Objective: This study explores the advantages and characteristics of the Play Practice teaching mode by comparing the effect differences between the Play Practice teaching mode and the traditional teaching mode in college men’s basketball teaching, and reveals the effect and mechanism of its influence on college students’ basketball playing ability. Method: Two freshman basketball public-selected classes of students in a university in Hubei were selected as the experimental subjects, and a 12-week teaching control experiment was conducted, and the GPAI tool was used to measure the students’ playing ability. Results: (1) There was no significant difference between the experimental and control groups in the scores measured in the dimensions of skill execution success (t=0.167, P=>0.05), skill execution failure (t=-0.81, P=>0.05), and decision-making failure (t=0.586, P>0.05); (2) there were no significant differences in the scores measured in the dimensions of decision-making success (t=2.15, P<0.05), support in place (t=2.999, P<0.05), support not in place (t=-2.057, P<0.05), defence in place (t=3.067, P<0.01), and defence not in place (t=-2.006, P<0.05) measurement scores the experimental group and the control group had significant differences. Conclusion: The Play Practice instructional model has a significant effect on improving college students’ game competence in the three dimensions of game decision-making, support and defence.