The college basketball season is beginning to hit its full stride. Several teams have made an early case for why they must be viewed as national championship contenders, while plenty of others have not lived up to early expectations on the year. This freshman class is also shaping up to be one of the most impressive in several seasons, with multiple players expected to establish themselves as cornerstone NBA talents as the season progresses. There is plenty of notable CBB action across tonight’s Dec. 10th slate. Here are my top three player prop picks ahead of the night’s games.
Best CBB Player Prop Bets:
Trey Kaufman-Renn to Record 25+ Points & Rebounds (+115)
The Purdue Boilermakers will take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers tonight as 20.5-point favorites on DraftKings Sportsbook tonight. Trey Kaufman-Renn has helped set the tone for this Purdue team, averaging 13.9 points and a Big Ten-best 10.7 rebounds per game. He has also not quite reached his offensive peak just yet, with Kaufman-Renn averaging 20.1 points per game last season for the Boilermakers.
Minnesota enters with a 5-4 record and some significant offensive struggles. It is averaging just 73.4 points per game, which ranks 274th out of the 365 D1 teams. Minnesota also ranks 154th in field-goal percentage, 254th in three-point percentage and just 157th in rebounds per game.
Expect there to be a clear path for Kaufman-Renn to assert himself on the boards and for there to be plenty of rebounding opportunities due to Minnesota’s shooting struggles. The 2024-25 All-Big Ten member is looking to bounce back from his worst performance of the season against Iowa State. Kaufman-Renn was limited to four points on 1-for-8 shooting along with nine rebounds. But he has recorded 25+ combined points and rebounds in three games this season and in 21 of the 36 games last year. Expect him to be active throughout tonight with a matchup advantage, wipe away the poor previous game, and pour in 25+ combined points and rebounds tonight.
Braden Smith to Record 10+ Assists (+110)
Helping to set the table for Kaufman-Renn, Braden Smith has done an admirable job scaling up as a true floor general throughout his collegiate career. Coming off a consensus All-American season, Smith is coming off back-to-back years in which he led the Big Ten in assists at 7.5 and 8.7 over the past two seasons. Through his opening nine games this year, Smith is averaging 13.1 points and 8.8 assists per contest. He has recorded 10+ assists in four games.
While the offense has been a larger source of its struggles, Minnesota is vulnerable to coming apart defensively as well. It ranks 151st in opponent field-goal percentage and 148th in assists allowed per game. Smith also finished with 20 points and 10 assists against this Minnesota team in the matchup last season.
Smith is attempting 11.1 FGA per game so far this season, which is a step back from the 13.1 he averaged last year. He has looked most confident running the offense and setting up teammates, with this Purdue team returning plenty of continuity with 79.6% of their scoring production from last year. Smith has had fewer than seven assists once this season and has eclipsed 10 in three of his past six games. Purdue is another class of team compared to Minnesota and will be hungry to bounce back from its first loss of the year against Iowa State. Look for Braden Smith to set the tone for the Boilermakers and tally 10+ assists for the fourth time this season.
Ven-Allen Lubin to Record 13+ Points (-135)
Tipping off at the same time, NC State will be taking on Liberty University. Will Wade’s squad is off to a 6-3 start to the season, with Ven-Allen Lubin playing a significant role in the respectable start. Lubin is averaging 13.3 points and 7.7 rebounds while leading the ACC with a 67.6% field-goal percentage and 69.9% effective field-goal percentage.
It has been a turbulent career path for Lubin, who is on his fourth college basketball team in four years. He averaged 6.2 points per game in his first season at Notre Dame, 12.3 points the following year at Vanderbilt, 8.7 points at North Carolina last year, and is dropping 13.3 points per game on the season at NC State. Lubin has scored 23 points in two of his last three games. After averaging just 3.7 field-goal attempts per game in the first three matchups, Lubin has attempted 10+ FGA in three of his last five games.
Liberty is coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance last year and is 6-2 to start the season. This will be its toughest matchup of the season, with its pair of losses coming against Towson and Bradley University. Lubin is listed as 6-foot-8 with some high-level athleticism. Liberty has two players listed at under six feet, with both ranking in the top three in minutes, and no player over 6-foot-7 is in its regular rotation. Expect Lubin to assert himself with his size and athleticism and continue pouring it on for NC State. He is playing with a high level of confidence offensively and expect this to carry over against an inferior opponent as Lubin scores 13+ for the fourth time in the past six games.
