For the first time, the present study investigated the combined role of selfcontrol, motivation, and mental effort in predicting undergraduate students’ learning from a two-hour presentation-format higher education lecture. The study comprised 62 students, in a final-year BSc undergraduate Sports Coaching lecture, who completed questionnaires measuring: state self-control during the lecture; mastery approach and performance avoidance motivation towards learning the course topic; mental effort invested during the lecture; and content retention immediately after the lecture (i.e., learning). Moderated mediation analyses revealed that greater levels of state self-control (W variable) were necessary for students to transform their motivation (X variable; mastery approach or performance avoidance) into mental effort (M variable) to benefit their learning (Y variable) during the lecture. Avenues for applied interventions to motivate students and increase their self-control resources within higher education environments are discussed.