Lehigh Mountain Hawks vs Lafayette Leopards Prediction, 3/7/2024 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Lehigh Mountain Hawks vs Lafayette Leopards

Date: Thursday, March 7, 2024

Location: Kirby Sports Center in Easton, PA

TV: ESPN+

The Lafayette Leopards (11-20) will try to defeat the Lehigh Mountain Hawks (12-17) at Kirby Sports Center on Thursday.

The Lehigh Mountain Hawks faced off with Colgate and took a loss by a score of 63-60 in their last contest. Concerning fouls, the Mountain Hawks finished with 14 and Colgate accounted for 12 fouls. They also buried 2 out of their 10 tries from 3-point land. Colgate finished 73.3% from the charity stripe by converting 11 of their 15 attempts. Moreover, Colgate grabbed 37 rebounds (8 offensive, 29 defensive), but wasn't able to record a rejection. Colgate totaled 8 assists and had 7 steals in this game. In relation to defending, Lehigh allowed their opponent to shoot 49.0% from the field on 25 out of 51 shooting. They also doled out 6 assists for this contest in addition to forcing 16 turnovers and earning 10 steals. With respect to pulling down boards, they collected a total of 27 with 6 of them being offensive. When they shot from the free throw line, the Mountain Hawks converted 8 of 11 shots for a percentage of 72.7%. Lehigh ended the game with a 40.7% FG percentage (24 of 59) and made 4 out of their 20 shots from distance.

Tyler Whitney-Sidney is one player who was a factor in this contest. He was able to score 24 points on 9 of 14 shooting. He played for 37 mins and also grabbed 6 boards. He ended up shooting 64.3% from the field and also distributed 1 assist.

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Lehigh will enter this game with a win-loss mark of 12-17 this season. They average 72.8 points per game (209th in the country) while connecting on 44.0% from the floor. The Mountain Hawks are connecting on 31.4% on three-point shots (200 of 637) and 73.5% from the free throw line. As a unit, Lehigh is pulling in 35.7 rebounds per game and has totaled 376 dimes on the year, which ranks 229th in college basketball in terms of passing the ball. They are turning it over 12.1 times per contest and as a team they commit 16.6 fouls every game.

When they are on defense, the Mountain Hawks are able to force 12.8 turnovers per game while drawing 17.1 personal fouls. They are currently ranked 62nd in the nation in allowing assists to the opposition with 340 relinquished this year. The Mountain Hawks defense is giving up an opponent shooting percentage of 43.8% (748 of 1,707) and they relinquish 35.9 boards per game as a group. They are conceding 34.5% from beyond the arc and they rank 146th in college basketball in points per game allowed (71.0).

When they last stepped on the hardwood, the Lafayette Leopards took a defeat with a final score of 60-50 when they faced Bucknell. In reference to how they cleaned up the glass, Lafayette permitted Bucknell to get 34 in all (12 offensive). They shot 18.5% from three-point range by shooting 5 out of 27 and ended up going 11 out of 15 from the charity stripe (73.3%). The Leopards permitted Bucknell to bury 22 out of 57 attempts from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 38.6% for the contest. In all, the Leopards walked away from this one shooting 20 out of 57 from the field which gave them a percentage of 35.1%. In terms of three-point attempts, Lafayette converted 7 out of 29 tries (24.1%). They were able to bury 3 of the free throws for a rate of 37.5%. Bucknell committed 10 personal fouls in this contest which got the Leopards to the free throw line for a total of 8 shots. They gave up possession of the ball 10 times, while getting 6 steals in the game. The Leopards corralled 21 defensive boards and 12 offensive boards for a total of 33 for the contest.

Kyle Jenkins ended up having an impact for the Leopards for the contest. He knocked down 6 out of 10 for the game giving him a rate of 60.0%, and had 7 rebounds. He earned 12 points in his 35 minutes on the hardwood and had 2 dimes in the game.

Lafayette has a record of 11-20 this year. As an offensive unit, the Leopards are shooting 40.9% from the field, which ranks 336th in the country. Lafayette has earned 1,949 points this season (62.9 per contest) and they collect 33.4 boards per contest. Their rate of dishing out assists is at 13.1 times per game (186th in D-1) and they turn the ball over 11.7 times per contest. The Leopards commit 16.3 fouls per contest and they go 68.1% from the free throw line.

The Leopards are ranked 52nd in college basketball in points given up per game with 67.0. They are forcing 11.5 TO's every game and allow teams to shoot 41.4% from the field (49th in D-1). The Lafayette defense concedes 33.3% on shots from 3-point land (224 of 672) and their opponents are making 73.8% of their free throw attempts. They have conceded 11.7 dimes and 36.9 boards per game, which has them ranked 91st and 297th in those defensive categories.

Who will win tonight's NCAA basketball game against the spread?

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Lafayette

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