YSU Sports

Men face Morgan State

Host Bears in first round of The Basketball Classic

YOUNGSTOWN -- After getting upended by Robert Morris in the opening round of the Horizon League Tournament, Youngstown State's players and coaches took a couple days to process everything and think things over.

The Penguins had a choice: continue the season with a tournament of sorts, or call it a successful year at 18-14 and head into the offseason.

According to YSU coach Jerrod Calhoun, it was pretty clear what option the team was leaning toward.

"After about 48 hours, we started talking and you could hear our guys get excited about this tournament and the opportunity to keep playing basketball," Calhoun said.

And so the Penguins will. As part of a double-header with the women's team tonight at the Beeghly Center, YSU will host Morgan State (13-14) in the opening round of The Basketball Classic, which replaces the CIT as a postseason tournament.

The game is set for 8 p.m. and will follow the women's team's matchup with Kent State in the WNIT.

In the Bears, Calhoun says the Penguins are getting a team that forces nearly 20 turnovers per game, 8.5 of which come on steals.

"I think No. 1 is ball security. They've forced over 500 turnovers, they love to play in transition," Calhoun said of his opponents. "If you don't value the ball, they're going to get out and they're going to run. They're going to play fast. They get about 75 points a game, so they have the ability to score the ball."

Malik Miller leads the charge at 12.5 points per game and adds 8.6 rebounds. Lagio Grantsaan, a product of The Netherlands, adds 10.7 points, and De'Torrion Ware notches 10.6.

Miller has appeared in just 17 of MSU's games, but averages a team-high in minutes when he does play, 29.7 per game. He doesn't take many 3-pointers, just nine on the season. Conversely, Ware has taken a team-high 152 treys and connects on 31.6 percent of them. Isaiah Burke is the Bears' lead sharpshooter, connecting on 32 of his 78 deep shots, 41 percent.

"We have to do a really, really good job of getting back (on defense)," Calhoun said. "We have to take good shots, value the ball and our defense has to be ramped up. We have to play really, really good defense on the ball. They have a lot of guys that can get downhill and drive the ball."

The Bears were on a five-game win streak until their March 11 loss to Norfolk State in the MEAC Tournament, a 72-63 decision.

Morgan State and YSU have met just one time previously. The Penguins topped Morgan State back on Dec. 30, 1985, an 88-64 win.

The Penguins enter on a three-game losing skid, having dropped their final two regular season contests at Wright State and Northern Kentucky and then the conference tourney loss to RMU.

In addition to seeking a tournament title of sorts, the Penguins stand two wins away from tying the program's record for most wins in a regular season since joining the Division I ranks.

As such, Calhoun says excitement is high for the team.

"I look at this as a heck of an accomplishment because of what this group has dealt with," he said. "(After) losing one of your best players, to win 18 games, that's a heck of a year, so let's keep this thing going. All the guys are on board."

Dwayne Cohill enters scoring 14.2 points per game, while Michael Akuchie adds 13.7 points and 7.8 rebounds. Tevin Olison is scoring 12.8 per game.

Given the short turnaround for each round and the uncertainty of opponents -- The Basketball Classic reconfigures its bracket each round -- Calhoun said the Penguins have kept practices short and have focused on themselves.

He also said he reached out to Linc Darner, the former Green Bay coach who guided the Phoenix to a CIT runner-up finish, about how to handle this sort of tournament.

"He gave me a lot of points," Calhoun said. "This is a new tournament for me; I've never done this. ... So I was just picking his brain on how this thing works, and that's been pretty beneficial to me."

The tournament also marks YSU's first return to the postseason since the 2020 CIT, in which YSU accepted a bid before the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19. It's also Youngstown State's first postseason home game in nine years.

"Our guys missed out on this two years ago because of COVID," Calhoun said. "They're kind of fired up, so it'll be exciting."