Draftkings NCAA Basketball Picks: Purdue vs. Houston 3/28/25
Draftkings picks for tonight's Purdue vs. Houston matchup.
Purdue Boilermakers vs. Houston Cougars
March 28, 2025 10:09 pm EDT
This Friday night, the NCAA presents Draftkings basketball fans with a tournament matchup featuring the Purdue Boilermakers and the Houston Cougars. Let’s take a look at this game from a DFS perspective.
Before we dive into the Purdue Boilermakers vs. Houston Cougars game let’s review the rules for the Draftkings single game showdown contest.
Draftkings Single Game Showdown Contest Rules
You have $50,000 to utilize on five players from either team. However, one of those players will be designated as your team captain. The captain accumulates 1.5 times the standard fantasy points. Additionally, the captain is 1.5 times the standard cost of the flex position.
The remaining four players in your lineup will receive the standard fantasy points. Having stated that, it is highly important for you to identify the correct player for your captain position if you hope to win a large field DFS GPP (guaranteed prize pool) showdown contest.
If you have additional questions regarding the rules for the single game showdown contest, I recommend that you check out the Draftkings website for more details.
*I recommend that all readers review the starting lineups for both teams prior to setting your DFS lineup for this one game slate.
Here are my Draftkings picks for this evening’s Purdue vs. Houston matchup.
Draftkings NCAA Basketball Showdown Picks
Captain-LJ Cryer, Guard, Houston Cougars $10,400
Houston guard LJ Cryer has been a consistent scorer for the Houston Cougars, contributing significantly to their success this season. Cryer is known for his ability to score from anywhere on the court and his impressive free throw accuracy.
In the 36 games that guard LJ Cryer has played for the Houston Cougars in the 2024 NCAA season (including postseason games), Cryer is averaging a robust 15.6 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 0.9 steals a game.
Looking closer at the data just presented, in the 36 games that LJ Cryer has played this season, Cryer has compiled a 41.9% field goal percentage, a 42.8% three-point percentage and a 91.3% free throw percentage.
More recently, in the Houston Cougars 91-76 win over the Gonzaga Bulldogs six days ago, Houston guard LJ Cryer certainly played at a high level. Let me be more specific. Cryer accumulated 30 points, two rebounds, three assists and one steal in the Cougars victory over the Gonzaga Bulldogs.
As I noted in the rules section above, selecting the correct player at the captain position for a Draftkings NCAA showdown lineup is absolutely vital if you hope to win a large field GPP (guaranteed prize pool) DFS contest. Keep that in mind as you construct your lineups.
In my view, LJ Cryer presents the best fantasy value of any player on this one game DFS slate. Having stated that, I am rolling with Houston Cougars guard LJ Cryer at the captain position for this one game Draftkings NCAA Showdown contest.
Flex Plays
Braden Smith, Guard, Purdue Boilermakers $11,800
Purdue guard Braden Smith has undoubtedly been the driving force behind the Purdue Boilermakers success on the basketball court this season. Let’s take a look at Smith’s relevant player data from this season to better shed light on my previous statement.
In the 35 games Braden Smith has played for the Purdue Boilermakers in the 2024 NCAA regular season, Smith is averaging a rather impressive 16.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, 8.5 assists, 2.2 steals and 0.3 blocks a game.
Additional flex plays I like to perform well in this NCAA tournament game (Draftkings price noted): Trey Kauffman-Renn, Forward, (Purdue Boilermakers) $12,400: Milos Uzan, Guard (Houston Cougars) $9,200: Fletcher Loyer, Guard (Purdue Boilernakers) $6,000.
