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YOUNGSTOWN
BAD offense leads to bad defense. I thought defense won championships. In the world of Youngstown State men's basketball, the best defense is a good offense.
That last statement applies to military strategy, but it serves the purpose of this column.
YSU scores 77.4 points per game, but gives up 82.8 on defense.
YSU (10-15, 4-8 Horizon League) is in a three-way tie for seventh in the league with Milwaukee and Detroit Mercy, which beat the Penguins Saturday to sweep the season series.
The Penguins, who have lost two straight, had such high hopes after beating last-place Cleveland State on Jan. 28, one of the best defensive efforts this team has had this season.
YSU also has wins at second-place Green Bay and fifth-place Wright State with that same defensive intensity.
YSU coach Jerry Slocum hoped his team would muster some of that mojo this past week when it hosted Oakland and Detroit. Instead, the Penguins lost 90-76 against third-place Oakland and 90-80 versus Detroit, giving up 60 percent shooting from the floor and 50 percent from 3-point range in the second half against the Titans.
"It was disappointing to be in a position after your Cleveland State win a week ago," Slocum said after Saturday's game. "I knew Oakland was going to be a stretch, not a stretch. I knew Oakland was going to be a challenge, which I should say.
"(Saturday) was a game that was really disappointing."
What's disappointing is there are six games left in the regular season and four are away from the Beeghly Center -- including the next two at sixth-place UIC and first-place Valparaiso.
YSU is 3-8 away from the Beeghly Center, but has wins at Green Bay and Wright State. Winning at UIC and at Cleveland State is possible, but the home games against Wright State and Northern Kentucky, along with trips to Oakland and Valparaiso, don't look promising.
That would put YSU at 12-19 and 6-12 in the league heading into the Horizon League Tournament in Detroit starting March 3. Seeds seven through 10 face off in games that night with the winners taking on the top two seeds the following day. If things go according to years past, YSU should finish in that lower tier (seeds seven through 10) and most likely lose in the first or second round of the tournament.
The Penguins have not reached the semifinals of a conference tournament since 1999, when YSU went as a four seed to the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament in Moline, Ill. They lost in the semis to top seed Oral Roberts.
The Penguins advanced to the quarterfinals of the Horizon League Tournament four times since joining in 2001.
They've lost to Detroit the past two seasons in the first round of the tournament. The way things are going for the Penguins, it might be three straight losses in the first round against the Titans and three straight this season.
That would give YSU 20 losses for the 11th time in the 16 years the Penguins have been in the Horizon League. Slocum has coached the Penguins since the 2005-06 season and has a record of 139-225 in his 12th season with YSU.
His contract with the university was redone in 2015 and currently goes on a year-by-year basis through 2019, based on a university option. That means the option to extend the contract for an additional year is determined by YSU President Jim Tressel, after consulting with YSU Director of Athletics Ron Strollo at the end of each season.
Right now, the Penguins have two options. Start winning some games and get back into a wide-open Horizon League race and become one of those top six teams in the conference tournament, or let the fate of the program be decided another way.
Either way, YSU doesn't need any more bad offense, or for that fact bad defense.