Prairie View A&M vs. Lehigh: NCAA Tournament Predictions & Preview

by BettingPros Staff |
Mar 15, 2026

The 2026 NCAA Tournament is officially here! The March Madness Bracket is set, and first-round NCAA Tournament matchups are in place. It’s time to make your picks and predictions for the first round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament! We’re here to help as we’ll have picks and predictions for each of the first round 2026 NCAA Tournament games. Here are our NCAA Tournament predictions and preview for Prairie View A&M vs. Lehigh.

2026 NCAA Tournament Predictions & Preview: Prairie View A&M vs. Lehigh

Here are the odds for this opening-round matchup of the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Let’s dive into our preview and predictions for this NCAA Tournament matchup.

Prairie View A&M 2026 NCAA Tournament Preview

The 2026 SWAC Tournament started with Prairie View A&M holding an 14-17 record and drawing the eighth seed. It ended with the Panthers hoisting the trophy. This is the kind of run that reminds you why single-elimination basketball in March exists. Prairie View knocked off Alcorn State 65-56, top-seeded Bethune-Cookman 71-67, Alabama A&M 74-55, and Southern 72-66 on four consecutive nights, winning the program’s first SWAC title since 2019 and claiming just the third SWAC championship appearance ever won from an eighth seed. The engine of all of it is Dontae Horne, a guard averaging 20.2 points on the season who lit up Bethune-Cookman for 30 in the quarterfinals and Alabama A&M for 25 in the semis. He is the kind of shot-maker who can put a team on his back when the bracket demands it. Lance Williams ran the offense at 18.2 points per game and added 18 in the championship. Cory Wells, who head coach Byron Smith called the best two-way player in the conference, averaged 13.1 points and 7.1 rebounds and has been the backbone of the team’s physical identity all season. Prairie View shot 52 percent from the field in tournament play and dominated the interior, outscoring Alabama A&M 44-20 in the paint in the semis. The lingering concern is Tai’Reon Joseph, a top scorer who has been managing a plantar fascia injury down the stretch. Three other role players went down this year, so their depth is a clear concern. The Panthers did schedule tough games, with the 23rd non-con strength of schedule. And when ranking by games against top-100 opponents they actually move up one spot on Torvik compared to their season-long numbers. They're capable of a cover but their sub-300 ranked offense makes it difficult to see this team pulling off an upset.

Lehigh 2026 NCAA Tournament Preview

The Mountain Hawks are one of the most improbable stories in this field. Lehigh was 1-11 against Division I opponents as of Jan. 3. Since that date, they have gone 14-5, figured out their pecking order, got Edouard Benoit back healthy, and won the Patriot League title with a wire-to-wire win over Boston University on Lehigh’s home floor. Getting there required some genuine luck. Nasir Whitlock hit a 50-foot buzzer beater in the quarterfinals to beat Holy Cross. Then, Boston University knocked off heavily-favored Navy in the other bracket, which meant Lehigh played the finals at home instead of on the road. Still, a win is a win.

What Lehigh does well is limit threes, ranking 20th in opponent three-point attempt rate allowed. The drop coverage they play with Hank Alvey anchoring the paint forces opponents into longer two-point attempts rather than clean looks from deep. Whitlock and Alvey have clearly been the duo that makes this all function, winning the most KenPom game MVP shares by a wide margin over the stretch run. The rebounding vulnerability is very real, with Lehigh among the worst two-way rebounding teams in the country. The Mountain Hawks went 5-13 when opponents grabbed more than 29 percent of their misses, and got here in part because the Patriot League as a whole has some of the lowest offensive rebounding rates in D-I. A team that can attack the glass and punish missed shots will find a blueprint quickly. A play-in at the 16-line is the most favorable possible version of a path forward.

More NCAA Tournament Predictions & Previews

#1 Duke vs. #16 Siena
#8 Ohio State vs. #9 TCU
#5 St. John’s vs. #12 Northern Iowa
#4 Kansas vs. #13 Cal Baptist
#6 Louisville vs. #11 South Florida
#3 Michigan State vs. #14 North Dakota State
#7 UCLA vs. #10 UCF
#2 UConn vs. #15 Furman

#1 Arizona vs. #16 LIU
#8 Villanova vs. #9 Utah State
#5 Wisconsin vs. #12 High Point
#4 Arkansas vs. #13 Hawai’i
#11 Texas vs. North Carolina State
#3 Gonzaga vs. #14 Kennesaw State
#7 Miami (FL) vs. #10 Missouri
#2 Purdue vs. #15 Queens

#16 UMBC vs. Howard
#8 Georgia vs. #9 Saint Louis
#5 Texas Tech vs. #12 Akron
#4 Alabama vs. #13 Hofstra
#11 Miami OH vs. SMU
#3 Virginia vs. #14 Wright State
#7 Kentucky vs. #10 Santa Clara
#2 Iowa State vs. #15 Tennessee State

#16 Prairie View A&M vs. Lehigh
#8 Clemson vs. #9 Iowa
#5 Vanderbilt vs. #12 McNeese
#4 Nebraska vs. #13 Troy
#6 North Carolina vs. #11 VCU
#3 Illinois vs. #14 Penn
#7 Saint Mary’s vs. #10 Texas A&M
#2 Houston vs. #15 Idaho

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