3 Best College Basketball Bets and Player Props for Wednesday 2/26/25

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

Kansas State at UCF

David N'Guessan (KSU) Over 14.5 Points (-120)

Kansas State visits UCF tonight in a matchup showing a tight spread (UCF -4.5) and high total (156.5). Mix in UCF's 15th-ranked adjusted tempo and their Big 12-leading average pace, and this game has all the ingredients we're looking for in targeting player props.

With UCF sporting the Big 12's worst scoring defense, I'm looking to the visiting 'Cats in tonight's prop market. With Coleman Hawkins likely out in a friendly matchup, it's hard to ignore the over on big man David N'Guessan's 14.5-point prop.

N'Guessan is averaging a team-high 12.7 points per game this season, though he's fourth in field goal attempts per game. That's been changing of late, however. Over his last six games, the 6'9" big man has put up 15.2 points on 10.2 field goal attempts and a 21.8% usage rate. He's notched 15 points four times in this stretch, reaching for 20 thrice.

That certainly bodes well for his chances of going over 14.5 points against UCF, but tonight's matchup is the real selling point. In addition to harboring the conference's worst scoring defense, the Knights have permitted by far the most points (per 40 minutes) to Big 12 bigs. They're allowing 20.4 points (per 40) to the position -- well above the conference average (14.9) and that of the next-closest team (Colorado; 16.4).

In turn, 48.8% of the points UCF has allowed in league games have happened inside the paint -- again, well above the conference average (43.5%). They've allowed the Big 12's second-highest rate of at-rim shot attempts (per Bart Torvik), an area N'Guessan's attempted north of 75% of his field goal attempts this season.

With an ideal interior matchup on deck for N'Guessan, I'm more than comfortable with these -120 odds for him to go over 14.5 points. But given how poor UCF is at defending the paint -- and how good N'Guessan has been of late -- it could be worth exploring an alternate market here, too.

David N'Guessan to score 20+ points carries +260 odds on FanDuel Sportsbook.

Penn State at Indiana

Over 149.5 (-115)

Penn State and Indiana meet for the second time this season tonight after the Hoosiers took down the Nittany Lions, 77-71, in early January. Although these teams combined to shoot just 27% from three and 66% from the free throw line, that first matchup still resulted in 148 points. Assuming we get a marginally better shooting performance in tonight's rematch, Penn State-Indiana has a good shot to go over 149.5 total points.

Despite their first meeting's mild scoring output, it was a true tale of two halves. After being tied 29-29 at the half, IU outscored Penn State 48-42 in the final period. That was in part thanks to a pace factor of 74.4 -- comfortably in front of the Big Ten average of 71.6. With Penn State up to 56th nationally in adjusted tempo and both sides in the top half of the conference in average pace, another back-and-forth game feels imminent.

IU is coming off one of its most impressive defensive performances of the season in which they held Purdue's 11th-ranked offense to a season-low 58 points. But the Hoosiers had let up 70-plus points in each of their previous four conference home games. And while they're up to 49th nationally in adjusted defense, IU doesn't really stand out anywhere on that end. They're 135th in defensive effective field goal percentage (eFG%) and outside the top 250 in forced turnover rate.

Penn State isn't nearly as strong on defense, although their biggest strength (forcing turnovers) actually helps the over. They're otherwise outside the top 200 in defensive eFG% and permit an above-average two-point attempt rate -- an area of the floor Indiana attempts 56.5% of shots, the 18th-highest mark in the country.

With KenPom, Bart Torvik, and Haslametrics all projecting this game to total north of 150 points, I'm happy to lay the -115 odds for over 149.5, trusting the second-half scoring barrage of Indiana and Penn State's first date to carry over into tonight's rematch.

SMU at California

SMU -3.5 (-108)

With SMU firmly on the bubble, according to Jerry Palm's latest bracketology, the Mustangs can't afford any slip-ups the rest of the way. That includes tonight's road contest against California -- a team ranked 115th on KenPom. After SMU handed the Golden Bears an 11-point loss the first time they matched up, I like SMU to cover as 3.5-point road favorites tonight.

SMU's uber-efficient offense has largely taken care of business against teams outside the tournament picture (like Cal). The Mustangs -- KenPom's No. 39 team -- have just 7 losses on the year, and none have come against a team ranked worse than 70th on KenPom.

That's been especially true in ACC play where they're 11-5, including 6-1 on the road. They're 8-0 with a +16 average point differential against conference opponents outside the top 100 on KenPom. Seven of those eight wins came by at least six points.

California, meanwhile, hasn't shown much fight against the better teams on their schedule, even at home. In ACC play, Cal is 1-8 with a -17 average point differential against top-100 KenPom teams. All eight losses came by at least five points, with six coming by double-digits.

The Mustangs have fried against the lesser defenses they've faded, too. They're 9-1 against Power Conference teams with defenses outside the top 100, averaging 80.9 points per game with a +14.3 average point differential in such contests.

We didn't see that on full display the first time they faced Cal's 185th-ranked defense, but they still managed 76 points despite going 6-of-20 from three. Considering SMU has the ACC's third-best three-point field goal percentage -- and Cal has the conference's worst three-point defense -- I'd expect a bounce back effort from distance tonight.

That sets the Mustangs up well to cover as 3.5-point favorites -- a spread KenPom, Torvik, and Haslam all expect them to cover with ease. Those three each project SMU to win by at least six points, offering increased confidence in these road favorites.

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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.