The defending Horizon League Regular-Season Champion Youngstown State men's basketball team held its first official practice of the 2023-24 season with an intense and informative two-hour session at the Beeghly Center.
The new-look Penguins, who tied a school record with 24 wins and set the mark for most conference victories, are spearheaded by All-Horizon League Third-Team selection Brandon Rush and All-Freshman Team pick John Lovelace, Jr., and welcome a dozen newcomers to the program.
Rush, a 6-foot-3 fifth-year senior guard, averaged 13.9 points per game and shot 47.8 percent from the floor (173-of-362) and 37.9 percent from 3-point range (77-of-203) last season. He has scored 1,294 career points and has made 195 career 3-pointers and needs 527 points to reach 1,000 scored at Youngstown State.
Lovelace, Jr., appeared in all 34 games last year and averaged 4.3 points per game and shot 52.6 percent from the field.
The Penguins' newcomers include seven players from the transfer portal, a junior-college transfer and four true freshmen.
Jaylen Bates, a 6-foot-7 forward transferred from Florida A&M where he appeared in 28 games and made 26 starts last season. He averaged 9.0 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, scored 252 points while grabbing 200 rebounds and had 33 assists and 21 blocked shots. Bates also reached double figures 12 times.
DJ Burns, a 6-foot-7 graduate forward, transferred to Youngstown State after spending the last two seasons at Murray State. Burns started all 32 games with per game averages of 8.8 points and 6.6 rebounds and shot .540 from the field (105-of-185) and a career-high from the free throw line at .770 (67-of-87).
Junior EJ Farmer, a 6-foot-5 guard from Cleveland, Ohio, spent the last two seasons at Toledo. Last year, Farmer started five of 35 games played and scored 209 points while grabbing 67 rebounds. He averaged 6.0 points and 1.9 rebounds, and shot 52.8 percent from field (76-144) and 40.0 percent (12-of-30) from three-point range.
Bryson Langdon, a fifth-year guard, did not play last year, but spent three seasons at Northern Kentucky. During the 2021-22 campaign, he scored 202 points and dished out 126 assists, and averaged 6.3 points and 3.9 assists per contest. Langdon had the Horizon League's fourth-ranked assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.1 an also grabbed 65 rebounds and had 35 steals.
Fifth-year senior Ziggy Reid, a 6-foot-6 forward, spent four years at Merrimack and scored 1,183 career points with 146 made 3-pointers and 450 career rebounds. Last season, he scored 483 points while grabbing 138 rebounds on the year and averaged 14.2 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. Reid was also named the NEC Tournament MVP after averaging 23.7 points and 4.7 rebounds in the three-game tournament.
Fifth-year senior Brett Thompson, a 6-foot-1 guard, comes to Youngstown State from Tennessee Tech. Last season, Thompson played in all 30 games and made 18 starts. He averaged 12.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game, and scored 370 points while grabbing 91 rebounds and adding 94 assists. He also connected on 41.7 percent of his 3-point attempts (48-for-115).
Imanuel Zorgvol, a 7-foot-0 center, transferred to YSU after two seasons at Northern Kentucky. Zorgvol redshirted his first season, but appeared in 32 games and made one start year. He Averaged 2.6 points and 2.8 rebounds per game, and finished the year by scoring 82 points while grabbing 90 rebounds. Zorgvol also recorded 21 blocked shots and connected on 59.6 percent (34-for-57) from the floor.
Tommy Fryda appeared in four games last season for the Penguins.
Other newcomers include Anthony Breland (6-4, Fr., G), Dante DePante (6-4, Fr., G), Gabe Dynes (7-3, Fr. C), Christian Kirkland (6-9, Fr.,F), and David Wilkerson (6-4, So., G).
The Penguins open the 2023-24 campaign at Louisiana, Monday, Nov. 6, in Lafayette, La.
