YSU wakeup call: powerhouse UCLA

The Penguins’ second game also will be played in California.

YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown State men’s basketball program will count on a mix of veterans and newcomers to fill prominent roles during the 2007-08 campaign.

However, it’s the two players who do not return that have posed the biggest question. How do you replace the all-around skills of Quin Humphrey and Keston Roberts?

The answer lies within a group of the players who will have vastly increased duties with the top two go-to performers gone from the program.

Seniors Byron Davis, Dwight Holmes, John Barber and George Cotal, juniors Mikko Niemi and Jack Liles and sophomore Alek Mrozik, along with a talented group of newcomers will be looking to pick up the slack with the departure of last year’s top two scorers — Humphrey and Roberts.

The Penguins open the season tonight at 11 (ESPN2) in Los Angeles against nationally-ranked UCLA in the opening round of the O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic.

Win or lose, they will play Weber State or UC-San Bernadino in the second round on Tuesday night.

Humphrey and Roberts combined to average 35 of the team’s 66 points-per-game total. Both individuals played more than 1,000 minutes — one-third of the squad’s total for the entire season.

Third-year Coach Jerry Slocum said although more than 50 percent of the Penguins’ scoring has departed, he has been in this position before.

“All I can tell you is what my life has been in the past. When you have good players, they graduate and then good players take their spots,” Slocum said. “We’ve got some very good basketball players here. We’re excited about their development and where they’re going to be.”

While seven veterans return, a group of successful newcomers will jump into the fray to help replenish the scoring. The Penguins were able to build some momentum winning 14 games in 2006-07, including a first-round Horizon League Tournament win over Detroit. The 14 wins were the highest since 2000-01 and the fourth most since 1984-85.

How the team comes together throughout the season is something Slocum is optimistic about.

“I think that we’re going to get better as the year goes on,” Slocum said. “I don’t think that this is going to be a kind of team that early in November is going to be a finished product. But by the time that we hit the bulk of our league play in January, I think we have a chance to be a pretty good basketball team.”

Helping lead the program Davis, who is entering his second campaign at point guard.

After sitting out the season prior, Davis, a New Mexico State transfer, led the team with 116 assists. He finished as the team’s third-leading scorer averaging 8.6 points per game. He also grabbed 99 rebounds and had 28 steals.

Sixth-man Barber returns for his final campaign after making great strides in 2006-07. Barber averaged 7.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per contest for the campaign. He ranked third on the squad in rebounding and fourth in points scored.

Making the biggest improvement last year was Liles. Liles, who had 88 points and 75 rebounds as a freshman, had 229 points and 197 boards last year. He was second on the team averaging 6.4 rebounds per game and led the program in field-goal shooting converting 55.6 percent of his attempts from the field. Liles also led the team in blocks with 36.