Correspondent file photo / Robert Hayes Youngstown State guard Paige Shy drives to the basket during a game against Wright State last season. The Penguins open the 2023-24 campaign Wednesday against Xavier.

YOUNGSTOWN — As head coach John Barnes’ leave of absence remains ongoing, Youngstown State has maintained its focus as it prepares to open the 2023-2024 season this week.

Coming off a pair of closed scrimmages after a long preseason, the Penguins finally got a chance to see how they look against outside competition, and according to acting head coach John Nicolais, he liked what he saw.

“I think they’ve been very locked in in those scrimmages, which was nice,” Nicolais said. “So I guess that’s a little bit attributed to the experience and leadership (we have) and the expectations that we already had. We had some young kids that stepped into some roles and got some minutes and provided a spark, which was good to see, because we were curious how that would go. But after two scrimmages, I feel pretty good about where we’re at.”

While YSU’s eight fifth-year and senior returnees are expected to form the core of the team, the Penguins are also hoping for contributions from some new faces.

Returning junior Haley Thierry and redshirt freshman Mackenzie Hurd, sophomore transfer Abby Liber and YSU’s three true freshmen — Bella Samz, Amya McLeod and Abbie Davidson — have made a splash so far in preseason. Nicolais and the Penguins’ coaching staff are hoping that group can continue to grow and become a regular part of YSU’s rotation.

“They’re doing great. They push us day-in and day-out,” fifth-year Paige Shy said. “Me and Abby guard each other almost every day and she makes me better and I make her better. They all shoot well, pass well and defend well. They do it all, so they’re definitely going to help us this year, for sure.”

With all their returning experience, the Penguins were picked to finish third in the preseason Horizon League poll. Nicolais said he felt it was a fair assessment given YSU’s past success and the experience coming back.

“The bar is set high, but we want it to be that way,” Nicolais said. “Nobody in the league is going to take it easy on us.”

However, the upperclassmen players feel they have the potential for more given their experience, and want to make sure they take advantage of their final seasons.

“It’s just on us how we play. We have the potential to be really good, so we just have to keep working hard and push for our goals this season,” Shy said. “I think it means more being your last year because we don’t get this time back. We don’t get practice back, games back or anything. So just from a leadership perspective, leaving it all on the floor day-in and day-out and hopefully that can get us to where we want to be.”

The Penguins will open their new season with three straight home games, starting this week with Xavier on Wednesday and Division II Slippery Rock (Pa.) on Saturday before taking on Western Michigan on Nov. 16.

The Musketeers are breaking in a new coaching staff this season after the previous head coach was let go after a 7-23 campaign, in which Xavier went 0-20 in the Big East and ended the season on a 20-game losing streak.

Billi Chambers was named to take over Xavier’s program in April after 10 years at Iona. With new coaches, as well as new players for the Musketeers after several transfers in and out of the program, that leaves a certain degree of uncertainty with regards to preparation for the Penguins.

“It’s really a little bit of a guessing game trying to figure out who’s playing what spot and how they’re going to make the offense they ran at they’re previous stop work with the personnel that they have,” Nicolais said. “So we’re trying to figure them out. But a lot of it is just making sure that we’re doing the stuff that we need to do to do things that put ourselves in a position that we have a chance to win the game.”

More than anything, though, the Penguins are just looking forward to the opportunity to put all their offseason work into practice.

“We’ve grinded all summer and all preseason,” senior Malia Magestro said. “We’re just excited to finally let us see what we’ve been working on this whole time. It’s so exciting to play home games. We have the best fans at the Beeghly Center, so I think we’re really excited to open up (the season) in front of all our fans.”

YSU tips off against Xavier on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Beeghly Center.

nmadhavan@tribtoday.com