Yale Bulldogs vs Penn Quakers Prediction, 1/24/2026 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Yale Bulldogs vs Penn Quakers

Date: Saturday, January 24, 2026

Location: The Palestra in Philadelphia, PA

TV: ESPNU

The Palestra is where the Penn Quakers (9-8) will go up against the Yale Bulldogs (14-3) on Saturday.

The Yale Bulldogs faced off with Columbia and earned the victory with a final of 91-74 in their last contest. Yale finished having earned a 50.8% field goal percentage (31 of 61) and converted 12 of their 24 shots from distance. At the charity stripe, the Bulldogs converted 17 of 19 shots for a percentage of 89.5%. When talking about grabbing boards, they earned 29 with 14 of them being of the offensive variety. They also doled out 20 assists for this contest in addition to forcing the other team into 12 turnovers and having 5 steals. When talking about the defense, Yale allowed the other team to go 51.0% from the field on 25 of 49 shooting. Columbia recorded 7 assists and had 4 steals for the contest. In addition, Columbia snagged 25 rebounds (8 offensive, 17 defensive), but wasn't able to put a block in the stat sheet. Columbia ended up shooting 84.0% from the charity stripe by knocking down 21 of their 25 shots. They knocked down 3 out of their 17 shots from three-point range. Concerning personal fouls, the Bulldogs walked away with 17 and Columbia finished the game with 15 personal fouls.

Nick Townsend is a guy who was a factor in this matchup. He left the arena with 25 points on 6 out of 12 shooting. He played for 33 minutes played and also totaled 8 boards. He walked away from this one shooting 50.0% from the field and also distributed 3 assists.

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Yale will enter this contest with a mark of 14-3 this year. They average 85.2 points per game (38th in the country) while hitting 50.5% from the floor. The Bulldogs are shooting 41.4% on 3-point shots (150 of 362) and 77.1% from the free throw line. As a team, Yale is pulling in 35.6 boards per game and is sitting with 288 dimes on the season, which is 153rd in the country in terms of passing the rock. They turn it over 9.2 times per contest and as a team they are committing 16.2 fouls per game.

On defense, the Bulldogs are able to force 11.4 turnovers per contest while drawing 18.6 personal fouls. They give up 33.8% on 3-pointers and they are 139th in college in PPG allowed (72.1). Bulldogs are giving up an opponent shooting percentage of 42.9% (431 of 1,005) and they surrender 31.0 boards per game as a unit. They are currently ranked 38th in Division 1 in giving up assists to the opposition with 216 surrendered for the year.

In their last game, the Penn Quakers walked away from this one with a loss by a score of 64-63 when they played Harvard. The Quakers were able to snag 23 defensive rebounds and 8 offensive rebounds for a total of 31 in this contest. They also turned it over 10 times, while getting 9 steals for the contest. Harvard committed 16 personal fouls in this contest which took the Quakers to the charity stripe for a total of 17 attempts. They were able to bury 13 of the free throw attempts for a percentage of 76.5%. When it comes to shots from beyond the arc, Penn made 6 of 19 attempts (31.6%). When the final whistle blew, the Quakers finished shooting 22 for 54 from the field which had them sitting at 40.7%. The Quakers permitted Harvard to make 26 of 54 tries from the field which left them with a rate of 48.1% for the matchup. They finished shooting 33.3% from 3-point land by connecting on 8 of 24 and ended up shooting 4 of 8 from the free throw line (50.0%). Regarding how they cleaned up the glass, Penn permitted Harvard to snag 28 in all (7 on the offensive side).

Ethan Roberts was important for the Quakers in the matchup. He buried 9 out of 15 in this game for a field goal percentage of 60.0%, and had 4 rebounds. He earned 27 points in his 35 minutes on the court, but finished this game without an assist.

Penn has a record of 9-8 for the season. The Quakers are committing 16.6 personal fouls per contest and they hit 69.9% from the free throw line. Their rate of dishing out assists is at 14.3 times per contest (186th in the nation) and they are turning it over 11.4 times per game. Penn has scored 1,324 points so far this season (77.9 per game) and they collect 37.4 rebounds per contest. On the offensive side of the ball, the Quakers are connecting on 44.6% from the field, which is 232nd in Division 1.

The Penn defense concedes 30.9% on 3-point attempts (128 of 414) and their opposition makes 68.6% of their shots from the charity stripe. They surrender 13.6 dimes and 35.2 rebounds per contest, which has them ranked 205th and 227th in the country. The Quakers are ranked 226th in the nation in points given up per game with 75.4. They are able to force 11.3 turnovers per game and have let teams shoot 45.1% from the field (258th in college).

Who will win tonight's NCAA game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Yale

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