Sunday, March 20, 2016
By STEVE WILAJ
YOUNGSTOWN
The Youngstown State men’s basketball team is losing a freshman starter from its 2015-16 team.
Jordan Andrews, who averaged 7.9 points and started 19 games as a true freshman this past season, announced on Friday on Twitter that he’s transferring from the program.
The LaPlace, La., native told The Vindicator on Saturday that he’s not sure yet where he will transfer. He added that the main factor behind his decision was to play closer to home.
“I got homesick during the year,” Andrews said. “It was hard being away from my family and hard for them to get up here to see me. So I’m going to go somewhere much closer to home.”
On Friday, he wrote: “I want to first thank the coaches and Youngstown State University for the great opportunity to attend school and play here. ... I can not [sic] thank the people enough who supported me throughout my time here.”
Andrews, a 6-foot-5 guard, played in all 32 games for YSU (11-21) this season and was named to the Horizon League All-Freshman Team. He recorded a season-high 19 points at Green Bay on Feb. 20, shot 36.8 percent from 3-point range and set the YSU freshman record for most 3-pointers in a season with 50.
He started YSU’s final 19 games after coming off the bench for the first 13 and averaged 9.8 ppg in conference play.
Eleventh year coach Jerry Slocum, whose contract expired at season’s end, but is expected to be back, spoke highly of the freshman all season, saying in February: “I’m not surprised at all about his improvements. I think the ceiling is really, really high for him.”
Andrews is the third YSU starter in three years to transfer from the program, as sophomore shooting guard Ryan Weber left the program after the 2013-14 season and sophomore point guard Marcus Keene exited after the 2014-15 campaign.