Wisconsin Badgers vs Penn State Nittany Lions Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 01/22/26

Thursday’s slate sees the Wisconsin Badgers facing the Penn State Nittany Lions. Wisconsin comes to town riding a 4-game winning streak that includes a massive road upset at Michigan. The Nittany Lions, on the other hand, are 0-7 in conference play and have lost 5 games in a row. It is a tough year for Penn St, as they have one of the youngest rosters in the conference. I don’t love taking the road teams in these bigger conferences because those are always tough spots, but I think Wisconsin has a lot of advantages here. I’ll take the Badgers -5.5.

Wisconsin has some real strengths, aside from being the more talented roster by a good margin. Wisconsin plays fast without turning the ball over, and they are excellent on the boards. Those characteristics should travel. Penn State is an above average offensive team, but their defense is poor and they are not good on the glass. Additionally, The Nittany Lions are among the worst in the country at defending the 3-pt line, so this could be a game where the Badgers get hot quickly from deep. When you add all those things together, I suspect the Penn State losing streak will continue and the Badgers will cover on the road.

Wisconsin vs Penn State Prediction: Wisconsin -5.5 (-110) available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number.