On Wednesday night, December 1, the #1 ranked Macs will travel to Farmingdale, New York to face the Farmingdale St Rams. The Macs are fresh off a historic win, in which Ryan Turell set the YU single game scoring record with 51 points against the Manhattanville Valiants. The Macs enter this matchup 8-0 overall and 5-0 in conference play.
The Rams enter this game with a 2-4 record this season, and this matchup will be their first conference game of the season. The last time the Rams and the Macs played each other, the Macs held on to win 74-69 in the 2020 Skyline Conference Semifinals. The Rams are also the last conference team to beat the Macs, as Farmingdale St beat the Macs 81-75 in the 2019 Skyline Conference Championship game.
The Rams are led by the senior forward, Dominique Senat. Standing at 6’8”, Senat will be a handful for the Macs. Senat comes into this game leading the team with 13.8 points/game and 6.3 rebounds/game. Senat was also a big factor in the 2020 semifinal game against the Macs where he scored 19 points, while grabbing 7 rebounds. This Rams team has shown that they can compete with the Macs and will look to make a statement in their conference opener.
Keys to the Game:
Keep them off the FT line:
In the two games that the Rams have won this season, they went to the FT line 22 and 25 times. In those games they averaged 18.5 points at the line. The Macs need to force the Rams to score in the halfcourt and not give them easy opportunities at the line.
Matchup against Senat:
Dealing with a 6’8” player is a tough task, but the Macs are well equipped with Jordan Armstrong and Gabe Leifer. Armstrong and Leifer have shown tremendous defensive ability this season against other star big men. Armstrong is averaging over 1 block/game while Leifer is averaging 2 steals/game. How they handle the matchup against Senat will dictate how this game is played and the ultimate result.
Take care of the basketball:
This is an important key every game, but especially against this Rams’ team. In the Rams’ two wins this season they have forced an average of 18 turnovers per game while scoring 15.5 points off of those turnovers. Similar to the FT line, the Macs need to take away easy scoring opportunities for the Rams and force them to score against a set half court defense. The Macs have had a tendency to be a little careless with the basketball, specifically in the first half of games. The Macs will need to value each offensive possession in this game.
How to Watch:
Tip off is scheduled for 8 pm. Watch the game here.
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