Ad Disclosure
Tuesday’s college basketball slate features 4 high-profile SEC games, including a top-25 matchup between Mississippi State and Alabama.
However, that’s far from the only intriguing game of the night in the Southeastern Conference. Florida at Georgia is a rivalry game that could have NCAA Tournament seeding implications for both teams. Tennessee and Mizzou also need wins over LSU and South Carolina, respectively, in order to keep pace in the race for a double bye in the SEC Tournament.
Best DFS picks for Feb. 25
Below are 3 picks for Tuesday night’s SEC action that can be found on Underdog Fantasy. If you haven’t signed up with Underdog yet, be sure to use our exclusive Underdog Fantasy promo code SDS to earn up to $1,000 in bonus cash when you join!
Mark Sears higher than 2.5 3-pointers
Mark Sears appears to have broken out of his mid-season shooting slump. From Jan. 14 through Feb. 15, Sears made just 32% of his attempts from 3-point range. But in his last 2 contests, Sears is a more-respectable 8-of-19 (42.5%) from beyond the arc. He’s cleared this projection in both of those games as well.
This appears to be a particularly good matchup as well for Sears. Mississippi State is one of the worst teams in the country when it comes to defending the perimeter. The Bulldogs rank 299th in 3-point percentage defense and 311th in 3-point attempt rate defense, per KenPom. Sears leads Alabama with 6.5 3-point attempts per game during conference play and I expect that trend to continue on Tuesday night vs. Mississippi State.
Will Richard higher than 1.5 3-pointers
Georgia has lost 4 straight games, including the last 3 by double-digits. The Bulldogs’ grip on an at-large berth may be slipping as they enter the home stretch of the regular season. To make matters worse, they’ll now face a Florida team that beat them by 30 earlier this season in Gainesville.
I like Will Richard higher than 1.5 3-pointers in this matchup. He made 4 of them during the first meeting against Georgia earlier this season. Florida center Alex Condon is also questionable for this matchup — if he doesn’t play, that’s going to open up more opportunities for other players in the lineup. Richard has made multiple 3-pointers in 6 of his last 9 games. He’s sinking 3-pointers at a 43% clip over that span. Georgia is 12th in 3-point percentage defense this season, but it ranks just 206th in 3-point attempt rate defense. The opportunity should be there for Richard and I expect him to take it.
Collin Murray-Boyles higher than 23.5 points+rebounds
I love this Mizzou team, but I think there’s an edge here on Collin Murray-Boyles’ points+rebounds projection. Murray-Boyles has been excellent this season for a lackluster South Carolina team and is certainly a candidate to be a lottery pick in this year’s NBA Draft. He’s best on defense, but his offense has been pretty good, too. He’s averaging 15 points and 8 rebounds per game during SEC play, which is in line with this projection.
But Murray-Boyles is capable of exploiting Mizzou’s biggest weakness: free throw rate defense. Since Jan. 1, the Tigers rank 322nd nationally in free throw rate defense, per BartTorvik. They’re one of the worst teams in the SEC when it comes to sending players to the charity stripe. Murray-Boyles takes 5 freebies a game on average vs. SEC opponents, so there’s room here for him to get an extra couple of points in this matchup. I also like Murray-Boyles as a rebounder against a Missouri team that’s just middle-of-the-pack on the defensive glass.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
