Over the past four years, the Lehigh men’s basketball team has defeated Mississippi State University, Arizona State University and DePaul University. In addition, the Mountain Hawks have had near upsets against nationally-ranked teams including Xavier University and Villanova University.
Coach Brett Reed hasn’t shied away from scheduling games against the Power Five conferences (Big East, SEC, ACC, Pac-12, Big Ten) and that trend continues in the 2017-18 season.
The Lehigh men’s basketball team announced its schedule on Monday, and it is highlighted by a Thanksgiving break matchup against the University of Southern California. The Mountain Hawks will travel to Los Angeles on Nov. 22 for the homecoming game of junior guard Kyle Leufroy, a Pasadena native, and sophomore guard Jordan Cohen, a Tarzana native. The Trojans are regarded as one of the top teams in the country for this upcoming season by many college basketball writers and analysts.
Following its matchup against USC, the team will travel back to Pennsylvania to prepare for an in-state road battle against University of Pittsburgh, an ACC opponent, on Nov. 25. The Panthers will be the first of two ACC teams on Lehigh’s schedule as the Mountain Hawks take on the University of the Virginia seven days later. The Cavaliers have made the NCAA Tournament every year since the 2013-14 season.
For the second straight year, Lehigh will play the Ivy League champion, Princeton University. The Tigers went 23-7 last season and 14-0 in conference play, but one of those seven defeats was a 76-67 loss to Lehigh at Stabler Arena. The Mountain Hawks will host five non-conference games for the first time since 2013, including a battle against Yale University, which returns a 2016 NCAA Tournament star in senior Makai Mason. The Mountain Hawks were 12-2 at Stabler Arena last season.
The Patriot League portion of the schedule has a new twist for Lehigh this year. The Mountain Hawks will begin and end Patriot League play with The Rivalry. On Dec. 29, Lehigh will travel to Easton to take on Lafayette College and then close out its regular season by hosting the Leopards on Feb. 24. The rematch of the 2017 Patriot League Championship between Bucknell University and Lehigh is slated for Jan.11 from Sojka Pavilion.
The Patriot League Tournament is slated to begin Feb. 27 and conclude March 7.
After losing in the Patriot League Championship back-to-back seasons, the Mountain Hawks will look to finally end their NCAA Tournament drought this season
Lehigh will begin its season on Nov. 11 when the Mountain Hawks travel to Marist College.
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