Holy Cross Crusaders vs Lafayette Leopards Prediction, 1/17/2026 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Holy Cross Crusaders vs Lafayette Leopards

Date: Saturday, January 17, 2026

Location: Kirby Sports Center in Easton, PA

TV: ESPN+

The Lafayette Leopards (4-14) will compete against the Holy Cross Crusaders (8-10) at Kirby Sports Center on Saturday.

The Holy Cross Crusaders faced Army and notched a win by a score of 82-75 in their last contest. In the matter of fouls, the Crusaders ended up finishing with 17 and Army had 16 fouls. They converted 9 of their 33 shots from distance. Army walked away from this one shooting 72.7% when shooting free throws by burying 8 of their 11 attempts. On top of that, Army pulled down 35 boards (12 offensive, 23 defensive), but wrapped up the game with no rejections. Army totaled 12 assists and had 4 steals for the game. In the matter of the defense, Holy Cross allowed the other team to shoot 43.3% from the field on 29 of 67 shooting. They also recorded 13 assists in the game while forcing 9 turnovers and earning 6 steals. When talking about grabbing rebounds, they collected 29 with 4 of them being of the offensive variety. From the charity stripe, the Crusaders made 15 of 17 tries for a percentage of 88.2%. Holy Cross ended the contest with a 48.2% FG percentage (27 of 56) and made 13 of their 22 3-point attempts.

Tyler Boston is someone who was a major factor for the game. He walked away from this one shooting 46.7% from the floor and also totaled 3 dimes. He saw the court for 33 mins and pulled down 3 rebounds. He ended up finishing with 19 points on 7 out of 15 shooting.

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Holy Cross heads into this game with a win-loss record of 8-10 on the campaign. They are turning it over 11.1 times per game and as a team are committing 14.9 personal fouls on a nightly basis. As a team, Holy Cross is grabbing 31.4 rebounds per game and is sitting with 201 assists for the campaign, which ranks 335th in Division 1 in terms of passing. The Crusaders are hitting 30.9% on three-point shots (122 of 395) and 71.1% from the charity stripe. They are averaging 67.1 points per game (340th in college hoops) while connecting on 43.3% from the field.

Defensively, the Crusaders have forced 11.3 turnovers per contest and they draw 15.8 fouls. They give up 30.4% on 3-point shots while they are 130th in the nation in PPG allowed (71.7). The Crusaders defense is giving up a field goal percentage of 47.2% (485 of 1,028) and they concede 34.6 rebounds per contest as a team. They are currently ranked 218th in college in giving up assists to their opponents with 239 conceded on the year.

In their last game, the Lafayette Leopards took a loss by a score of 76-69 when they faced Bucknell. In relation to team rebounding, Lafayette permitted Bucknell to snag 30 in total (5 offensive). They finished 54.5% from downtown by going 12 of 22 and walked away from this one shooting 12 out of 14 at the free throw line (85.7%). The Leopards allowed Bucknell to make 26 out of 51 tries from the field which gave them a percentage of 51.0% for the game. When the game finished, the Leopards went 24 for 56 from the field which gave them a percentage of 42.9%. Pertaining to shots from 3-point land, Lafayette knocked down 11 out of their 27 tries (40.7%). They were able to knock down 10 of those for a rate of 76.9%. Bucknell had 12 personal fouls for the contest which got the Leopards to the charity stripe for 13 attempts. They turned the ball over 11 times, while getting 4 steals in this contest. The Leopards recorded 18 defensive rebounds and 4 offensive boards totaling 22 in the game.

Christian Humphrey-Rembert pitched in for the Leopards for the matchup. He totaled 9 points in his 26 minutes on the court, but didn't get an assist. He made 3 of 9 for this contest for a rate of 33.3%, and had 6 rebounds.

Lafayette has a win-loss record of 4-14 for the campaign. On the offensive side of the court, the Leopards are connecting on 42.3% from the field, which ranks them 318th in the nation. Lafayette has scored 1,255 points so far this season (69.7 per game) and they average 32.9 rebounds per contest. Their rate of dishing out assists is at 13.3 times per game (258th in college) and they cough up possession 11.4 times per game. The Leopards are committing 17.3 fouls per contest and they connect on 69.5% from the charity stripe.

The Leopards defensively are ranked 266th in D-1 in PPG surrendered with 76.9. They are forcing their opponents into 10.9 turnovers on a nightly basis and have let teams shoot 46.4% from the floor (307th in college). The Lafayette defense allows 37.1% on 3-point attempts (152 of 410) and their opposition makes 71.3% of their foul shots. They have allowed 16.3 dimes and 37.6 boards on a nightly basis, which has them ranked 335th and 316th in those categories on the defensive end.

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

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Lafayette

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