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YOUNGSTOWN -- Two halves.
Youngstown State has seen its men's basketball team play vastly different during the two 20-minute periods.
It was quite evident in Saturday's 80-75 victory at Wright State, coming back from a 14-point deficit.
The Penguins begin a two-game homestand tonight, hosting Valparaiso (12-4, 2-1 Horizon League), starting around 7:45 p.m.
How can the Penguins (8-9, 2-2) keep the momentum they built in Saturday's victory at Wright State?
"That's kind of one of those mumbo-jumbo questions that I really don't have an answer to," YSU coach Jerry Slocum said. "All I know is the ball went into the basket for us in the second half. We finally shot the ball like I think we can.
"Over our last four games I thought we guarded pretty well. This team is built on shooting the ball better than we have. I told the kids at the half of the Wright State game I wouldn't change anything they were doing -- defensively or offensively. We just got to make some shots. That's exactly what happened."
YSU shot less than 55 percent from the foul line in its first two Horizon League games. At Northern Kentucky and at Wright State, the Penguins were 16-of-21 and 11-of-15, respectively. Why did YSU improve from the charity stripe in the past two games?
"If you know, you're a lot smarter than me," Slocum said. "We work hard on it all the time. About 70 percent of the year we've shot really well from the foul line. Hopefully we had some medication for the virus."
Tonight, YSU faces a Valparaiso team which shoots 80 percent from the foul line. The Crusaders' top three scorers, Alec Peters (24.2 points), Shane Hammink (15.3) and Tevonn Walker (12.4), all shoot better than 80 percent from the stripe. The three have 94 of the team's 189 offensive rebounds.
"They drive it and really make you foul them," Slocum said. "That will clearly be a game emphasis for us to keep them off the line."
YSU's 7-foot senior center Jorden Kaufman said he and rest of the post players need to prevent Valparaiso from getting easy buckets. It's part of a bigger puzzle for YSU, which feels it's close to being one of the league's top teams.
"We just need to put it together," Kaufman said. "That's what coach has been saying, 'When are we going to put it together.' We're on our way. We need to continue to keep working.
"As long as we keep working at it, we should easily be in that conversation."
Slocum said his team is better defensively and has a better basketball IQ.
Putting the pieces together for this team is pretty simple -- make baskets. That's what happened in the second half of the Wright State game when YSU shot 60 percent from the floor.
"The truth of the matter is you feel better about yourself when the ball goes in the basket," Slocum said. "You play better defense when the ball goes in the basket. You're confidence grows when you see that thing going in there. That's exactly what happened."
"I thought we played a really good game at Northern Kentucky. We had shot after shot after shot that would not drop. This business is about making shots. We did that in the second half, guarded really well. Hopefully we've passed a hump, but you never know in this game."