On Saturday night, February 11th, the Yeshiva University Maccabees will host the Mount Saint Vincent Dolphins. Yeshiva comes into the game tied for the best record in the conference with Farmingdale State— if both teams can win their next couple of games, the number one seed will come down to the final game of the season between them next Saturday night. The Macs are in the midst of a three-game winning streak. Something to keep an eye on while watching this game is Oren Betesh’s involvement on offense. During the last game against St. Joseph’s-LI, he only attempted three shots in 38 minutes. The game before that, he scored 30 points on 8-9 shooting from beyond the arc. This has been a theme all season long for him— in one game he’s involved, getting shots off and putting up massive numbers, and then the next game, he’s a no-show. Against better competition and especially come playoff time, they need him to find more consistency and be a factor every single night. After a long season of trial and error, it seems that Coach Steinmetz has settled into an eight-man rotation where the starters play heavy minutes. The last time these two teams met, the Macs won by 21 points. Tonight might be a good opportunity to expand the rotation a little and get those starters some rest as the season comes to an end.
The Dolphins enter tonight’s game with an 11-11 record overall, and 7-6 in conference play. They are middle of the pack in the conference and can really use a win here to climb the standings. Their offense runs through senior guard Dan Porcic. Porcic gets a lot of touches and takes a lot of shots for someone who shoots just 32% from the field. He takes the most shots on the team but is only third in scoring, behind Joshua Cabezudo and DJ Tucker. The Dolphins do not shoot the three-ball well, shooting just 29% from distance as a team this season. It's tough to beat a team like Yeshiva that shoots 41% from three with those numbers. With that being said, Yeshiva has been occasionally letting lesser competition stay in games. The key is to slow down the game and force the Macs into a more physical grit and grind style of play.
How to Watch:
Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 pm. Watch the game live here.
MacsLive:
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