GAMEDAY PREVIEW: Mens Basketball vs. St. Josephs College L.I.: 12/4/18
By Jack Kirshenbaum
After a 33-point win over Mt. Saint Vincent, the Mac’s are looking to build their first winning streak of the season against St. Joseph’s College Long Island. Both teams have similar overall records: The Macs being 2-5 and St. Joseph’s College L.I. being 2-4. While their records may be close, the Mac’s have a +6 point differential per game on the year, while St. Joseph’s has a -8 point differential. The Mac’s and St. Joseph’s play two different types of basketball. The Mac’s play with a high-paced offense that leads to them averaging 82 points a game this year. St. Joseph’s, on the other hand, focus more on defense, allowing only 71 points a game.
It’s definitely interesting that the Macs have a +6 point differential, but still manage to have a 2-5 record. Now is a chance for the Mac’s to build off of some momentum and start to pile on some more wins. Star guard Simcha Halpert explained, “Something we focused on a lot last year was trying to get consecutive wins. We struggled with that in the first of half the year, but it finally started to click in the second half. As we focus on the same idea this year, next game will be a big sign to see if it can click earlier rather than later. Simcha is averaging 16 points per game this year, while averaging over 50% from the field and 40% from three point range. The only player to score more is Freshman point guard Ryan Turell who’s averaging 21 points per game, while shooting 54% from the field and 47% from behind the arc.
Tuesday’s game will be played at the Max Stern Athletic Center at 8 PM. The game will also be live-streamed via Macslive.
