Northern Iowa vs Valparaiso Prediction College Basketball Picks 1/4/25

The Northern Iowa Panthers and the Valparaiso Beacons meet Saturday in college basketball action from the Athletics Recreation Center. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Northern Iowa vs. Valparaiso prediction.

Northern Iowa Recap

The Northern Iowa Panthers come into this game looking to add on to a 76-70 win over Belmont in their last game to improve to 9-5 overall this season. After this game, the Panthers will head home to take on Murray State.

Panthers Win Back-To-Back Outings

Tytan Anderson leads the Panthers in scoring and rebounding with 13.8 PPG and 6.1 RPG while Jacob Hutson has 13.1 PPG with 3.6 RPG. Leon Bond III has added 11.9 PPG with 5.4 RPG while Trey Campbell’s chipped in 10.2 PPG with 4.6 RPG and a team-high 3.4 APG to lead the Panthers in assists and to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Northern Iowa so far this season. Ben Schwieger also has 9.7 PPG and 4.1 RPG as well on the year. As a team, Northern Iowa is averaging 77.9 PPG on 51.7% shooting from the field, 38.2% from three and 71.2% from the foul line this season.

Why the Northern Iowa Panthers will win

• Valparaiso has lost 14 of its last 16 games against the Missouri Valley Conference.
• Northern Iowa has won seven of its last eight games against the Missouri Valley Conference.

Valparaiso Recap

The Valparaiso Beacons come into this game fresh off of a 73-72 win over Missouri State last time out to improve to 8-6 on the year. After this game, Valparaiso will head home for a matchup with Indiana State.

Beacons Starting To Cook

Cooper Schwieger leads the Beacons in scoring and rebounding with 14.2 PPG and 7 RPG while Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro has 12.4 PPG with 2.3 APG. Tyler Schmidt has 11.8 PPG and All Wright has 10.6 PPG and 2.9 APG to round out the group of double-digit scorers for Valparaiso so far this season. Darius DeAveiro has a team-high 3.1 APG to lead the Beacons in assists while Devon Ellis has 8.6 PPG with 3.6 RPG. As a team, Valparaiso is averaging 79.5 PPG on 44.1% shooting from the field, 33.6% from three and 79.6% from the foul line this season.

Why the Valparaiso Beacons will win

• Valparaiso has won each of its last five day games at Athletics-Recreation Center.

Northern Iowa vs. Valparaiso Prediction

I’m on Northern Iowa here. The Panthers for me are just the better team and while Valparaiso’s come into some recent success, I just haven’t convinced myself that Valparaiso is legit as of yet. Northern Iowa’s the better team on both ends of the floor and I can see them winning this game rather handily if Valpo’s shots aren’t falling. Give me the Panthers here.