in the last five after a straight-up win. The under is 4-1 in Penn State’s last five overall.
PICK: I’m going to try Maryland. This one’s something of a coin flip, though. Both these teams have had mixed results in conference games, and this matchup is sure to be pretty competitive. In any case, Maryland has posted a couple of close calls against tough teams over this 1-5 stretch. The scoring hasn’t always been there but the Terrapins do have the capability of hanging just about anyone if Maryland is having a good night. I like the Terrapins to match up well with Penn State and play a close game in a cover here. Should be a good one.