Penn State Nittany Lions (8-8) vs. Purdue Boilermakers (14-2)
January 13, 2024 2:15 pm EDT
The Line: Purdue Boilermakers -20.5 ; Over/Under: 155
(Get latest betting odds)
The Penn State Nittany Lions and the Purdue Boilermakers meet Saturday in college basketball action from Mackey Arena. Penn State played Northwestern in their latest matchup on Wednesday. In that game the Lions dropped to 8-8 with a four-point defeat. As for Purdue, they’re 14-2 overall following a loss to Nebraska on Tuesday. Let’s get into our Penn State vs. Purdue prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Penn State Nittany Lions
The Lions managed four straight wins to start the year before a losing streak versus Texas A&M, Butler, VCU, Bucknell and Maryland. Penn State managed to go 4-2 in the next six outings with wins over Ohio State, Le Moyne, Rider and Michigan during that time.
On Wednesday versus Northwestern, the Nittany Lions did well in the first half with a 40-32 edge. Penn State was outscored 44-32 from there and lost 76-72. Tops in scoring was Kanye Clary with 25 points, and Qudus Wahab managed a double-double on 13 points and 10 boards.
Purdue Boilermakers
Over on the Boilermakers’ side, they’ve lost to only Northwestern and Nebraska so far. Otherwise it’s been wins over Samford, Morehead State, Xavier, Gonzaga, Tennessee, Marquette, Texas Southern, Iowa, Alabama, Arizona, Jacksonville, Eastern Kentucky, Maryland and Illinois.
In the Nebraska game back on Tuesday, the Boilermakers went into the break with a 41-30 deficit. Purdue didn’t get any closer than that on a 47-42 second half and ended up falling 88-72. Leading team scorer Mason Gillis put up 16 points and one rebound in 28 minutes off the bench.
ANDREW’S FREE PENN STATE VS PURDUE PREDICTION
I’ll probably go with Purdue in this one. The Boilermakers need a good bounce-back effort here though, and the line’s a little thick to mess with. Purdue posted 14 turnovers and gave up a whopping 60.9 percent shooting from 3-point range in their second defeat of the season, so it wasn’t the best outing. That said, the Boilermakers have scored 71 or more points in all but one game this year (67 versus Maryland) and should be able to put together a good offensive game on Saturday.
Penn State has been logging some solid points totals themselves lately, so we could very well have a high finish in this one. So long as Purdue isn’t hemorrhaging outside shots on defense like they did versus Nebraska however, I think the Boilermakers will be okay.
