More fans, more pressure

For the second time this season the Youngstown State men's basketball team put over 4,000 fans into the seats at Beeghly Center and for the second time the Penguins didn't win.
Saturday night YSU took on the closest thing to a rivalry that it has in the Horizon League, Cleveland State, but in front of 4,308 fans the Penguins came up with probably their worst effort of the season in a 63-50 loss.
First-year coach Jerry Slocum has been working very hard to make the team a competitive one every time the Penguins take to the court and even Slocum was very disappointed with his team's performance on Saturday.
Opportunity could haveenhanced repeat business
Over the last four or five seasons there haven't been too many opportunities to get over 4,000 fans into the seats at Beeghly.
And when you get them there you need to do something that is going to bring them back again.
Earlier this season the Penguins had 4,100 fans for the home game against Kent State, a game the Penguins played very well, but just couldn't hold on, losing 77-69.
Slocum didn't feel that the Penguins played well in any phase of the game on Saturday and it was obvious that he was very disappointed in the team's play.
Cleveland State is not one of the league's premier teams, obviously, or the Vikings would have blown away the Penguins.
The only thing that really kept the contest close at any time was the fact that the Vikings were shooting almost as poorly as the Penguins.
The one big difference between the Penguins and the Vikings was the physical size, the Vikings are big and not just tall and in the first half Saturday just manhandled the Penguins under the boards.
In that first half the Vikings outrebounded YSU 27-17, but more importantly held a 15-5 edge on the offensive boards and still led by only four points, 29-25.
Better goal shootingnecessary for victories
YSU shot 38.1 percent in the first half and they had the edge over the Vikings, who took 13 more shots.
"You can't shoot 34 or 35 percent from the field and have a chance to win in this league," Slocum said.
Unfortunately for the Penguins, their poor play has even taken hold on top scorer Quin Humphrey.
The 6-foot-4 junior guard had his streak of 15 straight games of scoring in double figures snapped Saturday when he was limited to nine points, going just 2-for-9 from the field.
Humphrey is a marked man these days in the Horizon League. After scoring over 30 points in the team's first three league contests, everybody is gunning to shut down the Ellenwood, Ga., native, although the Vikings were the first to do it.
The problem Saturday is that nobody stepped up to pick up the scoring slack left by Humphrey. Junior Keston Roberts, who had 28 on Thursday to keep the Penguins competitive, had just 13 against the Vikings and was just 5-of-14 from the field and 0-3 from 3-point range.
Outside shooting keyto staying competitive
YSU has to depend on its outside shooting to stay in the games and when their three best shooters are a combined 9-of-36 from the field, chances are good they aren't going to win.
The Penguins were 1-11 from 3-point ranges against the Vikings, they didn't make a long-range shot in the first half and didn't score the one they made until 3:08 was left in the contest.
The Penguins, who couldn't wait to get to this four-game homestand, now stand 0-2 after the first two games.
YSU will next host Butler on Saturday in a 7:05 contest at Beeghly and then follow that up against defending champion and conference leader UW-Milwaukee on Jan. 26 also at 7:05.
After that the Penguins will play six of their final nine games on the road and with a current 1-8 road record, that doesn't look too promising for the Penguins.
Included in those final six road games is the ESPN Bracket Buster game, which the Penguins will find out their opponent sometime around Feb. 1.
XPete Mollica covers YSU athletics for The Vindicator. Write to him at mollica@vindy.com.