Penguins Travel to Indianapolis for Two Games at IUPUI

Game Preview

• Youngstown State will face the challenge of playing the Horizon League preseason favorites for two games on the road this weekend as it travels to IUPUI. The Penguins and Jaguars will play at 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and the games will be broadcast live on 1390 WNIO and ESPN+.
• While the two games at The Jungle will be a tough task, it is also an opportunity for YSU to move up in the seedings for the Horizon League Women’s Basketball Championship with two weeks left in the regular season. IUPUI is currently the fifth seed while YSU is the seventh, and road wins and strength of schedule are both factors in the formula that determines the seeding. The top five seeds will receive a bye into the quarterfinals.
• The Penguins enter their final road series as winners of eight of their last nine games. YSU’s first game wasn’t until Jan. 1 because of two COVID-19 pauses, and it lost its first three games to Wright State and Oakland. Those two teams are first and fourth, respectively, in the tournament seeding. YSU has the league’s best record since Jan. 9 at 8-1.
• YSU took care of Purdue Fort Wayne last week with 102-60 and 68-52 victories over the Mastodons. The Penguins set a school record for points in a Horizon League contest with 102 and set season highs with 13 3-pointers, a .600 field-goal percentage and 28 assists last Friday. YSU then shot 51 percent in Saturday’s win.
• Nneka Obiazor averaged 14.5 points and 8.0 rebounds while playing fewer than 20 minutes per game in the two wins to be named the Horizon League Freshman of the Week. The Eden Prairie, Minn., native has been named the Freshman of the Week three times in the six weeks that the Penguins have played this season. No other player in the conference has won the award more than once.
• Mary Dunn scored 38 points in 44 minutes and went 15-for-19 from the field in the two wins over the Mastodons. She and Obiazor are averaging 14.5 points, which ranks eighth in the Horizon League.
• Dunn, Obiazor, Chelsea Olson and McKenah Peters provide the Penguins a balanced scoring attack with averages between 14.5 points and 10.3 points per game. All four rank in the top 20 in the conference in scoring. Cleveland State is the only other school that has at least three players in the top 20.
• Olson became the 23rd player in program history to score 1,000 career points when she reached the milestone on Jan. 15. Known for her versatility on the floor, Olson is currently the only Division I player in the country with career totals of at least 1,000 points, 600 rebounds and 340 assists. She leads the league with 4.8 assists per game.
• Olson was a First-Team All-Horizon League selection in 2019-20 and Dunn was one in 2018-19. This is just the second time in school history (1999-2000 was the other) that YSU has multiple returning first-team all-conference players.
• Youngstown State posted the second-highest GPA in the country in 2019-20 with a 3.782. The Penguins have had one of the top 10 GPAs in four of the last five seasons.

Youngstown State vs. IUPUI

A Win Would…

• Give the Penguins a 9-4 record this season.
• Give the Penguins nine wins in their last 10 games.
• Be the 282nd in Coach John Barnes‘ career and his 126th at Youngstown State.

Scouting IUPUI

• IUPUI is ranked 14th in the Mid-Major Top 25 poll with an 11-4 overall record and a 9-3 mark in conference play. The preseason Horizon League favorites started 6-0 with sweeps of Purdue Fort Wayne, Cleveland State and Robert Morris, then they lost three straight to Milwaukee and Green Bay following a two-week COVID-19 break. The Jaguars have won their last three games against Green Bay and UIC.
• IUPUI has the best offense in the conference, pacing the circuit in points per game, field-goal percentage, 3s per game, 3-point field-goal percentage and assists. The Jaguars also rank third in scoring defense.
• Macee Williams ranks second in the Horizon League in scoring (17.7 ppg), rebounding (9.0 rpg) and field-goal percentage (.513) as she attempts to be named the conference player of the year for the third straight season. Rachel McLimore is averaging 13.8 points, and Sydney Roule ranks fourth in the league with 2.3 3s per game.

All-Time Series

• Overall: Youngstown State leads 9-7
• Barnes: 3-4 // Home: 4-3 // Away: 4-3 // Neutral: 1-1
• Current Win Streak: 1 by IUPUI
• Youngstown State is 9-7 all-time against IUPUI in a series that dates back to the 1998-99 season when both schools were members of the Mid-Continent Conference. YSU left the Mid-Con for the Horizon League in 2001-02, and IUPUI joined the Penguins in the Horizon League in 2017-28.
• The teams have split the season series in the three years that IUPUI has been in the Horizon League. They won on each other’s floor in 2017-18, and each defended its home court in the last two seasons.

Last Season at IUPUI • L, 69-77 on Feb. 1, 2020 | Recap | Box Score

• The Penguins trailed by as much as 18 in the third period, but they clawed their way back to within four points with less than five minutes remaining in the game. YSU missed a 3-pointer that would have cut the margin to one, and IUPUI got back-to-back 3-pointers from Natalie Andersen and Holly Hoopingarner to move the advantage back to double digits at 69-59 with 2:52 left. The Penguins got no closer than seven the rest of the way as IUPUI won 77-69
• Chelsea Olson had team-high totals of 21 points, eight rebounds and four assists. McKenah Peters, who was back in the starting lineup after missing five games with an injury, scored 12 points.
• Macee Williams took advantage of size mismatches and scored 25 points while adding 15 rebounds. She was 9-of-11 from the field, and eight of her rebounds were on the offensive end. She helped the Jaguars to an 11-4 advantage in second-chance points, and IUPUI also had a big 26-11 edge in points off turnovers.
• IUPUI led 15-5 less than four minutes into the game as it started hot offensively, and the margin reached 15 midway through the second period before YSU went on a 10-3 run to get within 39-31 at the 2:42 mark. IUPUI scored the final five points of the period to go up 46-33 at halftime, and the Jaguars scored the first five points of the second half to increase the margin to 18.
• The Penguins scored seven straight points as part of an overall 12-2 run to start the fourth period to get within four points at 63-59 when Olson scored with 4:59 remaining.

Recapping Purdue Fort Wayne

Feb. 5, 2021 • vs. Purdue Fort Wayne • W, 102-60 | Recap | Box Score

• YSU scored the first 16 points of the game and led by double digits for the final 36:56 as it won 102-60. The Penguins led 24-10 after a quarter and 46-30 at halftime. YSU then outscored the Mastodons 31-9 in the third period, and the lead reached its peak at 102-56 with 1:11 remaining.
• YSU had its highest scoring game ever in Horizon League play with 102 points. The previous high was 94 against Cleveland State on March 8, 2014. The last time the Penguins scored at least 100 points was when they beat Sacrament State 102-94 in Hawaii. It was YSU’s first time scoring at least 100 points in Beeghly Center since scoring 106 against Chicago State on Jan. 5, 1998.
• YSU shot 60 percent from the field for just the sixth time in program history. The Penguins shot 60.7 percentage against Detroit Mercy on Feb. 2, 2019. Before that, the previous time the team shot at least 60 percent was in 1998.
• YSU shot at least 56 percent in each quarter – 64.7 percent in the first, 56.3 percent in the second, 61.1 percent in the third and 57.1 percent in the fourth.
• The Penguins went 13-for-26 from 3-point range. That was their most 3s in a game since making 16 against Muskingum on Dec. 20, 2019. Seven different players made at least one 3-pointer, and McKenah Peters (5), Malia Magestro (2) and Maddie Schires (2) combined for nine of them.
• YSU had 28 assists as a team, which was its most in a game since also having 28 against Penn State Beaver on Dec. 20, 2017.
• Mary Dunn went 10-for-12 from the field for 83.3 percent. That tied for the 16th-best shooting percent for a single game in program history. Dunn scored 23 points in just 19 minutes.
• Chelsea Olson had a season-high 11 assists and impressively did not commit a turnover. It was her third career game with at least 10 assists, which is the sixth-most by a Penguin in program history.

Feb. 6, 2021 • vs. Purdue Fort Wayne • W, 68-52 | Recap | Box Score

• Youngstown State held Purdue Fort Wayne scoreless for an eight-minute stretch in the second half and used another strong effort in the third quarter to win 68-52 and complete the series sweep.
• While YSU led 16-0 on Friday, Purdue Fort Wayne led 15-12 in the final minute of the opening quarter. Malia Magestro hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to spark a 13-3 run, and YSU led the rest of the way. The margin was just 32-31 at the 6:44 mark of the third period, but YSU didn’t allow another point until there was 8:38 left in the fourth period. The lead grew to 60-38 with 4:20 remaining in the game.
• YSU outscored Purdue Fort Wayne 18-7 in the third period as the margin grew. In the two games, the Penguins held a 49-16 scoring edge in the third quarter.
• McKenah Peters led all scorers with 19 points, and she made the 150th 3-pointer of her career in the second half. She went 8-for-16 from 3-point range in the two games against the Mastodons. She is the 11th player in program history to make 150 3s.
• Nneka Obiazor had 16 points and a team-best eight rebounds, and Mary Dunn had 15 points in 21 minutes. That duo combined to go 11-for-16 from the field. Obiazor grabbed at least eight rebounds for the 10th straight game.
• YSU shot 57.7 percent in the second half and 51 percent for the game. The Penguins had success again inside, making 20 of their 30 attempts inside the 3-point arc and holding a 38-14 edge in the paint. YSU outscored Purdue Fort Wayne 88-28 in the paint in the series.
• Purdue Fort Wayne shot 30.6 percent, but it turned 15 offensive rebounds into 18 second-chance points and forced 14 YSU turnovers.
• Dunn made her 200th career free throw. She is one of 19 players in program history to make at least 200. Dunn is 17-for-18 from the free-throw line over the last three games and ranks third in the Horizon League in free-throw percentage.

Up Next

• Youngstown State will host Cleveland State for two games in the final weekend of the regular season on Feb. 19-20 in a pair doubleheaders with the YSU men’s team. Both women’s games will tip at 2 p.m.