The Lehigh Mountain Hawks pulled off one of the great upsets in NCAA Tournament history — in 2012, a 15 seed from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, beating second-seeded Duke 75-70, with C.J. McCollum's 30-point masterpiece shredding the Cameron mystique on the sport's biggest stage. It was the program's arrival on the national stage, the Patriot League's proudest moment, and a game that will be replayed every March forever.
The details are Mountain Hawk scripture: McCollum's brilliance against a Duke team loaded with future pros, the poise of a mid-major that refused to be intimidated, and the celebration that announced Lehigh to America. For a program from a 5,000-student engineering school, it was immortality — the kind of win that defines a program for generations.
McCollum's Lehigh years, from 2009 to 2013, are the program's gold standard: the scoring titles, the two Patriot League Player of the Year awards, the 2012 upset, and then a lottery-pick NBA career in Portland that made him one of the league's great guards. Every Lehigh guard since has chased his shadow, and every Lehigh team has carried his proof of concept: a Mountain Hawk can be one of the best players on any floor in America.
The man in charge of it all is Brett Reed — the Murray H. Goodman '48 Head Men's Basketball Coach, now entering his 20th season, with 305 wins and three Patriot League tournament titles (2010, 2012, 2026) on his watch. Reed arrived as an assistant in 2002, took over in 2007, and built Lehigh into the Patriot League's model of consistency: tough, skilled, and always, always prepared. The 2012 Duke win is his signature, but the two decades of winning around it are the real achievement.
The 2025-26 season was Reed's latest masterpiece — and it didn't look like one at first. Decimated by injuries, the Mountain Hawks started 4-11, patching lineups together and just trying to survive. Then they got healthy. Then they got hot. Six straight wins to close the regular season. An 18-17 finish, 11-7 in the Patriot League, good for the second seed. A 74-60 demolition of Boston University in the league championship game — the program's fourth Patriot League title, its first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2012. Junior guard Nasir Whitlock, the tournament MVP, said what the whole roster felt: "I'm here to win. Advance as far as you can." The run ended in the First Four in Dayton against Prairie View A&M, but the banner was already hanging.
The 2026-27 season starts with the defending champions as the hunted — and with the league's best player wearing brown and white. Junior forward-center Hank Alvey was named the Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year on October 1, and the numbers explain why: 15.2 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists, a league-best 1.8 blocks and 1.0 steals a game as a sophomore, with a .624 field goal percentage that ranked third in the Patriot League and 16th in all of Division I. Twenty-three double-figure games. Thirteen 20-point games. Four double-doubles. Second Team All-Patriot League, All-Tournament Team, All-Academic Team. The Mapleton, Illinois, native is the complete package — and the centerpiece of everything Lehigh wants to do.
The Mountain Hawks were picked second in the preseason poll — respect for the champs, with room to prove it again. The season opens Monday, November 2 on the road at Saint Louis, and the home opener follows November 5 against Cornell at Stabler Arena. Reed's non-conference scheduling has always been about steeling his team for March, and this year is no different.
The newcomers fit the Lehigh formula: skilled, smart, and international. Nate Djanogly, a 6'9" forward from London via Northfield Mount Hermon, captained his prep team and played for Great Britain's U16 and U18 national teams — and graduated summa cum laude. Chris Tshibola, a 6'3" guard transferring from Laval University in Quebec, was the USports Rookie of the Year, a First Team All-Canadian and the RSEQ conference MVP after averaging 20.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists. Colton Watson rounds out the class. Tshibola becomes the third Canadian on the roster, alongside Andrew Urosevic and Edouard Benoit — the Bethlehem-to-the-world pipeline is flowing.
Stabler Arena is the program's Bethlehem home: 6,000 seats where the Mountain Hawk faithful bring the noise, and when Lehigh is rolling — like it was last March — it's one of the Patriot League's toughest trips. The building has seen the 2012 team celebrated, McCollum's jersey honored, and now a championship banner raised.
And then there's The Rivalry. Lafayette — 17 miles away, 150-plus meetings, the most-played rivalry in college basketball — is the season's lifeblood. The Lehigh Valley's sports soul runs through these games, and last season's Senior Day loss in Easton still stings. The rematches are circled in both locker rooms from the day the schedule drops.
What's at stake in 2026-27 is the rarest thing in a one-bid league: a repeat. Defend the Patriot League crown. Ride the preseason Player of the Year. Get back to the NCAA Tournament — and this time, win a game there. Fourteen years after Duke, the Mountain Hawks are champions again. The question now is whether they're building something that lasts. Bethlehem is ready to find out.