Road not kind to YSU men

Photo

YSU Penguin Kendrick Perry fakes Valparaiso Crusader Kevin Van Wijk.

By Joe Scalzo

scalzo@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

On Nov. 20, on the last play in regulation of a game against Youngstown State, Akron guard Brett McClanahan hit a fadeaway, buzzer-beating 3-pointer to force overtime in a game the Zips would eventually win.

It was the Penguins’ first road game of the year.

It was also the closest they came to winning a road game this year.

Youngstown State (8-17, 2-13 Horizon League) will get its final chance to win on the road this season when it visits Detroit on Wednesday. The Penguins are 0-12 on the road this year and have not won a league game on the road since Feb. 7, 2009, a span of 21 conference games.

“They deserve to get a win on the road,” said YSU coach Jerry Slocum, whose team has lost 21 road games overall. “This group has played some very, very good basketball and, again, it’s disappointing because your record does not show it.

“Ultimately, that’s what you’re evaluated on.”

The Penguins have played better on the road in recent weeks. They lost to Wright State by four on Feb. 7 and, on Saturday, were within four of Cleveland State with 31/2 minutes left before losing by 10.

Because YSU had so many new faces this year — only three on this year’s roster appeared in a game last year — it’s taken some time for the team to develop.

“I think if we started off [the year] where we are now, I think you would see somewhere between 12 and 14 wins out of this group,” Slocum said. “It’s been a fun group to be around because they’ve wanted to get better and they’ve gotten better.”

YSU played Detroit tough in the team’s first meeting on Jan. 22, eventually falling 73-69. The Titans (14-14, 8-8) present a matchup problem inside, where they have 6-foot-10 junior forward Eli Holman and 6-8 junior forward Nick Mannerath.

“I think man-for-man, they might be the most talented team in the league,” Slocum said. “They’re obviously very good in their building [5-3 in the league, 8-3 overall] and they’ve got one thing that really nobody else in our league has, which is two really good big kids.

“So that’s probably as tough a matchup as we have, in terms of the league.”

Detroit is in sixth in the Horizon League standings, just behind a group of five teams vying for the league’s top spot.

Those five teams all within one win of each other, although Wright State has three more losses than Valparaiso.

Consequently, the conference has more balance at the top than in recent years.

“I think the positive side of it is, anybody is capable of getting on a stretch and winning a bunch of games,” Slocum said.

“The downside is, it’s probably going to be a one-bid league [to the NCAA tournament] this year.”

The Horizon League has had two NCAA tournament teams in two of the last four years.

Butler, which went undefeated in the league last season, was the conference’s only NCAA team last March but advanced to the national championship game.

The Bulldogs have won three straight league titles and have played in the last four NCAA tournaments.

“Without somebody running away with the league like they did last year or the year before that or the year before that, you can have an upset in the [Horizon] tournament somebody is going to get an at-large bid,” Slocum said.

“But whoever wins the league this year is probably going to get the only bid.”