Gameday Preview: Yeshiva@ Purchase

All right Macs Nation, huddle up. There’s good news and bad news. The bad is the Macs walk into Skyline play at 1–6, but the record needs context:  the good news is all seven games were non-conference, and all seven were against teams with top-tier athleticism and votes in the national rankings. In other words: the efficiency numbers look shaky, but the strength of schedule has been top-heavy. Every hit they took was basically prep work for a conference that’s a whole lot more manageable. So here we go — the reigning Skyline champs open the conference’s schedule tonight on the road at Purchase. The Panthers are starting from scratch. They lost pretty much their entire roster in the offseason, and at 2–6 overall, they’re trying to figure things out just as much as we are. 

Max Zakehim and the Macs seem to win their season Skyline opener against Purchase (Akiva Poppers/MacsLivs)

Win the Glass:

If the Macs don’t rebound the basketball, this game gets messy fast. Saturday against St. Joseph (USJ), we saw the same paint problems pop up again. The Macs were sloppy out of the gate, defensive stops were impossible to string together, and USJ got to the rim whenever they felt like it. Layup after layup after layup — makes it tough to claw back from that.

Zevi and who else?

Part of the second half frustration was USJ completely shutting down Zevi Samet late. And when Zevi isn’t getting touches, someone else has to step up — but nobody seems ready to grab that role. It’s on Max Zakheim, Or Sundjyvsky, Yair Dovrat and Co. to show why they’re here too.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7pm. Click the link to watch Purchase’s stream: https://fan.hudl.com/usa/ny/purchase/organization/94309/suny---purchase-coll