3 Best College Basketball Bets and Player Props for Tuesday 1/7/24

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

Tennessee at Florida

Chaz Lanier (TENN) Over 19.5 Points (-125)

Tuesday's slate is chock-full of high-profile matchups, but the game of the night is easily No. 1 Tennessee at No. 8 Florida. The top-ranked Vols are the final undefeated team in college basketball while conference rival Florida is fresh off its first loss of the year.

The home Gators are 3.5-point favorites tonight. I see some value in Tennessee as an underdog, but my preferred way to back the Vols is via leading scorer Chaz Lanier's points prop.

Lanier is averaging 20.3 points per game on the year, pacing Tennessee with a 26.1% usage rate. He ranks fifth among high-major players with 15.7 field goal attempts per game. We just saw Lanier reach for 29 points in Tennessee's win over Arkansas, and tonight presents another strong matchup.

Florida is a stalwart offensively, but the Gators are just 36th nationally in KenPom's adjusted defensive efficiency rankings. They're also 86th nationally in adjusted tempo, so this is a sizable pace-up spot for the Vols (297th).

Tennessee hasn't faced many fast-paced teams yet, but Lanier's done well when they have. Against four top-100 teams by average possession length, Lanier notched 29, 19, 17, and 19 points. Florida is 13th in average possession length.

This 19.5-point prop is well within his range of outcomes, too. Lanier has scored at least 20 points in seven of 14 games this season, including five of eight where he's played 30-plus minutes.

That bodes well for his chances of going over 19.5 points as his minutes have slowly ticked up as the season's gone on. Over his last three games, Lanier has played 33, 37, and 35 minutes -- his three highest minute totals of the year. He exceeded 20 points in all three games.

As such, this is an intriguing spot to target Lanier over 19.5 points.

SMU at North Carolina

Over 166.5 Total Points (-115)

The highest over/under on the slate belongs to an SMU-North Carolina date in Chapel Hill, and while 166.5 is certainly a large total, it may not be high enough.

For starters, SMU and UNC both love to get up and down. The Tar Heels rank seventh nationally in adjusted tempo while the Mustangs are 79th. They're both in the top 30 in scoring and adjusted offense, but neither side defends particularly well. North Carolina has allowed the 28th-most points per game (79.2) and ranks just 56th in adjusted defense. SMU hasn't let up quite as many points, but they're outside the top 100 in adjusted defense.

As you'd expect, SMU and North Carolina have played plenty of high-scoring games this season. The Mustangs are 10-4 toward the over while nine of the Tar Heels' 15 games have gone over.

That's been especially prevalent against similarly fast-paced teams. North Carolina (seventh in average possession length) has faced six teams inside the top 100 of average possession length. Those games averaged 171 total points, and four of the six went over tonight's 166.5-point over/under. SMU (41st in average possession length) has played five such games -- two of which went over tonight's total.

I'm expecting plenty of scoring in this one -- a sentiment Bart Torvik's model shares. Torvik projects this game to finish 90-84 in favor of the Tar Heels, resulting in 174 total points. I'll back the model and even consider targeting an alternate total. Over 169.5 total points carries +118 odds on FanDuel Sportsbook.

Cincinnati at Baylor

Simas Lukosius (CIN) Over 9.5 Points (-125)

The Big 12 figures to be an absolute bloodbath with conference heavyweights going at it nearly every night. That's the case when Cincinnati and Baylor square off in Waco tonight as both sides are top 30 on KenPom while boasting 10-3 records. Neither team has proven especially consistent thus far, so I'm wary to back either side of this 5.5-point spread.

But the Bears' leaky defense opens the door for some player props on the Cincinnati side, and I've got my eyes on Bearcats sharpshooter Simas Lukosius' points prop.

The 6-foot-8 senior has taken a step forward this season, posting career-best marks for points (13.6), field goal percentage (46.3%) and three-point percentage (40.5%). He's one of three Bearcats hoisting between 10 and 11 field goal attempts per game.

That's helped him crack double-digits in 10 of 13 games this season. Now, Lukosius's three single digit scoring nights have come in Cincy's last three games, during which he's failed to exceed seven shot attempts in all three games. But he's still notched 25, 31, and 29 minutes in those outings, so we shouldn't be too concerned with his role going forward, especially with the Bearcats losing two straight.

Baylor presents the right kind of matchup to get him back on track. The Bears are just 51st in adjusted defense, and they're outside the top 100 nationally in scoring defense. They've been especially susceptible to the three-ball -- where Lukosius has attempted over half his shots this season. Among 92 high-major teams, the Bears have permitted the 20th-highest rate of three-point attempts while allowing the second highest percentage from deep.

That makes Simas Lukosius 3+ made threes an intriguing wager at +102 odds, too.

Both props are in play as the Lithuanian sharpshooter has the right matchup to bounce back tonight.

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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.