Macs to Compete on Feb. 13 in First Game Since March 2020

The Yeshiva University Maccabees men’s basketball team will be competing on Feb. 13 at 8:30 p.m. in their first game since March 7 of last year, when the COVID-19 pandemic first broke out on campus. The Macs will compete against Manhattanville College at Kennedy Stadium in Purchase, NY.

Yeshiva University created many guidelines for student-athletes to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, including having teams practice in two separate pods and mandatory testing twice a week, the latter of which is required of all students on campus. Additionally, due to the proliferation of COVID-19, there is no set schedule for their season; the Macs’ first three games have already been postponed and a few others were removed from the official schedule. 

Last year’s basketball season prematurely ended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the team was nearing the end of a long bus ride to Virginia following their advance to the DIII Sweet 16, the NCAA announced that all tournaments would be canceled, leaving the season unfinished. Last year, the Macs boasted a 29-game winning streak, the longest in the team’s history. 

“We are competitors,” Macs Coach Elliot Steinmetz told The Commentator. “We try to get better every day and we just look forward to the opportunity to [compete] with other teams whenever it works out. Tournament or no tournament, we try to win every single day, whether it’s a game or a practice.”

This year will not only be different for the players, as New York State guidelines state that there cannot be any fans at games. This change may affect the home-court advantage that the Macs have, as Ryan Turell (SSSB ‘22), starting guard on the Macs, said, “The Macs fans are the best in college basketball ...The energy they bring to the team is infectious. We feed off their energy, and it’s a big reason we were undefeated at home last year.”  

MacsLive will be consistently broadcasting this year’s season, using their new equipment that was donated in November 2020, which will enhance the broadcasting capabilities from last year.

“Despite the limits of COVID 19, and thanks to the extremely generous donations we received this summer and the hard work of the athletics department and our staff, MacsLive is in a position where it can take advantage of its improved equipment to give fans an experience that is as close to attending the games as possible,” commented MacsLive Vice President of Content Roey Herzfeld (SSSB ‘22).

Gabe Leifer (SSSB ‘21), captain of the Macs, told The Commentator, “[We will] play with the deck of cards we were dealt, and as a competitive player, you always play to win.”
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Photo Caption: The Yeshiva University Maccabees men’s basketball team will be competing on Feb. 13 in their first game since March 7 of last year.
Photo Credit: YU Athletics