College Basketball Single-Game Daily Fantasy Helper: Friday 2/5/21 (Maryland at Penn State)
In a traditional FanDuel college basketball lineup, you have a $60,000 salary cap to roster eight players. In the single-game setup, the salary cap is the same, but the lineup requirements are different.
You select five players of any position, but not all lineup slots are the same. One of your players will be your MVP, and his FanDuel points are multiplied by two. You also select a STAR player, whose production is multiplied by 1.5, and a PRO, whose points are multiplied by 1.2. Two utility players round out the roster, and they don't receive a multiplier to their production.
This makes the five players you select important in more than one way, as you need to focus on slotting in the best plays in the multiplier slots rather than just nailing the best overall plays of the game.
All stats come from KenPom unless otherwise noted.
Player Breakdowns
At The Top
Donta Scott, Maryland ($12,500) - Scott been a major force on both ends of the court for the Maryland Terrapins. He is producing a slate-leading .85 FanDuel points per minute. He encounters a Penn State Nittany Lions frontcourt that has allowed impressive box scores to opposing post players as of late. Over the last three games, Ohio State Buckeyes forward EJ Liddell scored 22 points and grabbed 7 rebounds in 29 minutes of action. After that game, Penn State coughed up 13 points and 10 rebounds to Wisconsin Badgers forward Tyler Wahl (32 minutes). In the latest game, Penn State allowed Wisconsin forward Micah Potter to tally 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 assists in 21 minutes.
Aaron Wiggins, Maryland ($11,500) - Wiggins leads the Terrapins with a 24.3% usage rate and he's taking 26.0% of the team's shots when he's on the floor (also a team-high). The junior's 18.7% assist rate ranks second amongst all Terrapins. He's also a willing rebounder, as evidenced by his 16.0% defensive rebounding rate. Additionally, he's rarely left the court as he's logged 35-plus minutes in each of the last three games. I suspect that Wiggins and Scott will be popular MVP candidates.
Myreon Jones, Penn State ($11,000) - Jones is averaging 12.7 field goal attempts per game and his playing time is trending in a positive direction after a slight dip. The junior has played 32 and 34 minutes in each of the last two games, respectively. Before the previous two games, he was held to 27 minutes of playing time or less in two out of three. Jones leads the Nittany Lions in scoring (15.6 points per game). He also averages 2.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.4 steals per game.
In The Middle
Eric Ayala, Maryland ($10,500) - I want to start by saying I wouldn't be surprised if one of the players listed in the middle tier ends up recording the highest fantasy score on this single-game slate. Ayala's appeal comes from playing a ton of minutes and being efficient with the ball when he gets his chances. The junior guard is averaging 36.7 minutes per game over the last three games. He has a 54.7% effective field goal percentage. Additionally, he's a willing rebounder and passer. Ayala has a 10.6% defensive rebounding rate and a 15.0% assist rate (third on the team).
Izaiah Brockington, Penn State ($10,500) - Brockington's rates are pretty similar to Myreon Jones. Brockington has the edge in usage rate (24.4% to Jones' 23.4%), Jones has the edge in assist rate (14.4% to Brockington's 11.5%), and Brockington has the edge in defensive rebounding rate (14.7% to Jones' 8.2%). However, the one concern with Brockington is that his minutes were cut significantly in the Nittany Lions last game (26 minutes). If that was a fluke, Brockington could make for a fantastic play at his salary. The junior had logged 33-plus minutes in the previous four games.
Seth Lundy, Penn State ($10,000) - I don't believe Lundy will be popular after the Nittany Lions' last two games. The Penn State forward struggled in each of the last two games while also seeing his playing time cut. If he were to start out hot, there's a chance his minutes could spike up again; he played 32-plus minutes in three straight games prior to the last two games. Over those three games, Lundy averaged an impressive 31.1 FanDuel points per game.
At The Bottom
Darryl Morsell, Maryland ($9,000) - The Terrapins have a tight rotation and they're not afraid to have all five starters log heavy minutes. Morsell is averaging 33.7 minutes per game over the last three games. The senior leads all Terrapins with a 20.2% assist rate; his 21.7% usage rate is the second-highest on the team. Maryland also receives a hefty pace bump against the defensive-deficient Penn State Nittany Lions (86th-ranked defense nationally). Maryland is 306th in tempo nationally while Penn State is 119th.
Jamari Wheeler, Penn State ($9,000) - Wheeler's 13.3% usage rate leaves a lot to be desired. However, he does lead Penn State with a 20.9 assist rate. In addition, he plays a ton of minutes. Wheeler had logged at least 30 minutes in four consecutive games prior to fouling out in 23 minutes of action in the Nittany Lions last game against Wisconsin.
Hakim Hart, Maryland ($8,000) - The players listed at $8,000 and under are all very thin. Hart is the one player in this salary range that is likely to receive 20-plus minutes of playing time. The sophomore is averaging 26.7 minutes per game in B1G Ten conference play. He has been an effective shooter this season as he has an effective field goal percentage of 57.1%. Additionally, he owns a 114.3 offensive rating, which shows that he can be effective in limited playing time.
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.
