College Basketball Daily Fantasy Helper: Friday 1/3/20

College basketball season is entering conference play, and we have a five-game slate tonight.

March Madness is months 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.

Where scoring differs from NBA is in the blocks and steals categories, with each worth two FanDuel points apiece rather than the three you get in daily NBA contests.

Now that you're in the know, we can attack today's main slate, which locks at 7:00 p.m. EST.

Which players should you be targeting, and why?

Guards

Myles Powell, Seton Hall ($7,800) - Powell returned from a two-game injury absence and dropped 27 real-life points on the DePaul Blue Demons. The Seton Hall Pirates' guard owns a usage rate of 35.6% and takes 40.2% of the Pirates field goal attempts, according to KenPom.com. On tap is matchup with a struggling Georgetown Hoyas defense (97th in Ken Pom's adjusted defense metric).

Nate Pierre-Louis, Temple ($6,900) - Pierre-Louis is a valuable DFS player due to his ability to contribute in every statistical category. The Temple Owls' best defensive player averages 11.2 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 2.8 blocks/steals in 30.3 minutes. Up next is a matchup with the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Tulsa struggles on both ends of the court, which should benefit Pierre-Louis and his ability to stuff the stat sheet. Tulsa is 131st in Ken Pom's adjusted offense metric while they're 133rd in Ken Pom's adjusted defense metric.

Quinton Rose, Temple ($6,500) - Rose leads the Owls in minutes (31.1 per game), points (14.3), assists (4.0), and field goal attempts (12.9). Rose provides a stable floor (22.9 FanDuel points in 11 straight games) while also offering significant upside (three games with at least 34 FanDuel points).

Dazon Ingram, Central Florida ($5,600) - While Ingram isn't a prolific scorer (9.4 points per game), he's a monster on the glass (7.5 rebounds per game). He also leads the Central Florida Knights in assists (3.9 per game). Add in the increased minutes as of late (35.5 minutes in the last two games), and Ingram is a solid play for at his cheap-ish price tag.

Caleb Mills, Houston ($4,600) - The freshman point guard is logging a ton of minutes and taking a lot of shots. Mills has played at least 23 minutes while attempting at least 11 shots in six consecutive games. His price tag has not accounted for his increased minutes and role. He's one of the best values on the slate.

Dre Fuller Jr., Central Florida ($4,400) - The Central Florida guard opened the season rarely leaving the bench. However, Fuller Jr. has seen his role increase as the season progresses. He's scored at least 10 real-life points in six out of the last seven games. Fuller Jr. played a season high 34 minutes in the Knights' last game. He's simply underpriced for his role.

Forwards

Omer Yurtseven, Georgetown ($8,000) - Yurtseven leads the slate in fantasy points per minute (1.28). The Georgetown center has to play a ton of minutes due to the Hoyas lack of depth in the frontcourt (played 29 minutes or more in four out of the last six games). The former five-star has scored at least 14 points and recorded at least eight rebounds in seven consecutive games.

Kaleb Wesson, Ohio State ($6,800) - The Ohio State Buckeyes' star forward is a dominant force on both ends of the court. Wesson is averaging 14.2 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.6 blocks/steals in 26.2 minutes. His minutes should spike up (to 30 minutes) against the Wisconsin Badgers as the game should be competitive and Wesson will be needed on the court to guard the Badgers' best player (Nate Reuvers).

Myles Johnson, Rutgers ($5,800) - Johnson recorded 40.8 FanDuel points and 36.6 FanDuel points in the Rutgers Scarlet Knights' last two games, yet his price tag remains under $6,000. His hot streak should continue against the Nebraska Cornhuskers' swiss cheese defense. The Cornhuskers are 148th in Ken Pom's adjusted defense metric.

EJ Liddell, Ohio State ($4,900) - The one thing that holds Liddell back from being a solid fantasy performer is the lack of minutes. He's logged no more than 21 minutes in each of the last seven games. That's about to change as Liddell should see a lot of run with Kyle Young out tonight. The Buckeyes' forward is averaging 0.98 fantasy points per minute. At his current production, he'll need to log 25 minutes to pay of his current price tag (assuming value is 4x of player's price tag). With Young sidelined, Liddell should push for 25 to 30 minutes.

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.