YSU motivated to return to form after down season
YSU motivated to return to form after down season
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YOUNGSTOWN -- Coming off a down year by recent standards, the Youngstown State men's basketball team is looking to return to form for the 2026-27 season.
Last year, the Penguins started off with high hopes. But a seven-game losing streak early in Horizon League play put YSU in a hole that it never recovered from, and the Penguins stumbled to tie for eighth in the conference standings, its lowest finish since tying for eighth during the 2017-18 season.
That, plus the uncertainty surrounding almost a completely new roster with one returner, eight transfers and five freshmen, led to YSU getting picked ninth in the Horizon League preseason poll.
"We haven't been picked very high in any of the polls, and that's OK," YSU head coach Ethan Faulkner said. "We're going to put our head down, go to work, put blinders on and not worry about those things that we can't control, and just come in here and get better every day."
However, the Penguins are using that as motivation as they look to get back to trying to challenge for the Horizon League championship this year.
"I feel good about where we're at. Feel good about the progress we're making," Faulkner said. "I continue to say this, but the level of success is going to be determined by the connection of our team, and I think that continues to stand out as we go through and spend more and more time with each other off the floor. We got a group that cares about the right stuff and cares about each other."
The coaching staff has high hopes for the team's lone returner, sophomore Jaiden Haynes, who averaged 4.8 points per game. He showed flashes last year as a freshman, but battled some nagging injuries at times.
Haynes has served as the team's unofficial liaison in helping all the newcomers acclimate to the program and Youngstown.
"I am a returner, so I know the coaches, I know the system and I know the standard that they hold me to," Haynes said. "I know what I want for myself and ultimately the trust [the coaches] have in me, their belief in me. I feel like you can't find that everywhere. The grass is not always greener on the other side, and I knew what situation I was going into this year because I am coming back to the same coaching staff."
In the past, YSU has brought in older, more experienced players out of the transfer portal to restock the roster. But the Penguins took a slightly different approach this year.
While there are some older players, Faulkner said this is a group that has a "chip on its shoulder" and is "eager to prove itself" at this level of college basketball.
"Three things that we've talked about all summer and how we've tried to build our team is to find players that really love the game -- guys that are going to show up every day, put their head down and go to work," Faulkner said. "Guys that are going to make it about the team, that are really going to care about each other and care about the guys next to you as much as you care about your own success. Then guys that almost have an obsession with winning."
Of the newcomers, the transfers include sophomore guard Jayden Tyler, senior forward Jermaine Coleman, senior center Kelvin Amoako, fifth-year guard Jeff Nwankwo, junior guard Linus Holmstrom, sophomore guard Dom Aekins, senior guard Jamar Livingston and sophomore forward Japhet Moupadele.
Freshmen additions Jacob Spurlock, Elijah Summers-Livingston, Andrew Adcock-Vidouria, Luka Lokhmanchuk and Kaelen Destin could have an opportunity to make an impact as well.
"I think we do have some guys with some versatility, and I think we've got some depth," Faulkner said. "We've got some position battles that are still working themselves out, but against we're just making sure that as coaches, we're putting them in a position to play to their strengths."
Offensively, Faulkner wants to get back to playing a fast-paced, up-tempo style that gets up and down the floor and attacks opposing teams in transition.
On the opposite end of the floor, he knows defense was a weakness at times last year and is aiming to return to being aggressive and disruptive.
"Keep the ball out of the middle of the floor. Really do a good job in our ball screen defense -- we want to really do a good job of forcing skips in our ball screen defense," Faulkner said. "Just making sure that we're taking a lot of pride in playing with great toughness on that end of the floor. We want to be a team that's very hard to play against, and I think we've been that in the past, and we gotta continue with that identity."
Schedule-wise, YSU has a tough non-conference slate that includes trips to Ohio State, Cincinnati, South Carolina and Ole Miss. The Penguins will also face Marshall at home and host a multi-team event against William & Mary and Maryland Eastern Shore.
In Horizon League play, the usual conference foes, plus new-conference addition Northern Illinois, await YSU. But also, due to the uneven number of league teams, the Penguins won't play a true double round-robin in league play.
YSU opens the regular season on Nov. 2 at St. Bonaventure. But before that, the Penguins will face nearby Akron in an exhibition contest today at 7 p.m.