Identical records. Massey predicts a 1 point YSU victory, although is considering the Q a neutral site. Should be a good game.
Here is an article from today's Warren Triburn on YSU MBB:
YSU men look to break three-game slide
January 24, 2016
By JOHN VARGO - Tribune Chronicle (jvargo@tribtoday.com) , Tribune Chronicle
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YOUNGSTOWN - This week of preparation couldn't have come at a better time for Youngstown State.
The YSU men's basketball team has lost its last three games, been outscored by at least 30 points in each of those three contests, and were never in the game from the opening tip.
Penguins coach Jerry Slocum hopes to rectify that before today's game against Cleveland State at Quicken Loans Arena. Tipoff is at 1 p.m.
It starts with being able to get through missed baskets and not letting them become long droughts.
"Basketball is what it is," Slocum said. "They're not all going to go in. You've got to go down and fight. Instead of seeing the air suck out of your group because you miss a couple of shots. That's not grown-up, big-time basketball. You're a Division I player. You have to move past that stuff. They know it. I think we're kind of working at it.
"It's nice because we (had) two really good practice days before we start to prepare for Cleveland State."
YSU and CSU come into the game with similar 7-13, 2-5 Horizon League marks. The Vikings, like the Penguins, have a young team trying to find itself this season. This is the start of a three-game road trip for the Penguins, who next play at UIC on Thursday and at Valparaiso on Saturday.
"They're a young group, searching for an identity," Slocum said. "At times they've played really, really good basketball. At times they've been terrible. At times we've played really, really good. At times we've been poor.
"I anticipate it to be a great game. I can't wait to get this three-game road stretch done with, so we can finally get acclimated to home and try to turn the corner playing some home games."
CSU freshman Rob Edwards leads the Vikings with 12.4 points per game, while adding 1.5 steals in a pressure defense that creates transition points.
"They've beaten a lot of people at their place this year," Slocum said. "They're very, very good defensively like they always are. They're going to trap ball screens, make it very difficult for our young guys to make the adjustments to their defensive pressure."
Defensively, YSU has struggled - giving up 89.9 points through seven Horizon League games.
The Penguins want to be an up-tempo team, but can't get that going through a pressure defense.
"Without getting into specific players, we're not athletic enough to be able to get up," Slocum said. "A lot of our defensive concepts for the year were based on I thought that we could cover five, six, seven, eight steps, rather than trying to play hard man with what our talent level is. Obviously when you lose Bobby (Hain), who was one of your most athletic guys, some pressure goes on.
"We have a lot of things to work on. Absolutely we need to work on boxing out defensively."
Cameron Morse said if YSU makes stops, the Penguins can get out in transition.
"We can get out, run and get easy baskets," he said. "Offense is our main thing, but we have to get stops for that to happen."
Morse, YSU's leading scorer with 18.9 points per game, said the Penguins need to play more aggressive on defense.
"We let some easy things slide like missed box outs and reads," Morse said. "We have to get more aggressive on D and have some heart.
"We have to stop them, even though we can score on offense. We have to stop them first so we can win."
NOT THE BEST START: As for the Penguins, it isn't the start to Horizon League play Slocum wanted. The only reliable figure YSU has on the floor is Morse.
Matt Donlan, a junior college transfer who has struggled a bit from 3-point range, has about 14 points per game, while Jordan Andrews, a 3-pointer shooter as well, has been up and down with about 8.7 per game.
Hain is out with a fracture in his left foot suffered Dec. 21 at Notre Dame. He said the prognosis for recovery is six to eight weeks.
Bryce Nickels, a 6-9 redshirt freshman, was out until mid December with a foot injury. Nickels is trying to get back into rhythm.
Then, Sidney Umude, a 6-7 sophomore starter, has been trying to fill the void in the post.
In essence, Morse is the only one out on the floor that had prior Horizon League experience coming into this season.
"Were there going to be some hiccup moments? There are," Slocum said. "I think this group has enough with them to be able to fight through and play better basketball."
UMUDE'S STATUS: Umude went down in the opening moments of the Jan. 16 Wright State game with what was initially thought to be a left-ankle sprain or a bone bruise.
Umude's status for today's Cleveland State game is questionable.
"I think it's clearly a toss-up," Slocum said. "If the needle is bending one way or the other, clearly it's bending on not being able to go. If something happens in the next couple of days, who knows. It's not a season-ending injury. At one time, when he was assessed at Wright State by their doctors, we were told it was season-ending. After X-rays and everything being taken care of and seen by our doctors, the prognosis was a lot, lot better.
"To be honest with you, they tell me if he can go or not go. I try to stay away from that kind of stuff because I don't want to muck it up."
