Slocum, Penguins focus on defense

By Joe Scalzo | January 5, 2011 at 12:09a.m.

Jerry Slocum, YSU men's basketball coach

YOUNGSTOWN

The best way for the YSU men’s’ basketball team to forget about its New Year’s Day massacre is for the Penguins to focus on what’s in front of them.

Or, more specifically, who.

As the Penguins prepare for the Horizon League’s toughest two-game road stretch, YSU coach Jerry Slocum has spent this week’s practices emphasizing defense.

“You’re not gonna win on the road if you don’t take care of the basketball and you don’t guard people,” Slocum said. “We have to impose our defensive will on somebody.

“That’s been our focus the last couple of days.”

YSU’s defense was nonexistent on Saturday as the Penguins allowed Loyola to shoot 61 percent from the field en route to an 83-53 drubbing. It was a rare bad home game for YSU, which entered that contest 6-0 at Beeghly Center.

Away games have been a different story. The Penguins (6-7, 1-3 Horizon League) are 0-6 on the road, with four of those losses coming by double digits.

Things don’t get any easier this weekend; on deck are Valparaiso (10-5, 2-1) Friday and Butler (10-5, 2-1) Sunday afternoon.

“I think those are the two best teams in our conference,” said Slocum. “I think Butler is clearly head and shoulders above everybody and there are a whole bunch of teams fighting for that No. 2 spot.

“I think Valpo is as good as anybody in the league other than Butler. They literally have everyone back on that team.”

YSU, conversely, has just three players back from last year’s last-place team and — not surprisingly — the Penguins have struggled with their consistency. One of the newcomers, junior DuShawn Brooks, has been as unpredictable as anyone on the roster, providing instant offense when he’s on and instant heartburn when he’s not.

Brooks is shooting just 33 percent from the field and averaging 6.3 points per game, but he’s come on strong the past two games, scoring 24 points in the last two contests after scoring just 38 in the previous 10 games.

“During Christmas break, I went back and looked at my stats and saw I was shooting very low from every which way I could,” said Brooks. “I knew I needed to shoot better so I just worked hard on it and came in with the mindset that I would be ready to shoot and get it right.”

Although the Penguins shot just 32 percent from the field against Loyola, Brooks isn’t worried about the Penguins’ offense.

Defense, however, needs to be a bigger priority, he said.

“I’ve been thinking that since I’ve been here,” said Brooks, a first-year transfer from Butler County Community College. “Lately we’ve been working a lot harder on defense and I like that because I feel like I need to get better on defense.

“The offense is gonna come. We just need to get our defense together.”