UCLA vs Penn State Prediction 2/8/25 College Basketball Picks Today

The Penn State Nittany Lions and the UCLA Bruins meet Saturday in college basketball action from Pauley Pavilion. Here’s a UCLA vs Penn State prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best UCLA vs Penn State pick.

Penn State Nittany Lions Betting Preview

Coming into the new calendar year, the Nittany Lions were looking great in the record column. Amid a tough stretch of difficult Big Ten matchups however, Penn State has faltered recently. The Lions took out Binghamton, UMBC, St. Francis PA, Virginia Tech, Fort Wayne, Fordham, Buffalo, Purdue, Coppin State, Drexel, Penn and Northwestern during a nice 12-2 opening run. The only losses in that time were versus Clemson and Rutgers. Since January 2 Penn State has won just one game (versus Rutgers). The losses otherwise were versus Indiana, Illinois, Oregon, Michigan State, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio State and Minnesota in succession, giving the Lions a 13-10 overall run through the first 23 outings of the 2024-25 season.

In the Minnesota game on Tuesday, Penn State hit a 25-21 advantage in the first half. The Nittany Lions faltered from there on a 48-36 deficit however, eventually losing 69-61 in the end. leading the team in scoring was D’Marco Dunn with 18 points, six boards, three assists and a steal in 32 minutes off the bench. Zach Hicks (four rebounds; one assist) and Ace Baldwin (two rebounds; five assists; one steal) each chipped in with 11 points to lead the starters.

UCLA Bruins Betting Preview

Over on the UCLA side, they had a pretty rough stretch of games in December/January but they’ve recovered well since then. The Bruins hit a 10-1 opening run with a loss to New Mexico amid wins over Rider, Boston U, Lehigh, Idaho State, Cal State Fullerton, Southern Utah, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Prairie View. A 1-5 run came next with a win over Gonzaga amid losses to North Carolina, Nebraska, Michigan, Maryland and Rutgers. UCLA has recovered since then with wins over Iowa, Wisconsin, Washington, USC, Oregon and Michigan State, giving the team a 17-6 record through their first 23 outings this year.

Matched up against Michigan State in their Tuesday outing, the Bruins were up by seven points heading into the second half. UCLA fell back a bit in the second on a 33-28 deficit but still pulled off the tight home win 63-61. Skyy Clark led the team on 14 points with three rebounds and three assists. Tyler Bilodeau added 13 points with four rebounds and a pair of steals, while Lazar Stefanovic had eight points with one assist in 13 minutes of work off the bench.

Why the UCLA Bruins will win

• UCLA has won each of its last 10 games at Edwin W. Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescon against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Penn State has lost eight of its last nine games.
• UCLA has won the first half in each of its last nine games at Edwin W. Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescon against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Why the Penn State Nittany Lions will win

• UCLA has lost six of its last seven day games against the Big Ten Conference.
• Penn State has won four of its last five day games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Penn State has won the first half in four of its last five day games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

UCLA vs Penn State Prediction

I’ll lean toward UCLA. The Bruins played a nice game versus Michigan State in order to get their latest upset win, but it wasn’t pretty. UCLA shot just 35 percent from the field with a 45-27 rebounding deficit. That said, the Bruins also held the Spartans to just 37.7 percent shooting on the other side and scored 19 points off 16 Michigan State turnovers. The 63 points were the Bruins’ lowest total since the January 10 loss to Maryland (61) but a win is a win.

As for Penn State, they didn’t look too bad in their loss to Minnesota initially, however they faded down the stretch. The Lions ended up shooting just 34.5 percent from the field with a 35-30 rebounding disadvantage and 11 turnovers for 10 Gophers points. Penn State has scored just 125 combined points over hate last two outings, and they’ve given up 69 or more points in 10 straight games (a 2-8 run). I’d like to see UCLA score a little better on Saturday, but the Bruins should be in a pretty good position to power one out here and keep their run going. If Penn State can bounce back and play well though, we’ll have a pretty solid matchup on our hands.