Youngstown State University Coach Jerry Slocum thinks his Penguins will face their toughest test of the year at Xavier on Friday.  “Xavier is the best team we will face all year.  They are better than Pitt and Butler.  They have a potential NBA Lottery Pick in Jordan Crawford who is a transfer from Indiana, and they are very big inside.”

Experience should help the Penguins improve on last year’s 11-19 record.    Youngstown State is returning 10 letterwinners and four starters from 2008-09.  Slocum said this difference between last year and this year going into the opener are night and day.  “This year at practice, when a player makes a mistake, they point it out before you can even correct it.  It is much more productive to start with so many things in tact already.  It is much better trying to prepare this team when coaching from a positive perspective.” 

This will be the fourth time that YSU has played Xavier, but the first in the past 60 years,  with the Penguins losing all three previous meetings.  Xavier was a Sweet 16  team in last year’s NCAA Tournament and have seemed to somehow gotten better.  The game will be televised on FOX Sports Ohio and Robb Scmidt will be calling the action on AM-570. Tipoff is set for 7:30.

The Penguins will return home to host Hiram on Sunday.  The Hiram contest starts at 4:05.  Quite a contrast in opponents, but Slocum sees the variance as a non-issue, but rather ‘our first two games’, downplaying Xavier as a big test and Hiram as a potential laugher.

DeAndre Mays, who was named to the Horizon League All-Newcomer Team last season averaging 10.7 points and 3.5 assists per game, said the Penguins want to prove things this year.  “Practice has been loud.  All the guys are taking the Xavier game seriously, we want to prove things this season.  Last year, communication was a problem, this year we are communicating better and with our experience, the hard work should pay off.”  Slocum clarified the ‘practice has been loud’ comment made by Mays as a positive.  Slocum stated then when practice is quiet, the team is off of its’ rhythm and having a bad day, but when things get loud, the team is doing the right things, and practice has been loud.

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