Oakland road trip next for YSU men

By Dan Hiner

dhiner@vindy.com

Youngstown

The Horizon League tournament presents a clean slate for the Youngstown State men’s basketball team.

The Penguins had a chance to clinch a home tournament game, but dropped the last three games of the season after winning six straight. The heartbreaker came on Saturday in an 89-80 overtime loss to Cleveland State at Beeghly Center.

“With a young group, it’s really about the confidence and the mindset — making sure we’re in a good mind-frame,” YSU head coach Jarrod Calhoun said Monday. “You can’t let your last outing affect your next outing.

“We’ve certainly moved on from Senior Night and now it’s 40 minutes to advance.”

YSU will need to get over the Cleveland State loss quickly. The Penguins, the sixth seed, will play third-seeded Oakland in the first round of the tournament on Wednesday at Athletics O’Rena in Rochester, Mich.

The Penguins split the season series, with the road team winning both contests. The regular-season meetings were decided by a combined three points.

“I certainly think we’re capable of winning up there, and I think our guys should think that,” Calhoun said. “We’ve already done it, but it’s tournament time and you gotta go do it.

“You just have to have a really good mindset [coming] into this game and have fun with it. It’s the tournament, it’s fun. It’s what college is all about.”

It will be the first meeting between the two programs in the conference tournament since the 2016-17 season. The Penguins, led by former head coach Jerry Slocum, beat the Golden Grizzlies 81-80 to advance to the semifinals.

YSU is expecting problems communicating on the court.

Calhoun increased added extra noise during the Penguins’ practice on Monday. He increased the volume of the music to better emulate a road tournament atmosphere.

“I think you have to practice the way the conditions are gonna be,” Calhoun said. “I expect that place to be rocking. I think it’ll be the best atmosphere we’ve played in all year.

“We’ve certainly played at Ohio State, West Virginia, Pitt, some of those places. But they’re bigger. I think this venue, it gets really loud in there so we gotta communicate. I think mental toughness is communication.”

Calhoun has told the players to view their record in the final regular-season games as 6-3 not 0-3.

The Penguins are 5-10 on the road this season, and 4-5 away from the Beeghly Center versus Horizon League teams.

“We’ll have to play well,” Calhoun said. “Anytime you’re in a tournament you have to play good, especially on the road, your margin for error is a little bit smaller.”