YSU has 3-game road trip looming

The Penguins face Big East power Notre Dame on
Saturday in South Bend, Ind.

By PETE MOLLICA

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State head men’s basketball coach Jerry Slocum would like to see a schedule with 14 or 15 home games at some time during his stay with the Penguins.

YSU (2-1) begins a three-game road trip on Saturday night when the Penguins travel to meet Big East power Notre Dame in a 7:30 tip off at the Joyce Center in South Bend, Ind.

The Penguins already have played two of their first three games on the road, and will play seven of their first 10 away from home to start the season.

“It’s definitely a strain on this young team, but it’s really never been a concern for them,” Slocum said Tuesday. “Sometime during my stay here, I’d hope that we could get to a point where we have 14 or 15 home games.”

Slocum has seen some improvement from his Penguins over the first three games.

“We’re growing, we’re a work in progress, but we definitely got a lot out of our trip to UCLA,” Slocum said.

One thing that Slocum has found is that he has more depth this season than in the past two years.

“We’re pretty confident with 9-to-10 deep and that’s very positive for this group,” he said. “We’ve had different leading scorers and the play off the bench has been good.”

The Penguins go into Saturday’s game with the Irish, which will be only the second time the two teams have met, with three players averaging in double figures.

Senior guard Byron Davis leads the team with a 16.3 average, while senior John Barber and red-shirt freshman Vance Cooksey are both hitting at 11 points a game. Freshman Dan Boulder has been a terror on the boards averaging seven per contest including 15 in the win over Lock Haven last week.

Slocum says that Notre Dame (2-2) will over a whole different challenge to the Penguins.

“UCLA was a finesse team out of the PAC 10, while Notre Dame is a big, strong team out of the Big East,” he added. “It will be a great learning experience for out kids. They are probably the strongest team in the Big East.”

Following Saturday’s game, the Penguins will travel to St. Francis, Pa., next Wednesday and then play at Eastern Kentucky on Dec. 1 before returning home to meet Kent State on Dec. 5.

mollica@vindy.com