YSU set for Detroit Mercy, Oakland
Penguins seek to continue improvement defensively as athletic opponents await
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YOUNGSTOWN -- Fresh off of Saturday's win over IUPUI, Jerrod Calhoun had high praise for his defense before taking a cautious glimpse at the road ahead.
"This week will present a different set of problems," he noted.
Those problems are a two-game road swing to Michigan, where the Penguins (12-5, 4-2 Horizon League) visit Detroit Mercy tonight (7 p.m., ESPN+, 570 AM WKBN) and Oakland on Saturday afternoon (3 p.m., ESPN+, 570 AM WKBN).
The Titans enter at 6-11 overall and 2-4 in Horizon League play, but don't let that record fool you, Calhoun says.
"Their record's a little deceiving," he said. "They've played a great nonconference schedule, multiple Power 5 teams. They've really been in every game. ... So I have a lot of respect for Coach (Mike) Davis, and obviously his son's one of the best guards college basketball has ever seen scoring-wise. So it presents a lot of challenges."
Davis' son, of course, is Antoine Davis, the Horizon League's all-time scoring leader and the NCAA's No. 6 all-time scoring leader at 3,159 points. This season, he's averaging 25 points per game and also has 53 assists and 52 rebounds, just over three per game in each category.
Davis shoots at 39 percent clip from the field and is shooting 38.7 percent from 3-point range.
Behind Davis, Gerald Liddell scores 16.8 points per game and averages 12.8 rebounds, but hasn't played since Dec. 31 with what was reported by Detroit News sportswriter Tony Paul as a "tweaked back." He was a game-time decision for the Northern Kentucky game last week, but ultimately didn't play.
Jayden Stone also is scoring in double figures at 13.9 points per game, and posted 24-point outings against both Wright State and NKU.
And, as Calhoun pointed out, the Titans are battled-tested. Among UDM's losses are power conference programs Boston College, Washington State and Cincinnati. Among the Titans' wins is Ohio, which defeated YSU at the Beeghly Center in December.
The star power doesn't end with Detroit Mercy either, Calhoun pointed out.
Oakland (6-11, 4-2 Horizon League) features two of the Horizon League's top players in Trey Townsend and Jalen Moore, and four Golden Grizzlies average in double figures.
Townsend leads at 16.2 points and seven rebounds per game, and Moore averages 14.7 points. Keaton Hervey scores 12.8 points per game and snags 7.3 rebounds, while Blake Lampman scores 10.8 points per game.
"There's some star power this weekend we're going to go up against," Calhoun said.
The key to combating it?
"Continue to stay connected and (play) team defense," he noted. "Guard the ball together -- not just one guy on the ball, but make sure we're swarming the basketball, make sure we're defensive rebounding. I think that's been our biggest key to success the last two games. We're holding teams to one shot. When you do that, you have a great chance (to win)."
And, as the coach pointed out, the Penguins are playing well offensively in their own right and have plenty of experience.
Dwayne Cohill is scoring 18.1 points per game, while Malek Green (14-1), Brandon Rush (13.2) and Adrian Nelson (11.4) also average in double figures. Nelson is nearly averaging a double-double with 9.2 rebounds per game, and Green adds 6.9 boards per contest. YSU enters having tied the program record for 3-pointers and assists in a single game in a 105-74 decimation of IUPUI.
"We have a lot of firepower, but (we need) to continue to pass the ball," Calhoun said. "Last game we had 33 assists, 18 threes, just make the right play. We don't need home-run plays; we need the right play."