Draftkings NCAA Basketball Picks: Purdue vs. Illinois 3/7/25
Draftkings picks for tonight's Purdue vs. Illinois matchup.
Purdue vs. Illinois
March 7, 2025 8:00 pm EDT
On Friday night, the NCAA presents Draftkings basketball fans with a regular season matchup featuring the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Purdue Boilermakers. Let’s take a look at this game from a DFS perspective.
Before we dive into the Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Purdue Boilermakers game let’s review the rules for 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. Illinois matchup.
Draftkings NCAA College Basketball Picks
Captain-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 the 2024 NCAA regular season to better shed light on my previous statement.
In the 30 games Braden Smith has played for the Purdue Boilermakers in the 2024 NCAA regular season, Smith is averaging a rather impressive 16.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 8.7 assists and 2.4 steals a game.
Looking closer at the data just presented, in the 30 games that Braden Smith has played for the Purdue Boilermakers this season, Smith has compiled a 44.6% field goal percentage, a 40.6% three-point percentage and an 83.3% free throw percentage.
More recently, in the Purdue Boilermakers 76-66 win over the UCLA Bruins eight days ago, Purdue guard Braden Smith certainly played at a high level. More specifically, Braden Smith amassed 23 points, three rebounds, eight assists and four steals in the Boilermakers victory over the UCLA Bruins.
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 for this one game Draftkings slate.
In my view, Braden Smith is the most likely player to post the most Draftkings points in this NCAA regular season game. With that said, I am backing Purdue Boilermakers guard Braden Smith at the captain position for this one game Draftkings NCAA Showdown contest.
Flex Plays
Trey Kauffman-Renn, Guard, Purdue Boilermakers $10,600
In addition to guard Braden Smith, Trey Kauffman-Renn has been a standout performer for Purdue this season. Having stated that, how has the talented forward played from a statistical perspective?
In the 30 games that Trey Kauffman-Renn has played for the Purdue Boilermakers in the 2024 NCAA regular season, Kaufman-Renn is averaging 19.4 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.3 blocks a game.
In conclusion, I fully expect Trey Kauffman-Renn to continue his outstanding play in this NCAA regular season game.
Additional flex plays I like to perform well in this game (Draftkings price noted): Kasparas Jakucionis, Guard (Illinois Fighting Illini) $9,800: Tomislav Ivisic, Forward (Illinois Fighting Illini) $8,400.
