College Basketball Best Bets & Player Props Tonight: Expert Picks for Tuesday (Nov. 18)

The State Farm Champions Classic is always one of the premier events of the early college basketball season, and is the backdrop of several of our college basketball best bets and player props today.

My college basketball expert picks dive into the marquee doubleheader at Madison Square Garden featuring some of the sport’s top blue bloods, as No. 17 Michigan State meets No. 12 Kentucky, and No. 24 Kansas faces No. 2 Duke. I back a player prop on Kentucky’s leading scorer, while finding value in another prop on one of the country’s best freshmen, Duke’s Cameron Boozer.

🏀 College basketball best bets & player props: Nov. 18

See all of our experts' college basketball picks based on the latest college basketball odds.

💰 College basketball expert picks today

🐶  Rhode Island vs. Yale prediction: Yale -8.5 (-110 via BetMGM) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Yale was unanimously voted as the Ivy League’s preseason favorite, as the reigning regular season and tournament champions returned 61.4% of the minutes from last year’s squad (fourth-most in DI). That continuity has paid off with three straight wins, the first two by an average of 32 points in consecutive road games.

Yale ranks third in the country with a 50.8% 3-point shooting percentage. And the disciplined Bulldogs should not play into Rhode Island’s strength defensively, with the Rams owning a top-10 turnover rate (25.7%).

Yale is looking for redemption for an 84-78 road loss at Rhode Island last year, but it comes against an entirely new Rams roster that returned zero production from 2024-25. 

This is a four-star play, as the Bulldogs have covered 66.7% of their non-conference games (10-5-1 ATS) since the start of last season.

BetMGM is one of the best sports betting sites charging the standard -110 juice at 52.38% implied odds for this wager. If Yale covers, my $10 winning wager would net $9.09 in profits.

⬇️  Little Rock vs. Murray State prediction: Under 161 (-110 via Caesars) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Little Rock employs a unique 1-1-2-1 tandem stack zone defense that is difficult to prepare for. While the Trojans still allow a high transition rate, which is dangerous when facing Murray State’s top 16 tempo, I expect Little Rock to have success in the half-court against Murray State.

The Trojans had a top-70 defense in non-conference games last year. And now they have a healthy 6-foot-9 Tuongthach Gatkek manning the top of the zone, which cannot be understated since Little Rock was 18 points better defensively with him on the floor last year, per EvanMiya. 

Conversely, while Little Rock shoots threes at a 47.7% clip, Murray State’s defense runs teams off the 3-point line, and allows the third-fewest 3-point attempts per opponent’s field goal attempts (24.8%).  

The best number and price is at Caesars, where a $10 winning wager through its -110 odds at a 52.38% implied probability would return $9.09 in profits.

⛹️ College basketball player props today

🔥 Denzel Aberdeen, G, Kentucky: Over 1.5 made 3-pointers (-125 via bet365) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Denzel Aberdeen leads all Wildcats in scoring at 15.3 points per game. Not only is Aberdeen shooting at a high clip at the charity stripe (88.9%), but he is one of Kentucky’s best 3-point shooters, making 36.8% from beyond the arc, while ranking second on the team in 3-point attempts (19).

Kentucky has the nation’s second-best 2-point shooting percentage (66.2%). Thus, the attention that Tom Izzo’s Michigan State squad is going to have to pay to Kentucky’s dribble penetration and paint scorers should pave the way for open looks for Aberdeen from 3-point range. 

This is a confident four-star play, as Michigan State’s compact defense allows opponents to shoot 3-pointers at a top 10 rate (49.7% of opponents’ field goal attempts have come from beyond the arc).

If Aberdeen connects on two or more 3-pointers, my $10 winning wager through bet365’s -125 odds (55.56% implied probability) would net $8 in profits.

Our Shane Thurston dove into this matchup further with his Michigan State vs. Kentucky prediction.

⬆️ Cameron Boozer, F, Duke: Over 11.5 rebounds (+110 via bet365) ⭐⭐⭐

Duke’s Cameron Boozer had not yet had the eye-popping performance that several other top freshmen had during the first two weeks of the season, until his last game. Boozer scored 35 points in his fourth collegiate game, which tied him for the second-most points ever scored by a Duke freshman.

While Boozer is now averaging a team-leading 22.5 points per game heading into this mammoth matchup against Kansas, I am more focused on the Over on his rebounding total. Boozer quietly grabbed 12 rebounds in the game where he had his 35-point outburst, and he now has nine-plus rebounds in three of four games, while ranking 92nd among all players in offensive rebounding rate. 

All of that makes the plus-money odds at bet365 worth a play. If Boozer finishes with 12-plus rebounds, Over backers would net $11 in profits for every $10 wagered.