Despite being a small program, the Lehigh Mountain Hawks have earned a place in the college basketball record books. The program has been around since 1901, albeit with cheap Lehigh basketball tickets being easy to find for most of that time. Since the turn of the century, the Mountain Hawks have become major players in the Patriot League. They have also sent CJ McCollum to the NBA and pulled off one of the great upsets in NCAA Tournament history, helping to put the program on the map and increase the demand for last-minute Lehigh basketball tickets.

The First Time

After more than 80 years of playing basketball, Lehigh made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 1985, winning the East Coast Conference tournament despite finishing sixth during the regular season. Despite a first-round exit that year, the Mountain Hawks returned to the Big Dance in 1988 and won their first regular-season conference title in 1990 before leaving for the Patriot League the following season, beginning a new chapter in their long basketball history.

The Win of the Century

Last-place finishes became common for Lehigh during the 90s, including a dreadful 1-26 season during the 1996-97 campaign. But the Mountain Hawks found themselves after the turn of the century under head coach Billy Taylor. They won the Patriot League regular-season and tournament titles in both 2004 and 2010. With Brett Reed at the helm, Lehigh returned to the Big Dance in 2012 for the third time. However, the Mountain Hawks weren’t one-and-done this time. Behind 30 points from future NBA star CJ McCollum, the Mountain Hawks upset second-seeded Duke 75-70 in one of the greatest upsets in tournament history. That landmark win helped put Lehigh on the map, giving them a special place in college basketball history and fuelling the program for many years to come.