Syracuse vs Lehigh 11/7/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Lehigh Mountain Hawks and Syracuse Orange meet Monday in college basketball action at the JMA Wireless Dome. The Lehigh Mountain Hawks are coming off a 13-win season. The Syracuse Orange are coming off a 13-win season, their lowest total since the 1981-82 season. 

The Lehigh Mountain Hawks have won double-digit games in 19 of their last 20 seasons. Evan Taylor returns after averaging 13 points and 5.8 rebounds, while Keith Higgins Jr. averaged 9 points and 2.3 assists. Tyler Whitney-Sidney played in more than 600 minutes last season and Dominic Parolin averaged 3.9 rebounds. The Lehigh Mountain Hawks return their best player in Taylor, but they said goodbye to their next two top scorers. Higgins Jr., a sophomore who shined as a freshman last year, has a chance to take that next step and help carry Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks will remain a competitive side in the Patriot. 

The Syracuse Orange enter the 47th season under coach Jim Boeheim. Joseph Girard III returns after averaging 13.8 points and 2.8 rebounds, while Jesse Edwards averaged 12 points and 6.5 rebounds. Symir Torrence played in nearly 400 minutes last season, and Benny Williams played in over 300 minutes. Syracuse lost 3 of its top-4 scorers from last season, and lost 9 players from last year’s roster overall. There’s going to be some adjusting going on in Onondaga County. Syracuse does bring in a lot of recruits, including top recruits in Judah Mintz, Justin Taylor and Quadir Copeland. Mounir Hima is a Duquesne transfer who started 5 games last year.

The Mountain Hawks are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 road games. The Orange are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 Monday games and 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games overall. The under is 5-0 in Mountain Hawks last 5 road games. The over is 6-1 in Orange last 7 overall.

The Syracuse Orange are obviously the more talented team, but they’re missing a lot of production, and it could take time to really get rolling. The Lehigh Mountain Hawks are more set in terms of players returning from a year ago, and this is obviously a bigger game for them in terms of motivation. This could be a tricky spot for Syracuse and a more competitive game than some think. I’ll take a shot with the road dog.