The Youngstown State men's basketball team  opens the 84th season in the program's history when it visits first-time opponent Kennesaw State, Friday, Nov. 8.
• Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. EST at the KSU Convocation Center and the game can be heard on 570 WKBN-AM and iHeartRadio.
• The Penguins also play Florida International on Nov. 9 at 3 p.m. and Eastern Kentucky on Nov. 10 at 1 p.m. in the three-day tournament.

Penguins' Season Openers
• Youngstown State is 39-44 in season openers and defeated George Washington, 80-73, in last season's tipoff. The Penguins have won three straight season openers after defeating Samford, 76-69 in 2011-12 and 64-61 in 2010-11.

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

Scouting Kennesaw State
• Kennesaw State, which went 3-27 in 2012-13, are under the direction of third-year Head Coach  Lewis Preston. The Owls return three starters and seven letterwinners from last season's team.  Kennesaw State is coming off a 95-66 win over Covenant in an exhibition game on Nov. 2. Orlando Coleman led the Owls with 15 points while Drew McGhee had 13, Bernard Morena scored 12 and Yonel Brown added 11.

Slocum In Elite Company
• Youngstown State Head Coach Jerry Slocum ranks among the best in the history of college basketball in terms of overall wins.
• Slocum ranks 36th all-time with 673 career victories.
• He also ranks sixth among active Division I coaches in all-time wins.

A Win Will
• Improve YSU to 1-0 on the season.
• Mark the fourth straight season-opening victory.
• Mark YSU's first win over Kennesaw State.
• Mark YSU's first road win of the season.
• Mark Head Coach Jerry Slocum's 674th career victory and his 93rd at Youngstown State.
• Mark YSU's 1,027th victory in the program's history.

Penguins Picked Fifth; Get 1st Place Vote
• Youngstown State was picked to finish fifth in the Horizon League's Preseason Poll of head coaches, SIDs and selected media.
• The Penguins earned 219 points and received a first-place vote for the first time.

Perry Named Preseason POY
• Senior Kendrick Perry was named the Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year after averaging 17.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game last season.
• Perry is the only returning player in the Horizon League that ranked in the top 10 in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals per game and free-throw percentage.
• Perry tied for the league lead with 1.9 steals per game, ranked second in scoring, fifth with a .845 free-throw percentage, sixth with 4.1 assists per game and 10th with 5.5 rebounds per game.

Belin Named Preseason Second-Team
• Senior Kamren Belin was voted to the Preseason All-Horizon League Second-Team. Last season, Belin averaged 11.1 points per game, but posted a 12.3 points per game scoring average in league play. His .407 3-point percentage ranked fifth in the league.

Core Returning
• The Penguins have three starters and nine letterwinners returning from last season.
• Seniors Kendrick Perry and Kamren Belin averaged 17.3 and 11.1 points per game, respectively.

Back-to-Back Winning Campaigns
• With its 18-16 record last season, the Youngstown State men's basketball program posted its first back-to-back winning campaigns since 1984-85.
• In 2011-12, YSU went 16-15.
• The Penguins last posted consecutive winning seasons in 1983-84 (18-11) and 1984-85 (19-11).

Perry Preseason Accolades
• Senior Kendrick Perry collected a plethora of preseason honors this year.
• Besides the Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year, Perry also collected the following preseason laurels:
• 2014 Cousy Award Watch List.
• 2014 Senior CLASS Award Candidate,
• Named 2013-14 Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year by Midmajormadness.com
• Named 2013-14 Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year by Blue Ribbon Sports.
• Named Top Ten Mid-Major Point Guards to Watch in 2013-14 by MidMajorMadness.com.
• Named 2013-14 Horizon League Preseason Top Player by TheHoopsReport.com
• Ranked #17 on Bleacher Reports Top 20 Mid-Major Stars in 2013-14.

Most HL Wins In Consecutive Years
• Youngstown State's 17 Horizon League wins over the last two seasons marks a program high.
• The Penguins had just 16 league wins in the previous four years combined.
• The 10 wins in 2011-12 were the most since joining the league in 2001-02.
• Last year was the third time the Penguins have won at least seven league contests.
•  The Penguins had 20 conference wins in their final two seasons in the Mid-Continent Conference - 11 in 2000-01 and nine in 1999-2000.

KP Now 17th
• With 1,309 career points, junior Kendrick Perry ranks 17th on the YSU all-time scoring list.
• Perry needs just three more points to move into 16th place.
• In his 91-game career, Perry has a scoring average of 14.4 points per game.

Notching 200 3's
• Last season, the Penguins made an impressive 245 3-pointers, which is the second-most in school history.
• It marked the third straight season the Penguins made at least 235 3's in a season.
• The school record of 270 was set in 2011-12.
• The previous record was 235 set in 2010-11.

Penguins By The Numbers
673
• Number of career wins for Head Coach Jerry Slocum.
245
• The number of 3-pointers made by the 2012-13 Penguins. It's the second-most on the single season list.
34
• School-record for games played in a season in 2012-13.
115
• The number of assists junior DJ Cole posted last season. That total was a career best for Cole and  ranked second on the team.
107
• The combined number of 3-pointers made by seniors Kamren Belin and Kendrick Perry. Belin was second on the team with 57 and Perry was third with 50.
17.3
• Kendrick Perry's scoring average in 2012-13. It's the highest single-season scoring average since Quin Humphrey's 18.8 points per game in 2006-07.
8
• The number of wins Head Coach Jerry Slocum needs to become just the second coach in YSU history to post 100 victories.
513
• The number of points Kendrick Perry needs to become YSU's all-time Division I leading scorer. Perry has 1,309 career points.
2,426
• The single-season team scoring record set by the 2012-13 squad. It marks the fourth straight season YSU has scored at least 2,000 points in the season.
27
• The number of wins Head Coach Jerry Slocum needs to reach 700 for his career. Slocum ranks 36th all-time with 673 career victories.
237
The number of combined assists by  senior Kendrick Perry (122) and junior DJ Cole (115).
13
• Kendrick Perry has the chance to become just the 13th three-time All-Horizon League First-Team selection in league history.

OT Not Penguin Friendly
• The Penguins had four overtime games during last season and were 0-4 in those games.
• YSU's season ended with an 84-82 loss to Canisius in the CIT.
• The Penguins also lost 88-83 in triple overtime loss to UIC on Feb. 10, 2013.
• It was just the third time in school history the Penguins played a game with three extra periods.
• The Penguins also lost overtime games to North Dakota State (83-80) on Nov. 19, 2012 and Kent State (85-78) on Nov. 28, 2012.
• The last time YSU played four overtime games in a season was 2000-01.

Kam Craved League Play
• Junior Kamren Belin certainly made a case for his All-Newcomer Team selection.
• Belin is averaged 12.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game and shooting 44 percent from the 3-point line in league play.
• Against league opponents, Belin was third in 3-point percentage (.446), fifth in 3-pointers made (35) and 3-pointers made per game (2.3) and 15th in scoring.
• Belin ranked third among league newcomers in scoring with 12.3 points per game in league-only games.
• Belin continued his hot trend in the Horizon League Championship first round game against Loyola with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the floor.

KP Only Player With 1,300, 360, 170
• Junior Kendrick Perry is the only player in Youngstown State history with 1,000 points, 300 assists and 150 steals.
• Perry has 1,309 career points, 365 assists and 170 steals.