Stonehill Skyhawks vs Columbia Lions Prediction, Odds, Best Bets - Week 2

Columbia scored 76.6 points a game last season and defends Levien Gymnasium well. Stonehill, which scored 66.4 a game last season, has to keep up in a building where the Lions just hung 120 points.

The Matchup

Columbia hosts Stonehill on Monday evening at Levien Gymnasium in New York, on ESPN+, with Columbia a 10.5-point favorite, a total of 145.5, and the Lions priced at -625 on the moneyline against Stonehill at +455. Both teams are 1-1. Columbia lost its opener 84-71 to Elon and then beat SUNY Old Westbury 120-58 at home, while Stonehill beat Curry 84-56 and then lost 83-63 at Fordham.

Read those splits honestly and last season does the steadier work. Columbia went 16-12 last season, scored 76.6 points a game, and allowed 71.7, a winning team with a real offense. Stonehill went 12-21, scored 66.4 points a game, and allowed 68.6, a team that defended respectably and struggled to score.

This season's two-game lines flatter Columbia because of the Old Westbury blowout, and they flatter Stonehill because Curry is not a Division I test either. The Fordham loss is Stonehill's more useful data point, and it was not close.

Josh Pratt leads Columbia at 14.0 points a game, Hampton Sanders leads the Lions at 6.0 assists a game, and Connor Igoe leads them at 7.5 rebounds a game. Stonehill runs through Jack Medalie, who leads the Skyhawks at 15.0 points and 6.0 rebounds a game, with Eli Greenberg leading them at 3.5 assists a game. No injuries are listed for either team on the ESPN summary for this game.

Key Factors

Stonehill's scoring is the problem the Skyhawks have to solve. A team that scored 66.4 points a game last season cannot afford a long drought at Levien, because Columbia has the pass-first guard play, through Sanders and his 6.0 assists a game, to turn a five-point lead into a fifteen-point lead in a few possessions. Columbia does not need Pratt to have a huge night; it needs its rotation to keep fresh bodies on Medalie and make Stonehill's second and third options beat them.

Medalie is the honest counterpoint. He leads Stonehill in scoring and rebounding, he is comfortable playing through contact, and Columbia's frontcourt is not big by any standard. If Medalie gets Igoe in foul trouble and Stonehill controls the glass, the Skyhawks can drag this into the kind of slow, close game where a double-digit spread feels very large in the final minutes. Stonehill also defended well enough last season, allowing 68.6 points a game, to make Columbia work for its points.

The total of 145.5 asks a lot of a Stonehill offense that has not shown it can score at that pace against a real opponent. Columbia's home form and depth are the more reliable forces here: the Lions have more ways to score, the better lead guard, and the home floor, and over forty minutes those edges usually stretch a lead rather than protect one.

Every pick is published with its line before the game. Odds via consensus sportsbooks at time of writing and move constantly. Must be 21+. If gambling is a problem, call or text 1-800-GAMBLER.