Correspondent file photo / Robert Hayes. Former YSU coach John Barnes addresses the Penguins during a team practice in July.

YOUNGSTOWN — Even as John Barnes departs from the Youngstown State program, the ideology and culture that he built over his 10 years leading the program has still been on full display this season.

Part of Barnes’ legacy is the culture he leaves behind. Despite the Penguins’ record, YSU has continued to showcase its identity of “grittiness” in Barnes’ absence that he originally instilled within his players.

“I feel like we’ve been gritty for 10 years plus,” now-interim head coach John Nicolais said this week. “That’s our identity and that’s something we haven’t shied away from. We’ve always embraced that and I think people around here take to that. They like to see diving on the floor, taking charges and playing hard-nosed defense. … It’s the identity of this place, so we’re happy with how we do that.”

The definition of “grittiness,” according to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, is to be “courageously persistent,” which is fitting considering how the team has played this season.

Fifth-year Paige Shy said the Penguins view “grittiness” as the tenacity and effort they play with on the floor, all while being “stingy” and effective on defense. When she first arrived at YSU in 2021 after transferring from Marshall, Shy said she knew that she wasn’t going to play much unless she bought into Barnes’ defensive philosophy.

“It stems back to when Coach Barnes first got here,” said Nicolais, who coached under Barnes for the last 10 years before taking over for him this season. “We laid out the expectations and how we wanted things to look and did a pretty good job of building the culture up. It was in a good place before we got here, but those were the non-negotiables that we wanted to see (every night).”

This season has had a much different feel to it compared to past years. Previously, the Penguins have thrived on a combination of sharp shooting and tenacious defense.

But this year, unlike in years past, the shooting numbers haven’t quite been the same. From 2014-2015 through 2021-2022, YSU led the Horizon League for eight straight seasons in three-pointers per game. During that stretch, the Penguins never shot below 31.7% (2019-2020) from deep. This season, they’re only shooting 25.8% from three.

As a result of the lack of consistent shooting, YSU has had to compensate, which is where its defense and “grittiness” has come into play.

Even though the offense has been lacking, the Penguins are still second in the Horizon League in scoring defense, giving up just 61.8 points per game.

“Ever since I’ve been at YSU, we’ve really focused on defense,” senior Malia Magestro said. “Ever since my freshman year, the majority of the time in practice, we’re spending it on getting better at defense. With defense, that’s something where it doesn’t really take a lot of talent. It just takes a lot of effort and willingness. We’ve really always focused on that, so I think that’s where it comes from and it definitely has become a culture thing.”

As part of that, Shy said the Penguins players take pride in doing the “little things” on the floor — things that might not always show up in the box score or on the stat sheet — such as taking charges, diving after loose balls, and as has been the case this season, even playing out of position.

For example, rarely will fans see a louder cheer from the Penguins’ bench than when a teammate draws a charge, which goes back to the fundamental belief that Barnes built the program around.

“I feel like there’s a bunch of people on our team that do the little things, and we see it as teammates,” Shy said. “So we always make sure to congratulate that person or call them out and say, ‘good job, good charge,’ because it all does help at the end of the day.”

Even though YSU hasn’t had the results it is accustomed to this season, the Penguins remain steadfast in their approach. It’s worked for them in victories over teams like Akron, Oakland and Purdue Fort Wayne so far, and now they hope that they can continue to build on that the rest of the season.

“We had some success last year, and we have a lot of the same faces that we did last year, so it is definitely frustrating to not see the results that we want,” Magestro said. “But it’s a game of runs and sometimes it’s what happens in basketball. So I think it’s just important for us to stay level-headed and just keep putting the time in and hopefully it clicks.”

nmadhavan@tribtoday.com