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Writer's pictureAri Schopf

Gameday Preview: #2 Men’s Basketball vs St. Joseph’s College - Brooklyn

Thursday night, November 18, the Macs will head to Brooklyn to take on St. Joseph’s College - Brooklyn. The Macs are coming off an 81-49 win against Mount Saint Vincent and will look to advance to 3-0 in conference play. The Macs have dominated the head-to-head matchup against St. Joseph’s College - Brooklyn. After dropping the first two games between these two teams, the Macs have won 8 consecutive games dating back to December 6, 2016. The Bears come into Thursday’s game 0-2 on the season, seeking their first win. They dropped their first game 68-58 against Eastern CT State, a team the Macs beat 99-69 in their home opener, and then lost to Mitchell College in a nail-biter, losing 81-78. This game will be the Bears’ conference opener and it will be their toughest test of the season. The Bears are led by senior forward Chris Mikos, who comes into this game averaging 28.5 PPG on 65% shooting overall. Mikos is also grabbing 13 rebounds and dishing out 4 assists per game. Another Bears player to watch for is Evan Sirakis. Sirakis is a quick guard who is second on the team in scoring (10.5 PPG) and leads the team with 1.5 three-pointers made per game. The Macs will have their hands full with these two playmakers for the Bears.

Ryan Turell enters tonight's game one point away from 1500 career points scored (Photo Credits: Joe Bednarsh)

Keys to the Game:

Perimeter shooting:

It is no secret that the Macs are one of the best shooting teams in Division III. They come into this game shooting 40% from three, making 11 three-pointers per game on the season. They face a St. Joseph’s team that does not shoot many three-pointers. In the two games prior to this matchup, the Bears have shot an average of 14 threes per game and made just 3. The Bears have also defended the three exceptionally well in the first two games, holding opponents to just 8 threes made per game on 28.6% shooting.


Containing Chris Mikos:

Mikos is coming into this game averaging 28.5 points and 13 rebounds per game. The Macs have yet to face a player who has averaged over 21 points a game. The Macs will need to make Mikos work as hard as possible on the offensive end. The next highest scorer on this St. Joseph’s team is Evan Sirakis who is averaging 18.5 fewer points a game than Mikos. If the Macs can limit Mikos, it will put pressure on the other players to score more than they are used to.


Maintaining strong defense for 40 minutes:

The Macs have allowed only 38 second-half points total in their last two games. They have also forced 26 turnovers in the last two second halves. The challenge now for the Macs is maintaining that excellent defense for a full 40 minutes. If the Macs can keep up the level of intensity on the defensive end that we have seen in the second half for a full game, it will be trouble for opposing teams.


How to Watch:

This game will tip off at 7 pm. You can watch the game live here.


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