It will be a battle between Big Ten opponents when the Penn State Nittany Lions (12-13) welcome the No. 4 Iowa Hawkeyes (20-5) to Bryce Jordan Center. Action gets underway at 6:30 pm ET on Wednesday, Feb. 17 and can be seen on BTN.
The Nittany Lions fell to Nebraska 70-54 on Saturday. Jordan Dickerson had a good outing, recording eight points, six rebounds, and three blocks for Penn State. The Hawkeyes, meanwhile, are coming off a 75-71 win over Minnesota on Sunday. Peter Jok led the game in scoring by registering 27 points on 8-for-14 shooting.
Jok has been on a tear for the Hawkeyes, averaging 20.0 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.4 steals, and 3.0 three-pointers over the past five games.
This is the second game of the season between these two teams, with the Hawkeyes winning the first matchup 73-49. Anthony Clemmons was a top performer in the victory with 12 points, six rebounds, four assists, and one steal.
The Nittany Lions come into this game 12-13 Straight Up (SU) and 11-12-1 Against The Spread (ATS). The most recent ten-game stretch for the Nittany Lions has gone great. Over that span, Penn State is averaging 78.7 points per game, well over their season average of 64.9. Not making mistakes with the ball is a staple of the Penn State offense, which averages just 11.2 turnovers per game.
Across the court, the Hawkeyes head into the game with records of 14-9 ATS and 19-5 SU. Offensively, they average 78.6 points per game on the road, which is 19th in the country. Iowa is one of the top three-point shooting teams in the nation, making .394 of their shots from three-point range. The Hawkeyes are one of the top teams in the country at finding the open man with an average of 16.4 assists per game. Switching gears to the Iowa defense, teams seem to consistently miss three-point shots against the Hawkeyes, who are the eighth-best team in the country in terms of three-point field goal percentage allowed at .296. Blocking shots is an area where Iowa has excelled. The Hawkeyes average 5.5 blocks per game, making them one of the best in the nation. Don’t expect Iowa to give away the ball much on offense, where its 9.8 turnovers per game ranks eighth in the country.
Iowa beat Penn State in their most recent meeting this season, bringing its SU record in their most recent games to 7-3. The teams have an even record ATS, 5-5. In these last five matchups, each team was able to hold the edge in field goals, rebounds, and three-pointers once.
Predictions: SU Winner – Iowa, ATS Winner – Iowa
Notes
“Penn State is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games “.
“Penn State is 1-5 SU in its last 6 games “.
“The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Penn State’s last 6 games “.
“Penn State is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games at home”.
“Penn State is 7-3 SU in its last 10 games at home”.
“The total has gone OVER in 4 of Penn State’s last 6 games at home”.
“Penn State is 1-5 SU in its last 6 games when playing Iowa”.
“The total has gone OVER in 6 of Penn State’s last 9 games when playing at home against Iowa”.
Penn State scores an average of just 64.9 points per game (ranked 241st). Iowa ranks 81st in points allowed, giving up 68.2 points per game.
Penn State scores just 69.8 points per home game (ranked 221st). Iowa ranks 86th in points allowed on the road, giving up 72.0 points.
The Iowa Hawkeyes have a defensive rating of 98.0 (ranked 59th), while the Penn State Nittany Lions have an offensive rating of 99.6 (ranked 287th).
With 65.2 possessions and .996 points per possession, the Penn State Nittany Lions perform worse on both metrics than the Iowa Hawkeyes. Iowa averages 69.1 possessions and 1.163 points per possession.
The Iowa Hawkeyes average an effective field goal percentage of 53.2% this season. The Penn State Nittany Lions have an abysmal record of 1-7 when opponents have an eFG% of 53.2% or greater.
The Penn State Nittany Lions average 19.0 three point attempts per game, and the Iowa Hawkeyes attempt 21.0 per game. When going for at least 20 three pointers in a game this season, Penn State is an even 7-7, while Iowa has an outstanding record of 13-4.
The fourth-ranked team in the category, Iowa has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.67 this season. Penn State ranks lower at 300th with an A/TO of .85.
Iowa, the 80th-ranked team in rebounding, registers an average of 38.4 rebounds per game. Penn State does worse, ranked 259th with 34.8.
On average, Penn State makes 5.2 steals per game. Iowa has a tremendous 12-4 record when it gives up at least 5 steals.
