Throughout the season, Michael Raines will be profiling programs and student-athletes in the Horizon League. Today, he looks at Kendrick Perry and Youngstown State.
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Even in a conference that brands itself on evenness, the upcoming Horizon League men’s basketball season looks to be particularly up in the air.
Valparaiso, last year’s champion, is ranked sixth in the preseason poll after losing six seniors. The 2012 champion Titans are ranked eighth. The first-place team finished third last year and the fourth-place team was in the Summit League.
So where does that leave Youngstown State, ranked fifth with one first-place vote and preseason Player of the Year Kendrick Perry? According to the Penguins, they’re right where they want to be.
“We’re excited about this upcoming, challenging year which is as balanced, I think, as the Horizon League has been since I’ve been in it,” head coach Jerry Slocum said at the Horizon League’s media day. “You lose a team that has perennially been at the bottom of the league and you bring in a team like Oakland that has experience. They’ve been an NCAA team; they have a great history. I think it just made the league that much more difficult.
“I think the uniqueness of the Horizon League is just the balance. Whoever’s going to be hot in February is going to be the team that ends up winning it.”
When it comes to Oakland, the Penguins have the most recent experience of all Horizon League teams against the new foes. Youngstown State ended the season for the Golden Grizzlies last year with a 99-87 win at the Beeghly Center in the opening round of the CIT.
“We obviously bumped heads in Youngstown in the first round of the CIT,” Perry said. “Like Coach said, with Oakland comes that competition in the Horizon League. I’m excited to go up against [Golden Grizzlies sharpshooter Travis Bader], along with the rest of the players in the league.”
Perry said he was honored to be chosen preseason Player of the Year over players such as Bader, Green Bay 7-footer Alec Brown and Cleveland State’s Cole Darling. The YSU senior admitted he still struggles at times to trust his body after last season’s injury, but said he’ll be ready when the season starts.
“It’s always tough going through an injury, especially midway through a very tough conference [season],” Perry said. “I’m very grateful to our training staff and I’m thankful that they got to me where I need to be now. I’m just ready to get back to it.”
To complement his star guard, Slocum is looking forward to using second-team All-Leaguer Kamren Belin, a 2013 All-Newcomer who averaged 11 points and five rebounds. But the coach believes he also has an ace in the hole that could catch others off guard.
“We’re very excited about the balance that we do have. I think maybe the best surprise in the whole Horizon League this year is going to be our center, Bobby Hain,” Slocum said. “I think he’s going to be a factor and I think he’s going to make it such that people have to play Kendrick honest.”
Of course, Slocum knows the game plan will always run through Perry – and not just on the offensive end.
“The thing, I think, that makes KP such a great player is his balance,” Slocum said. “I believe he’s the best defender in the league. He not only has a great gift of being able to see gaps and steals, but he’s a lockdown guy.
“On top of that, I believe this year he’s capable of averaging six assists a game. He makes everybody around him better because he’s such a complete player.”
For Perry, the focus isn’t on his offense or his defense. The senior is ready to step up and guide his team toward a Horizon League title.
“I think it’s just me going in with the mindset to do whatever’s possible for my team to win. Some nights it might be scoring, some nights it might be passing, some nights it might be playing defense; but the thing I pride myself the most on is my leadership,” Perry said. “I’m just really taking on the role this year of being a voice for the guys, especially the younger guys in the locker room.
“That’s what I pride myself on the most.”
Tags: Youngstown State - Men's Basketball
