Have fun with this start to the Big Ten season. The Penn State Nittany Lions have to kick off conference play with two road games, both of which will see them lined as double-digit dogs for sure. The first of the two is against the Maryland Terrapins on Wednesday, and that comes leading into a game in Ann Arbor on Saturday.
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HOW THE PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
Penn State might be 9-4 this year, but it sure doesn't feel like this team is finishing above .500 this season when it's all said and done with. This non-conference schedule has been complete bunk, and a 76-66 loss at George Washington in a game which really wasn't as close as the final score indicated might be a sign of a rough road ahead.
Life after D.J. Newbill has been tough, knowing that he was the do-it-all for the Nittany Lions last year. This time around, the show belongs to Brandon Taylor and Shep Garner. Neither one are as sharp from beyond the arc as Newbill was, and both have far too many games where they just go cold for big stretches. Sure, if each can exceed their scoring averages of 16.2 and 14.7 points per game respectively, this could end up staying interesting into the second half.
However, let's not forget that these stats from the first half of the year were all amassed against a very poor slate.
HOW THE MARYLAND TERRAPINS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
Last year, Newbill was able to put up huge games against Maryland, but the Terrapins were still able to escape with a pair of victories over PSU. This time around with Newbill out of the fold, the key is going to be just basically running the Nittany Lions out of the gym.
Few teams can go on 12-0 spurts like Maryland can, and two of those over the course of this game could easily suck the life out of a Penn State team which has to know what its fate is going to be in the coming days.
With four of the five double-digit scorers on this team shooting at least 51 percent from the floor, it's tough to see any way that the Terrapins could become less efficient, as it would take a catastrophic shooting day to put themselves in a position to be upset.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
The one concern we have about Maryland though, is that it hasn't been able to really put away teams from an ATS perspective. Sure, 11-1 is nice, but 5-7 ATS isn't so great, especially when the Terrapins are just 3-6 ATS in games in which they're laying at least nine points.
For as good as Melo Trimble and the gang are, we're going to have to take the points in this one. The Nittany Lions won't have nearly enough to hang around, but if history is any indication, they aren't going to give up, even in their first conference game without Newbill out there.
Maryland might get in front of this number for a bit, but Penn State should hit just enough shots down the stretch to make the final score look a little more interesting than it legitimately should've been.
Maryland 73, Penn State 62
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