YSU falls in exhibition at Akron
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AKRON -- The 2026-27 edition of the Youngstown State men's basketball team made its public debut on Tuesday night.
The Penguins showed flashes of their capability throughout the evening, but still fell 92-76 to Akron in a preseason exhibition contest at James A. Rhodes Arena in Akron.
"Obviously, we have to get better on the defensive end of the floor and toughness levels gotta raise exponentially," YSU head coach Ethan Faulkner said. "Gotta be able to rebound the basketball. We got things to clean up offensively, but we gotta clean the defense up."
Faulkner said he knew Tuesday's game was going to be physical and that the Penguins were going to get tested in that regard. He wanted to see how they'd handle it.
"I wanted to see where we're at in terms of our toughness level," Faulkner said. "I did not think we handled the physicality of the game well."
YSU was without three players, Jeff Nwankwo, Jayden Tyler and Jacob Spurlock, but sophomore guard Jaiden Haynes and senior forward Jermaine Coleman led the team with 15 points apiece.
YSU shot 49.2% overall, but was 8-for-27 from deep and 10-for-17 at the charity stripe.
Junior guard Linus Holmstrom added 14 points after starting the game 5-for-5 overall and 4-of-4 from 3-point range. Sophomore guard Dom Aekins rounded out the Penguins' double-figure scorers with 11 points.
"I shoot whenever I'm open, and I don't really put too much weight on if I make it or miss it," Holmstrom said. "That's my mentality."
Despite breaking in a first-year head coach and mostly new roster, Akron certainly looked like the two-time defending Mid-American Conference champions.
Tahj Staveskie, who YSU has some familiarity with from his time at Cleveland State, led the Zips with a game-high 28 points. Ohio State transfer Evan Mahaffey also had 18 points for Akron.
"Tahj was unbelievable, dominated the game," Faulkner said. "When you make mistakes on players like that, they're going to make you pay. He and Mahaffey, they certainly did that to us."
The Zips shot 52.4% overall and knocked down nine 3-pointers. They were 17-for-23 at the free-throw line and out-rebounded the Penguins 37-30.
"We've had the whole offseason and we haven't played a game in awhile. These preseason games are perfect for us to remember how physical it is," Holmstrom said. "I think everyone on the team has a sense of urgency right now that we want to fix this because everyone in that locker room wants to be great, and I'm sure that's what we're going to do."
YSU started off strong in the first half, building an early lead. But once Akron settled in, the Penguins struggled to keep up.
After trailing 43-32 at halftime, the Penguins opened the second half on a 9-2 run to cut the Zips' lead back within arm's reach. But the Zips hit four of their first five 3-pointers to stretch their lead back to double digits.
That was a running theme in the second half, as Akron seemingly had an answer each time YSU chipped away at the Zips' lead.
"I thought we did some good things offensively at times," Faulkner said. "But it seemed like every time we'd make a run, we'd have a breakdown defensively."
Despite the loss, Faulkner isn't worried about the Penguins' early issues, noting that everything is correctable.
"We haven't even played our first game yet. It's October basketball," Faulkner said. "We got things to clean up like everybody else. I'm frustrated with our level of toughness right now, but that's something that can be corrected."
YSU opens the regular season Monday at St. Bonaventure.