College Basketball Daily Fantasy Helper: Thursday 12/2/21

College basketball is back, and we have a three-game slate today.

March Madness is a ways away, but you can get in all the college hoops hype by playing daily contests at FanDuel today. If you've played NBA DFS before, it's quite simple: pick a total of eight players -- four guards, three forwards, and one utility spot you can use for either position. Stay within the $50,000 salary cap and field the team you think will score the most fantasy points.

Scoring differs from NBA in the blocks and steals categories; each is worth two FanDuel points apiece rather than the three you get in NBA contests.

Now that you're in the know, we can attack today's slate, which locks at 7:00 p.m. EST. All stats come from KenPom unless otherwise noted.

Which players should you be targeting and why?

The Washington Huskies at Arizona Wildcats matchup has been postponed. Do not roster anyone from that game.

Guards

Darius McGhee, Liberty ($7,600) - The case for McGhee is that he plays a ton of minutes and is a great bet to take plenty of shots. McGhee is posting an eye-opening 31.6% usage rate. Additionally, his shot rate (percentage of the team's shots by the player when the player is on the floor) of 36.3% is amongst the highest in college basketball. The senior has played 77 out of 80 possible minutes over the Liberty Flames last two games.

Jordan Shepherd, California ($6,700) - Shepherd is playing a ton of minutes (averaging 32.3 minutes per game) and leads the California Golden Bears with a 28.1% usage rate. However, he is only connecting on 36.3% of his field goal attempts. Shepherd's field goal percentage was over 45% in each of the last two seasons. We haven't seen Shepherd's ceiling yet. He could be in for a big-time performance against an Oregon State Beavers squad that has lost six games in a row.

Keegan McDowell, Liberty ($5,800) - After a slow start to the season, McDowell is heating up. Over the last two games, the Flames guard is averaging 16.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 0.5 blocks in 31.5 minutes of action. McDowell leads the Flames in offensive rating (135.8).

DaJuan Gordon, Missouri ($5,100) - Gordon's box scores have been muted due to his 34.5% field goal percentage. Despite that, he is an appealing option at guard. Gordon has the ability to contribute in every major statistical category. The junior owns a 17.4% defensive rebounding rate, 13.8% assist rate, 1.6% block rate, and a 2.7% steal rate. Gordon could blow away his salary if he has a hot shooting night.

Joel Brown, California ($4,500) - Brown is a solid source of salary relief. He plays a ton of minutes and contributes in enough statistical categories to make an impact. The junior point guard leads the California Golden Bears with an average of 33.6 minutes per game. He ranks fourth amongst the Golden Bears in points per game (7.1). Additionally, Brown is posting a 10.8% defensive rebounding rate, 17.1% assist rate, and a 1.3% steal rate. I plan to approach this slate by building through two-to-three low-salaried players (under $5,000) in order to roster two-to-three high-salaried players (over $7,500).

Forwards

Andre Kelly, California ($8,100) - Kelly is the Golden Bears' leader and best offensive player. He leads California with an offensive rating of 132.7. Additionally, he is an outstanding rebounder with an offensive rebounding rate of 7.8% and a defensive rebounding rate of 26.8%. The matchup is a good one for Kelly. Oregon State is 124th in defensive efficiency. Additionally, he should be busy on the glass. Oregon State ranks 231st in effective field goal percentage.

Kobe Brown, Missouri ($7,300) - Brown's rates are elite, and he is coming off a career game. The Missouri Tigers forward exploded for 20 points and 23 rebounds against Paul Quinn College. The junior leads the Tigers with a 25.6% usage rate. He also owns a 22.7% defensive rebounding rate, 19.4% assist rate, 4.1% block rate, and a 2.6% steal rate. I will also note that he's an extremely efficient scorer. Brown has an effective field goal percentage of 57.5%. While it's not Paul Quinn College, Liberty's defense is vulnerable. The Flames are 119th in defensive efficiency.

Warith Alatishe, Oregon State ($6,600) - Alatishe struggled in the Beavers' last game as he only made one out of eight field goal attempts. Prior to that game, Alatishe struggled with foul trouble. Consequently, we can roster Oregon State's leading scorer and rebounder at a bit of a discount. The senior averaged 26.5 FanDuel points over the Beavers first five games.

Grant Anticevich, California ($5,400) - The senior has played well as of late. Over the last two games, Anticevich is averaging 14 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in 31.5 minutes of action. Looking even further out, Anticevich is averaging 10.2 field goal attempts per game this season. He is one of my favorite values plays on the slate.

Blake Preston, Liberty ($4,800) - Preston will be a contrarian play on Thursday night. His playing time will keep his popularity depressed. The junior is only averaging 13.6 minutes per game. However, he is producing 0.99 FanDuel points per minute. If Liberty's frontcourt gets into foul trouble at Missouri, perhaps Preston's playing time spikes. On a two-game slate, Preston is one way to differentiate our lineup.

Matthew Hiatt is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Matthew Hiatt also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username easternmh. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.