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YOUNGSTOWN -- Clink. Clank. Bounce.
Frustration follows.
Youngstown State senior men's basketball player Cameron Morse relied on isolation moves, resulting in the Flint, Mich., native being an unstoppable force in recent seasons in the Horizon League.
Last year, he unconsciously put up 44 points on Green Bay, averaging 22.9 points per game for the season.
Through two games this season, the 6-foot-3 shooting guard hasn't got into the ebb and flow of an up-tempo offense.
How the heck is he only averaging 14 a game when it should be around 10 more than that? There are a lot of obstacles in Morse's way.
Francisco Santiago is not 100 percent, playing sparingly in an offense tailor-made for a self-made man like this St. Ignatius High School graduate. Nothing was given to Santiago, now a redshirt senior who didn't play his first two seasons in college at Wheeling Jesuit and YSU. He had to build up from a walk-on status to an eventual scholarship.
Morse scoured the Midwest for Division I opportunities as Eastern, Western and Central Michigan all shunned the talented guard from their own state.
Instead, he had to travel four hours east to Youngstown, where former Penguins coach Jerry Slocum agreed to have Morse aboard for his one and only Division I offer. The rest is history.
Now, Morse has to overcome these current struggles which, in retrospect, pale in comparison to scratching and clawing for a Division I offer.
Just as Morse thought he would have sophomore Jeremiah Ferguson along side of him as his point guard, a Kent State player clubbed Ferguson on a loose ball and broke his nose -- turning it sideways. Ferguson said he was fitted for a mask on Thursday and YSU trainer Todd Burkey said he is out for tonight's game at Canisius (0-2), starting at 7 p.m.
First-year senior guard Jaylen Benton, who is trying to learn the Penguins' new schemes, is left, along with a host of other help in the backcourt.
"It's kind of like losing your quarterback in football," said YSU first-year coach Jerrod Calhoun, whose team is 1-1. "We can't make excuses. Nobody's going to feel sorry for us. I told all the guys, 'You don't have to be a superhero. We all have to be a little bit better in our roles.' That's how you overcome something we're dealing with."
Morse, who is 11 of 38 from the floor, is the main point guard in the meanwhile. Not the offensive start he wanted.
He's playing a physically demanding defense, which may take away some of the presence on offense he once had.
All these things don't faze Morse. The soft-spoken senior never lets pressure get the best of him, even in this early slump. He's been working with position coach Paul Molinari to try to get his rhythm back.
Just like the team learning a new offense and defense with muscle memory and repetition, Morse's process is learning to get better as well.
"That's what I tell him," Molinari said.
No worries. There never is from Morse.
"It's all going to get back on track," he said.
The clinks and clanks of the ball bouncing on and off the rim are eventually going to be replaced by swishes of the net.