Author Topic: Men's Basketball Opens 83rd Season at George Washington Saturday  (Read 2928 times)

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Men's Basketball Opens 83rd Season at George Washington Saturday
« on: November 08, 2012, 01:00:40 PM »

The Youngstown State men's basketball team opens the 83rd season in the program's history  with a game against a first-time opponent in Atlantic-10 member George Washington, Saturday. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. at the Smith Center in Washington, D.C. The can be heard on 1390 WNIO-AM.

Penguins' Season Openers
• Youngstown State is 38-44 in season openers and defeated Samford, 76-69, in last season's tipoff.
• The Penguins have won two straight season openers. YSU also defeated Samford, 64-61, to start the 2010-11 campaign.

The George Washington Series
• This is the first meeting between Youngstown State and George Washington.

Scouting George Washington
• The Colonials return four starters and seven letterwinners from last year's club.
• Senior Lasan Kromah is the team's top returning scorer with 11.1 points per game last season.
• Senior David Pellom also averaged double figures last season with 10.4 points per game.
• The Colonials also have six newcomers, including Villanova transfer Isiah Armwood.

Slocum Among Elite
• Youngstown State Head Coach Jerry Slocum ranks among the best in the history of college basketball.
• Slocum currently ranks tied for 39th all-time with 655 career victories. He also ranks fifth among active Division I head coaches in career wins.

A Win Will
• Improve YSU to 1-0 on the year.
• Mark YSU's first road victory of the season.
• Mark the third straight season YSU has won its season opener.
• Mark the program's first win over George Washington.
• Mark Head Coach Jerry Slocum's 656th career victory and his 75th at Youngstown State.
• Tie Jerry Slocum with Mike Rice for third on the YSU all-time wins list with 75.
• Mark YSU's 1,009th victory in the program's history.

Penguins Picked Fourth
• Youngstown State was picked to finish fourth in the Horizon League in a poll of the League's Head Coaches, SIDs and select media.
• It is the highest preseason ranking for the Penguins since joining the Horizon League in 2001-02.
• YSU was never picked higher than seventh.

Perry Preseason First-Team
• Junior Kendrick Perry was named to the Horzion League Preseason First-Team.
• He is the first player since Quin Humphrey in 2006-07 to receive preseason league accolades.
• Perry led the league in scoring last year with 16.8 points per game.

Eargle Preseason Second-Team
• Senior Damian Eargle was selected to the Horizon League Preseason Second-Team.
• Eargle led the league in blocks (3.7), ranked third in rebounding (7.5) and 15th in scoring.

Core Returning
• The Penguins return three starters which were their top three scorers from last season - Kendrick Perry, Blake Allen and Damian Eargle.
• Youngstown State also has six other letterwinners returning from last season's squad.

KP NABC All-District 2nd-Team
• Junior Kendrick Perry was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District 12 Second-Team last season.

Percent Returning
• Letterwinners - 64.3 percent
• Starters - 60 percent
• Scoring - 65.2 percent
• FG made - 67.4 percent
• 3-Point FG Made - 55.2 percent
• FT Made - 75.1 percent
• Rebounding - 66.7 percent
• Assists - 66.9 percent

Three for 1,000
• Seniors Blake Allen and Damian Eargle and junior Kendrick Perry each have a  legitimate chance at scoring 1,000 points in their careers at YSU.
• Perry needs 210 more while Eargle is 317 away and Allen needs 391 more.
• Eargle, however, needs just 49 more points for 1,000 in his entire college career. He scored 268 points as a freshman at UNC-Greensboro in 2008-09.

First Winning Season in 11 Years
• The Penguins finished last season with an overall record of 16-15 and a 10-8 mark in the Horizon League.
• The 16 wins are the most since 2000-01 and the overall record marks the first winning season since the same year.

Best Turnaround
• The Guins' eight-win improvement in the Horizon League marks the best one-year turnaround since the league went to 10 teams and the second-best in league history.
• YSU also lost three other games by a combined seven points.

Slocum Now Fourth
• Head Coach Jerry Slocum moved into fourth place on the school's all-time wins list with 74. • He needs just two more victories to move into third and five more to move into second place.

Back-to-Back Records
• For the second straight season, the Penguins set the school's single-season 3-point record with 270 made 3-pointers.
• The old record of 235 was set in 2010-11. They also tied the mark for most 3-point attempts of 708, which was set in 2010-11.
• Over the last 61 games, YSU has made 505 3-pointers.

Home Improvement
• The Guins won 10 home games for the first time since 2006-07 and won six road games, including four in league play.

2K-Club
• The 2,095 points scored marked the third straight season the Guins have scored at least 2,000 points and is the highest season-point total since the 2000-01.

Block Party
• The Guins' 164 blocks ranked as the second-highest single-season total in school history.
• The school record is 166 set in 1982-83.

KP First-Team All-League
Junior Kendrick Perry was named to the All-Horizon League First-Team last season. Below are some tidbits on Perry:
• Led HL in scoring in all games (16.8) and league games only (16.8 ppg).
• Led league in steals in conference games (2.4).
• Just the fifth player to lead the Horizon League in scoring and steals in the same season.
• Tied for league lead with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.9.
• Ranked second in steals (2.4) in all games.
• Ranked fourth in assists per game (3.9).
• Ranked ninth with 1.7 3-pointers  made per game.
• Was the first sophomore in school history to earn first-team all-conference honors.
• First YSU player since Quin Humphrey (2006-07 and 2005-06) to be named first-team all-league.

Eargle Named All-Defensive Team
Senior forward Damian Eargle was voted to the Horizon League All-Defensive Team. Below are some notes on Eargle's season:
• Set the Horizon League single-season blocks record for all games with 113 and league-games only with 65.
• Owns the Horizon League career record for blocks in conference play at 122.
• Ranks third nationally with 3.9 blocks per game.

Guins Set 3-Point Mark Again
• With six 3-pointers against Detroit on March 2, 2012, the Guins set the school's single-season record for most 3-pointers with 270.
• They broke the record of 235 set in 2010-11.
• The long-standing mark of 199 was set in 1997-98.

Four for 50
• For the first time in school history, four players made at least 50 3-pointers in the same season.
• Senior Blake Allen led the team with 91 while Kendrick Perry has 54 and former Penguins Ashen Ward and DuShawn Brooks made 53 and 50, respectively.

Allen in Top 10
• With a 3-pointer made against Detroit on March 2, 2012, Blake Allen made his 138th career 3-pointer at Youngstown State.
• He currently ranks seventh all-time. He had 91 3-pointers last season, which ranks second on the single-season list.

KP Sets Single-Season Steals Mark
• With a steal against Detroit on March 2, 2012, sophomore Kendrick Perry set the school single-season steals mark.
• He had 74 steals last season. The old record of 64 was set by Marlon Williamson in 2002-03.

Best HL Turnaround
• With its win over Wright State on Feb. 23, YSU set a Horizon League (since becoming a 10-team league) mark with an eight-win turnaround in one season.
• Cleveland State set the nine-team league mark of a nine win improvement from 2006-07 to 2007-08.

KP Most Points Since 2006-07
• With 521 points last season, sophomore Kendrick Perry has scored the most points in a single-season since Quin Humphrey scored 584 in 2006-07.
• Perry, who led the league in scoring at 16.8 points per game, scored at least 20 points in seven of the last 11 games.
• He was the first player since Humphrey to score 500 points and the first sophomore since Reggie Kemp to reach that mark in 1989-90.

Guins By The Numbers
16
Number of overall wins in 2011-12, marking the first winning season since 2000-01.

270
The single-season record of made 3-pointers by the Guins in 2011-12.

5
The number of different Horizon League Players of the Week for the Guins in 2011-12. It marked the first time in league history five different players from the same school won the award.

3.7
The number of blocks per game Damian Eargle posted last season. That number led the Horizon League and ranked third in the country in 2011-12.

91
The number of 3-pointers Blake Allen made last year. It was one shy of the school single-season record.

521
The number of points Kendrick Perry scored as a sophomore in 2011-12. He became the first sophomore to score at least 500 points since Reggie Kemp in 1989-90.

15
The number of blocked shots needed by Damian Eargle to become Youngstown State's all-time blocks leader. Eargle has 207 blocks in 61 games at YSU.

61
Blake Allen needs 61 more 3-pointers to break the school's career mark of 198 set by Craig Haese from 1998-2001.

1,262
The combined points scored by Kendrick Perry, Blake Allen and Damian Eargle last season.

Eargle Second With 200 Blocks
• Senior Damian Eargle became just the second player in school history to accumulate at least 200 career blocked shots.
• Eargle has 207 blocked shots.
• The only player ahead of Eargle is Ricky Tunstall, who recorded 221 career blocks.
• He needs 15 more blocks to set the school's all-time blocks record. Counting his 57 blocks at UNC-Greensboro, Eargle has reached 264 blocked shots for his entire college career.

Guins Set League Mark
• With Kendrick Perry's weekly award on Feb. 6, 2012, Youngstown State became the first program in Horizon League history to have five different players earn player-of-the-week accolades.
• Perry joined DuShawn Brooks (Dec. 5), Damian Eargle (Jan. 2), Ashen Ward (Jan. 9) and Blake Allen (Jan. 23) as recipients of the award this year.

Up Next
The Penguins visit SEC-member Georgia, Monday, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU from Athens, Ga.