3 Best College Basketball Bets and Player Props for Saturday 1/25/25

The college basketball season is rolling along, giving us plentiful betting options with so many teams in action each day.

Fortunately, we have abundant tools available that can aid our chances of finding good betting value. Bart Torvik and KenPom are excellent sources that give insights into team-level efficiency, and Sports Reference provides a wide range of useful team stats, as well.

Let's check out FanDuel Sportsbook's college basketball odds and select some of the best bets of the day by utilizing the mentioned tools.

Please note lines are subject to change throughout the day after this article is published.

Today's Best College Basketball Betting Picks

Kentucky at Vanderbilt

Jason Edwards (VAN) Over 16.5 Points (-106)

No. 9 Kentucky hits the road for a date with Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon, putting Commodores leading scorer Jason Edwards in a nice spot to go over his 16.5-point prop.

Edwards averages 17.4 points per game on the year, though his scoring average would be higher had he not been limited with an injury at the start of conference play. But he's averaged 28.5 minutes over his last four contests, and that minute load bodes well for his chances of clearing 16.5 points.

Across 16 games where Edwards played at least 20 minutes, he's averaged 19.5 points per game on a 31.3% usage rate. He notched at least 17 points in 10 of those. Nine came against defenses outside the top 50 on KenPom; he cleared 16.5 points in six.

Kentucky's down to 80th in adjusted defense by KenPom's metrics, and they've let up an SEC-worst 88.6 points per game in conference play. Though some of that is thanks to UK ranking second in average pace during the conference season, they have easily the worst defensive rating in the league.

On top of that, the Wildcats have surrendered a mind-boggling 52% three-point attempt rate to opposing SEC teams. If that was their mark for the entire season, it would be the second highest in the entire country.

Again, that's a plus for Edwards -- someone who's hoisting over 5 threes per game and shooting 39% from beyond the arc this season.

In what's expected to be a high-scoring game against the leakiest defense in the conference, Jason Edwards over 16.5 points is worth considering.

Houston at Kansas

Under 129.5 Points (-110)

No. 7 Houston visits Allen Fieldhouse to take on 12th-ranked Kansas in a game that has all the makings of a barnburner. Even with this total sitting at a low-129.5, there's value in the under.

Houston and Kansas are both top five in KenPom's adjusted defense, and neither plays at a very fast pace. The Jayhawks are just 149th in adjusted tempo while the Cougars are down at 361st. That's out of 364 teams, mind you.

That's resulted in plenty of low-scoring games now that we're in conference play. Houston's Big 12 games have averaged just 124.3 total points, while Kansas' have averaged 131 -- and that's with them turning up the pace in league action.

The Jayhawks have the most potential to push this game over if they can dictate the pace, but that hasn't happened when they've faced teams as slow as Houston. KU's four games against Power Conference teams in the bottom 100 of adjusted tempo have only averaged 124.8 points.

Bart Torvik's model projects this game to finish with just 121 total points, further pointing me toward the under here.

Tennessee at Auburn

Auburn -7.5 (-104)

This Tennessee-Auburn line may move ahead of it's 8:30pm ET tip-off, contingent on star forward Johni Broome's status. Once the favorite to win the Wooden Award, Auburn's star big man has missed the last two games with an ankle injury. He reportedly wants to play after practicing in limited fashion on Friday but remains a game-time decision.

Even with his status up in the air, I'm happy to lay the points with Auburn at home.

The Tigers are a consensus top-two team across the most popular predictive metrics, and they've lost just a single game all season. They have KenPom's top adjusted offense and the fourth-best SEC offensive rating despite missing Broome for 2-of-5 league games.

Auburn has been downright mean at home, with and without Broome in the lineup. They blasted Missouri (31st on KenPom) by 16 in their SEC home opener before routing Mississippi State (23rd) by 22 sans Broome. Though the Tigers are coming off a narrow win over Georgia, they've yet to win a home game by fewer than 15 points this season.

Now, Tennessee will be the best team to visit Neville Arena to this point, as the Vols are 6th overall on KenPom and the AP Poll. But Tennessee hasn't played like a top-10 team when they've been forced to hit the road. They're just 3-2 with a -0.9 net rating in true road games, and their average point differential is a mere +5.9 even when you add in their neutral-site contests.

The Vols have averaged fewer than 70 points away from their home venue. That's not going to cut it against an offense as strong as Auburn's, even if they're third nationally in adjusted defense. We saw that play out when Florida (5th on KenPom) cooked them by 30 at the beginning of the month, and I fear a similar outcome could be in the cards against Auburn.

It doesn't hurt that Bart Torvik's model projects the Tigers to win by 9.8 points, so this is a spot we should feel comfortable laying the points with Auburn -7.5. This line would likely move further in Auburn's direction if Broome is active, but Tennessee's lackluster offense should keep this spread in play even if the Tigers' star sits.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.