Staff file photo / Neel Madhavan Youngstown State redshirt junior guard Andrew King (right) is defended by sixth-year forward Vlad Salaridze (left) and redshirt senior guard Jason Nelson during a team scrimmage on July 16 at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center.

YOUNGSTOWN — The buzz is palpable in the atrium and halls of the Beeghly Center at Youngstown State.

Not only are improvements being added to the infrastructure of the building, but head coach Ethan Faulkner is high on his rebuilt team, as the Penguins began official practices this week ahead of the team’s 2025-26 season, which begins on Nov. 3 at Pitt.

“We’ve had tons of success over the last several years, and I’m really excited about where we’re at as a program and really excited and optimistic about the new group that we have,” Faulkner said. “I think we’re going to play a fun style, and I think we’re going to have a chance to compete at the top of our league again.

“This league is what it is, right? We know there’s a lot of good teams, a lot of good players and a lot of good coaches. So we’re going to have to continue to make progress in terms of our development and the chemistry of our team.”

Like most teams in college basketball these days, YSU underwent plenty of roster turnover after the end of last season.

The Penguins returned four players from last year’s squad, including Jason Nelson, Cris Carroll, Imanuel Zorgvol and Shaheed Solebo, while adding 11 new players with eight transfers and three freshmen.

“I think we have a very deep team. One through 15, we have guys that are able to impact winning,” said Vlad Salaridze, a sixth-year forward who is one of those transfer additions. “If I was a coach, the best problem to have is to not know who to play. We just have a bunch of really talented players, and we’re in the process of putting it all together.”

The most experienced of those newcomers are Salaridze, sixth-year forward Tyler Robinett, sixth-year guard Cam Polak and senior Bryson Dawkins, each of whom are expected to be key contributors this season for the Penguins.

“We have high hopes and we work to (achieve) that,” Salaridze said. “But at the same time, I think we’re an old team. … I think we’re a gritty team. I think we play hard. I think we’re going to be in better shape than everyone else. I think we’re going to be more experienced than everyone else, and we’re just going to be that team that’s going to close out games.”

Throughout the summer, YSU worked to build chemistry between its returners and newcomers. Now during practices over the next month, the Penguins are trying to fine tune things on both ends of the floor.

On one end of the court, Faulkner wants YSU to continue to build off the defensive identity that it established in his first year as head coach last season.

“We’re always a team that’s going to base our identity on the defensive end of the floor. We saw that last year, and we’ve got great versatility on that side of the floor,” Faulkner said. “We weren’t very big from the guard position last year. I think if you come see our group physically, we look different from the guard position, which I’m really encouraged by. I think that gives us a chance to be even better on the defensive end of the floor as well.”

Offensively, Faulkner aims to try to get back to where the Penguins were during former coach Jerrod Calhoun’s final few seasons.

YSU struggled shooting the ball at times last year, and it was sometimes difficult to overcome, even as the defense kept the Penguins in games.

“I think we’re going to get back to playing a brand of basketball that our fans are more used to seeing in terms of our tempo, in terms of having versatility from a lot of different positions and really being able to play out of the ball screen,” Faulkner said. “Those things are going to look maybe a little bit different at times than last year.”