Cornell Big Red vs Lehigh Mountain Hawks Prediction, 11/5/2026 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Cornell Big Red vs Lehigh Mountain Hawks

Date: Thursday, November 5, 2026

Location: Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, PA

TV: ESPN+

The Lehigh Mountain Hawks (18-17 last season) will play the Cornell Big Red (15-13 last year) at Stabler Arena on Thursday.

The Cornell Big Red stepped onto the hardwood against Pepperdine and went home with a win by a final score of 86-85 in their last contest. In relation to fouls, the Big Red finished with 23 while Pepperdine had 15 fouls. They also made 8 out of their 30 tries from distance. Pepperdine finished the game shooting 67.9% at the charity stripe by making 19 of their 28 shots. On top of that, Pepperdine pulled down 38 rebounds (17 offensive, 21 defensive), but wasn't able to record a block. Pepperdine recorded 13 assists and had 13 steals for this contest. When talking about defending, Cornell allowed their opponent to shoot 43.9% from the floor on 29 of 66 shooting. They also recorded 22 assists for the game in addition to forcing the other team into 12 turnovers and earning 7 steals. With respect to getting rebounds, they collected 31 with 11 of them being on the offensive end. When they shot from the free throw line, the Big Red knocked down 6 of their 10 shots for a percentage of 60.0%. Cornell wrapped up the game having earned a 50.8% field goal percentage (33 out of 65) and made 14 out of their 29 3-point attempts.

Jacob Beccles is someone who was a contributor for the contest. He shot 58.3% from the field and recorded 4 dimes. He was on the court for 28 minutes and also collected 2 rebounds. He was able to score 19 points on 7 out of 12 shooting.

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Cornell will enter this matchup after finishing with a win-loss record of 15-13 last season. They lost possession by turning the ball over 11.7 times per contest and as a group committed 19.1 fouls per contest. As a team, Cornell collected 35.2 rebounds per game and accounted for 597 dimes last season, which ranked 20th in the nation in terms of passing the ball. The Big Red shot 39.3% on 3-pointers (362 of 922) and 74.2% from the free throw line. They averaged 88.5 pts per contest (6th in the country) while connecting on 49.5% from the floor.

On the defensive end, the Big Red forced their opponents into 11.4 turnovers every game while drawing 17.1 fouls. They surrendered 37.2% on shots from beyond the arc and they were ranked 355th in the nation in points per game allowed (83.4). The Big Red gave up a shooting percentage of 47.7% (824 of 1,728) and they conceded 33.5 rebounds per contest as a team. They were 246th in the nation in giving up assists to their opponents with 468 surrendered throughout last season.

The last time they took the hardwood, the Lehigh Mountain Hawks walked away from this one with a loss by a score of 92-67 when they faced Saint Louis. The Mountain Hawks were able to pull down 21 defensive rebounds and 10 offensive boards totaling 31 for the contest. They also coughed up the ball 12 times, while recording 8 steals in this contest. Saint Louis earned 21 personal fouls in the matchup which got the Mountain Hawks to the free throw line for a total of 27 shots. They were able to bury 20 of the free throw attempts for a rate of 74.1%. With respect to three-point attempts, Lehigh made 5 of their 27 attempts (18.5%). When the game finished, the Mountain Hawks went 21 for 58 from the floor which had them at 36.2%. The Mountain Hawks permitted Saint Louis to knock down 33 out of their 55 tries from the field which had them sitting at 60.0% for this game. They finished 34.8% from behind the 3-point line by going 8 out of 23 and finished the contest at 18 of 27 from the free throw line (66.7%). When it comes to how they rebounded, Lehigh allowed Saint Louis to grab 34 in all (5 on the offensive glass).

Caleb Thomas pitched in for the Mountain Hawks for this game. He tallied 12 points in his 21 mins of playing time, but left the arena with no assists. He buried 5 of 6 for the game giving him a rate of 83.3%, but went home without a rebound.

Lehigh had a record of 18-17 last year. The Mountain Hawks committed 15.8 fouls per contest while shooting 72.8% from the free throw line. They dished out assists 14.2 times per game (148th in the country) and they coughed up possession 12.2 times per contest. Lehigh accounted for 2,545 points last year (72.7 per contest) and they collected 32.1 rebounds per game. As an offensive team, the Mountain Hawks shot 46.1% from the field, which had them ranked 117th in college.

The Mountain Hawks on defense were ranked 176th in college hoops in points given up per game with 73.8. They were able to force 11.3 TO's every game and let teams shoot 44.6% from the field (208th in D-1). The Lehigh defense gave up 32.6% on 3-point attempts (217 of 666) and opponents knocked down 75.5% of their foul shots. They conceded 17.1 dimes and 35.8 total boards per game, which was ranked 270th and 268th in those categories on the defensive end.

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

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Lehigh

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