Yale vs Penn Basketball Prediction & PIcks: Will dominant Dingle bury the Bulldogs?

With four regular season games remaining for every team, the race for the four spots in next month’s Ivy League tournament is still wide open. Tonight, all six teams involved in it will face off, with one of the clashes seeing scoring sensation Jordan Dingel and Penn hosting Yale (7:00 pm ET, ESPNews).

The Bulldogs (17-6, 7-3 Ivy) are tied with Princeton (16-7, 7-3 Ivy) atop the conference standings, while the Quakers (14-11, 6-4 Ivy) and Brown (13-10, 6-4 Ivy) are a game back.

Tonight, Penn hosts Yale, while Brown visits Princeton. And in the other key game of the night, Cornell (15-8, 5-5 Ivy) hosts Dartmouth (9-15, 5-5 Ivy).

Will the Quakers take a big leap towards locking up their spot in the conference tournament tonight? Read on for our Yale vs Penn basketball prediction & picks.

Yale vs Penn Odds

Odds are via BetOnline as of Friday, February 17, 2023, at 2:45 pm ET. This article may also include odds from our other recommended legal sports betting sites.

Spread

• Yale -3.5 (-102)
• Penn +3.5 (-120)

Over/Under

• Over 142.5 (-110)
• Under 142.5 (-110)

Moneyline

• Yale -154
• Penn +128

Will Perimeter Shooting Lead Yale to Another Win Over Penn?

When Penn and Yale met at the latter’s home venue on January 21, both teams were an identical 10 of 25 from three as the Bulldogs recorded a 70-63 win over the Quakers.

For Penn, it was one of 11 times this season that they have hit ten or more threes, but such displays have been rarer for Yale, who has hit 10+ threes six times in their 23 games this season.

Yale is third in the Ivy League in scoring (76.0 PPG), first in field goal percentage (48.2%), and second in made field goals per game (28.7).

But perimeter shooting has not been a major part of that, as the Bulldogs rank seventh in the eight-team Ivy (and 184th overall in Division I) with 7.4 made three-pointers per game.

In the first meeting with Penn, all of those threes came in handy, given that the Bulldogs made just 14 of 36 (38.9%) two-point shots, which was an uncharacteristic performance, as they make twos at a clip of 55.7% for the season.

Last month’s matchup was up for grabs into the final couple of minutes of the game before August Mahoney had a three-point play and another basket on back-to-back possessions to take Yale’s advantage from two to seven points with just over a minute left.

There’s a good chance we get another close game, given how both teams have performed since. For Yale, that win was the second in what is now a six-game win streak, while Penn has won five straight since that loss in New Haven, which dropped them to 2-4 in conference play.

Yale vs Penn Prediction and Picks

Bulldogs vs Quakers Prediction: Quakers to win

Bulldogs vs Quakers Picks: Penn +3.5 (Best Value: BetMGM) & Jordan Dingle over 23.5 points (Best Value: BetOnline)

In the first meeting, Jordan Dingle couldn’t have done much more than he did, as he made 6 of 11 threes and was 10 of 17 from the field overall in a 27-point, seven-rebound effort.

Dingle (24.0 PPG, 3.8 RPG), who is second in the country in scoring behind record-chasing Antoine Davis of Detroit Mercy, has been on a nice run in Penn’s run of four straight conference wins, scoring 27, 25, 27, and 25.

Last month’s loss to Yale is one of four this season in which Dingle scored 25+ points in a losing effort, but that is countered by seven wins in such games. Additionally, the Quakers are 7-3 when Dingle has made four or more threes.

I like the value in backing the Quakers to pick up the home win and in Dingle hitting the over on his points prop. At the time of writing, there’s no value in backing the over on his made threes prop (over 2.5 is -167 at Bovada Sportsbook), but if the total moves to 3.5, I highly recommend adding the over to your college basketball selections for the night.