Correspondent Photo / Robert Hayes Youngstown State junior guard Jason Nelson (left) finishes in the lane against Robert Morris on Dec. 4 in Moon Township, Pennsylvania.
YOUNGSTOWN — The start of Youngstown State’s season last year mirrors this season in many ways.
Last year, the Penguins started the season 3-3 and then won seven straight. After starting 2-5 this season, YSU is currently on a six-game winning streak after wins over Wright State and USC Upstate last week.
“I think we’re definitely getting there,” head coach Ethan Faulkner said in a press conference last week. “We’re definitely seeing improvement on both sides of the ball. I don’t think we’re able to put a complete game together yet on both ends of the floor.”
Just like last year, YSU had a lot of new players and needed to find a way to play together. They all had to figure out their roles while figuring out how to best fit into YSU’s system.
The more we play games together, the more we start to understand things.
“It’s definitely going to take a few games,” junior guard Jason Nelson said. “During the summer, we had players who were getting injured at times, so I felt like we weren’t really playing to our full potential, so we really came together. But after a few games recently, I feel like we’re getting better.”
Currently on a six-game winning streak, the Penguins are winning on both ends of the court.
take a shot
The Penguins struggled offensively to start the season.
Through the first seven games, YSU averaged just 65.0 points per game, shooting 36.2 percent overall and 23.9 percent from 3-point range.
Since then, the Penguins have found their shooting touch. Through 13 games, YSU is currently averaging 74.3 points per game on 42.0 percent shooting overall and 28.4 percent from beyond the arc.
“Offensively, it’s important to share the basketball,” Faulkner said. “We’ve done a much better job of that. Look at our assist-turnover ratio. It’s improved and has improved over the past few weeks. And I think that’s definitely helped us in terms of our daily practice and how we structure our practice to make sure we’re getting daily readings. .”
YSU’s scoring balance helped the Penguins offensively. Nico Garrett and EJ Farmer lead the team in scoring with averages of 13.8 and 13.6 points per game, respectively, and are always the driving force on offense.
But they have a balanced group behind them, each of whom can get hot on any given night. The Penguins have five different players, each averaging between 6.8 and 9.3 points per game.
“I think it’s just our team,” Faulkner said. “We’re very balanced. We have different guys that can spend the night. It’s EJ some nights, Nico some nights, Juwan (Maxey) some nights, I mean, Jason (Nelson). We might have a number of guys up and down the lineup that can carry the load offensively. I think that makes us a dangerous team. I think it’s making it difficult.”
Raise “D”
In recent years, YSU has developed into an offensive juggernaut under former head coach Jerod Calhoun.
Faulkner has maintained many of the same free-flowing offensive principles the Penguins had under Calhoun, but has also placed an emphasis on the defensive side of the floor.
“Coach Faulkner, I feel like we know he’s a defensive guy,” Farmer said. “He loves to play defense. He could guard when he played. So I think he did that pretty well and was able to guard. He’s showing us little things.”
The Penguins rank third in the Horizon League defensively, scoring 69.2 points per game. However, excluding YSU’s two losses to power conference opponents Ohio State and Syracuse, where the Penguins gave up 81 and 104 points, respectively, the Penguins are giving up just 65 points per game, which is the highest in the conference. But it will be great at the top too. Nationally -50.
“I think to be a good team you have to have balance on both sides of the ball,” Faulkner said. “I think we have a lot of good individual defenders and players that are willing to guard, but we play very well together on that end of the floor. Certainly for me as a coach and as a player, on that end of the floor. That’s very important to me and that’s certainly something we focus on in terms of trying to be a team that can rely on your defense to win games.”
A big part of the defense is the presence of 7-foot-3 sophomore center Gabe Dines as the last line of defense in the paint. Daines ranks third in Division I with 3.23 blocks per game, but he can still impact opponents’ shots even when he doesn’t have the ball in his hands.
Faulkner said YSU’s defense this season has helped carry the Penguins in games where they have a hard time making shots.
“I think our MO this year is we have to play defense and rebound at a high level,” Faulkner said. “We’ve made great strides on both sides of the ball in the last couple of weeks, but I’m really excited about where we are on the defensive side. I think we have a chance to get even better there, but… He’s playing at a pretty high level on that end of the floor.”
YSU is off this week for Christmas break, but the Penguins will be back in action Sunday when they host Detroit Mercy at Bealey Center starting at 2 p.m.
