Shooting woes doom YSU in 81-47 defeat at Ohio State
Trending
COLUMBUS -- Before the start of the season, Youngstown State head coach Ethan Faulkner touched on his team's shooting struggles during preseason scrimmages.
"I think the biggest thing is we gotta shoot the ball better," Faulkner said at his preseason press conference. "We haven't shot the ball from three that well. I think we've got some really good looks, just for whatever reason, they're not going in right now."
Through the first two games, those shooting woes were a recurring theme.
YSU had issues knocking down shots from beyond the arc in the season-opening win over Chicago State last week, and it continued on Monday night in the Penguins' 81-47 loss to Ohio State at Value City Arena in Columbus.
"First of all, execution-wise, we've gotta be much, much better," Faulkner said after Monday's loss. "Then when we do get clean looks, we gotta step up and make some shots. We gotta make some shots from the perimeter, we gotta make layups when we get them and we gotta get some guys playing better. That's on us as coaches. I take as much blame for that as our players. We gotta get these guys playing better."
For the game, YSU shot 23.7% (14-for-59) overall and was even worse from deep, as the Penguins were only 13.6% (3-for-22) from three. Just one player finished in double figures -- junior forward Cris Carroll, who led YSU with 10 points.
"Really, it's all mental," fifth-year guard Ty Harper said. "We were just mentally frustrated not knocking down shots. But we just gotta come back and keep working. We know what we did. So we just gotta come back, keep working and keep shooting."
For the Penguins, the best recipe is just to keep shooting until those shots finally start falling, according to Harper.
"We work on zone one, zone three and zone four shots -- that's to the basket and 3-point shots," Harper said. "We want our shots to go at 45% in the game. So we have to keep shooting, and we work on it all day. It's just a mental thing."
YSU won the opening tip and scored the first basket on a Gabe Dynes dunk. But from there, it was all Buckeyes.
The Penguins started 1-for-11 from the floor and made just two baskets in the first seven minutes.
Meanwhile, everything was falling early for Ohio State, as the Buckeyes got hot from distance -- they started 5-for-7 from three.
YSU shot 1-for-12 from deep in the first half, and the Penguins didn't hit their first 3-pointer until Jason Nelson drilled one from NBA range with 6:35 to go in the first half.
It mirrored what happened Saturday against Chicago State, when the Penguins started 1-for-9 from beyond the arc and didn't hit their first three until there was 2:36 left in the first half.
YSU's primary source of offense came at the free-throw line, where it was 16-for-24. The Penguins outshot the Buckeyes 24-13 at the charity stripe.
Ohio State shot 55.4% (31-for-56) overall and 45.5% from deep.
The Buckeyes had five players score in double figures, led by Aaron Bradshaw and John Mobley Jr. with 16 points apiece. The 7-foot-1 Bradshaw spent most of the game battling down low with fellow 7-footer Dynes, who finished with nine points and three blocks for the Penguins.
"Bradshaw's a good player, and he got the best of us tonight," Faulkner said. "We gotta learn from that."
FAMILY MATTERS
YSU senior guard EJ Farmer shared the court with his cousin, Ohio State fifth-year guard Meechie Johnson Jr., for the first time since the two were kids on Monday at Value City Arena.
They each hail from Cleveland, where Farmer attended Cleveland Heights and Johnson played at Garfield Heights.
Both are also transfers. Farmer spent two seasons at Toledo before transferring to YSU ahead of last season, while Johnson committed to Ohio State out of high school and played his first two seasons with the Buckeyes. Then, he transferred to South Carolina for two years, before transferring back to Ohio State ahead of this season.
"To be able to play on a college floor with him, that was amazing," Farmer said.
Even though both Cleveland Heights and Garfield Heights often play each other during the season, Farmer said he and Johnson never got the chance to play against one another in high school.
Johnson got the best of Farmer on the statsheet, scoring 11 points in Ohio State's win. Farmer finished with two points in just under 23 minutes of action against the Buckeyes.
"We used to go against each other all the time as kids," Farmer said. "It's just amazing to see the level he's at now and I'm where I'm at."
YSU continues its season-opening road trip on Saturday against Syracuse at 1 p.m. at the JMA Wireless Dome, while the Buckeyes head down to the Lone Star State to face Texas A&M on Friday at 9 p.m.