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YSU men visit Robert Morris
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
When Youngstown State men’s basketball coach Jerry Slocum looked at this year’s schedule, he knew two spots were going to be trouble.
He’s in the middle of the first.
The Penguins (4-4) finish off a tough stretch of road games this week when they play at Robert Morris today and at South Dakota on Friday. By the time it’s over, YSU will have played seven of its last eight games on the road.
“It’s been a brutal stretch for us and I think our kids have handled it pretty well,” said Slocum, whose team is 2-3 on the road this season. “I’m not sure there’s anyone in the country that’s playing seven out of eight games not at home.”
This season’s other tough spot comes next month, when YSU starts its league season with four road games in the first five contests. But this stretch should help the Penguins with that one, junior center Bobby Hain said.
“It was tough going into it, but I think we learned a lot through all those games,” he said. “It’s a good learning process, almost going into conference.”
Tough Test ahead
YSU has lost three straight games at Robert Morris, although the Penguins beat the Colonials at home last year to end a seven-game losing streak overall in the series.
“It’s not an easy place to play,” Slocum said. “It’s clearly unique. It’s not a very good shooting background, the floor’s in the middle of a track. On top of that, they defend you well and have had a lot of success.
“It’s been a tough place, we’ve had some great games there and we’ve never gotten over the hump.”
Keene stays hot
The Penguins are coming off an 85-73 overtime loss to Illinois State on Saturday. The defeat snapped a three-game winning streak.
Sophomore Marcus Keene had another big night, leading the Penguins with a career-high 29 points as well as four assists and four steals. He leads the Horizon League with 3.3 3-pointers per game and is fourth in the league in scoring at 18 points per game.
“I’ve been saying it for a while and last year you didn’t see it at times because of the maturing process, but Marcus is a really good offensive player,” Slocum said. “His shot selection is really second to nobody I’ve coached. He doesn’t take a bad shot. He knows how to find his shots. When you start to press up on him, he makes really good passes. He’s gonna be a marked man this week. We’re gonna see how much he’s matured.”
The Illinois State loss was a tough game for Hain, who shot just 2 of 10 from the field and fouled out midway through overtime after playing just 27 minutes.
“Obviously, it helps when I’m on the floor,” Hain said. “I just have to be more [smart] with defense. Sometimes I have these silly fouls where sometimes I don’t think they’re the right calls but they know what they’re doing.”