The Youngstown State men’s basketball team plays a top 10 nationally-ranked opponent for the second time this season when the Guins visit No. 9 Butler on Thursday. Tipoff at the Hinkle Fieldhouse is set for 7 p.m. and will be carried live in Youngstown on 570 WKBN and on the HLN.

    Youngstown State (8-16 overall and 4-10 in the Horizon League) is coming off a 50-47 last-minute loss to Wright State. The Penguins overcame a 10-point second-half deficit tying the game at 47 on a 3-pointer by John Barber with 2:15 remaining. However, the Guins did not score the rest of the game and Todd Brown’s 3-pointer with 31.5 seconds left proved to be the game winner. Barber scored a career-high 25 points in the game.

    Butler (22-2 and 11-2) continues a busy week against the Penguins. On Tuesday night, the Bulldogs beat Milwaukee 83-75 in overtime at the U.S. Cellular Arena. Mike Green scored 24 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and had eight assists in the victory. Since losing to Wright State on Dec. 8, Butler has won 14 of its last 15 games. The Bulldogs are ranked ninth in The Associated Press poll and 10th in the ESPN/USA Today rankings. Butler has won all eight of its games at Hinkle Fieldhouse this season.

    The Penguins are playing their second top-10 team this year. In the season opener, YSU lost at second-ranked UCLA 83-52. This is the first time in school history that the program has played two top 10 teams in the same the season.

    YSU has won just two of the 15 all-time meetings with the Bulldogs. In seven games at Hinkle Fieldhouse, the Guins are winless. Last season, Youngstown State dropped a 67-39 decision to the Bulldogs on Jan. 17, 2007.

• This is the 16th all-time meeting and the eighth at Hinkle Fieldhouse between the programs. YSU has never won at Hinkle in seven previous trips.

• YSU scored a season-best 47 second-half points against the Bulldogs on Jan. 19 at the Beeghly Center. The Guins scored just 22 in the first half however.

• In the last three meetings, Butler has made 36 3-pointers against the Guins.

• Jack Liles scored a career-best 21 points in the meeting with the Bulldogs earlier this season.

• In the past two games, YSU has allowed just 39 points in the second half. Wright State scored 19 while Detroit tallied 20.

• In its last two road games, YSU is 25-of-31 from the free throw line.

• YSU is 5-2 when making at least seven 3-pointers in a game.

• YSU had won 15 straight games when leading at halftime, but has now dropped its last two when leading at the break (Valpo and Green Bay).

• The Guins have won 12 of their last 14 games when shooting 50 percent and won their last seven when scoring 80 points.

• YSU has made at least 10 3-pointers on 11 occasions under Coach Slocum.

• Senior guard Byron Davis has scored double figures in a career-best 19 games. • Senior forward John Barber has scored in double figures 19 times this season. He had 23 career double-figure point games entering the year. He scored a career-high 25 points against Wright State.

• Barber is 58 points shy of scoring 1,000 for his career.

• Barber has five double-doubles this year.

• Twice this year YSU has had five players score in double figures in the same game (Lock Haven, Robert Morris).

• Barber will be playing his 111th career game on Thursday while senior Dwight Holmes will appear in his 105th contest.

• Davis has played in 111 career contests - 57 at New Mexico State and 54 at YSU.

• YSU has had the same starting lineup the past five games (Mikko Niemi, Vytas Sulskis, Byron Davis, Dwight Holmes and John Barber).

• Holmes has made 19 of his last 22 free-throw attempts.

    Butler has won six straight contests after beating Milwaukee in overtime 83-75 on Tuesday night. The Bulldogs’s two losses have come by a total of five points (43-42 at Wright State and 56-52 at Cleveland State). Mike Green is averaging team highs with 15.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Overall, four players are averaging double figures for the Bulldogs.

    Youngstown State made 13 field goals while Butler had 14 3-pointers as the Bulldogs beat the Penguins 67-39 on Jan. 17, 2007 at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

    YSU made 13-of-42 attempts from the field (31 percent), while Butler shot 46.3 percent making 25-of-54 attempts. From behind the 3-point arc, the Guins were 2-of-3 while the Bulldogs made 14-of-24 (58.3 percent).

    Keston Roberts was the lone Guin to score in double figures finishing with 11. For Butler, Pete Campbell came off the bench to score a game-high 17 points while junior guard Mike Green had 16 points and 10 rebounds. Campbell made five 3-pointers during the contest.

    Jack Liles scored a career-high 21 points and Youngstown State shot 51 percent from the field, but the Penguins could not overcome 12th-ranked Butler’s 11 3-pointers dropping a 78-69 decision on Jan. 19 at the Beeghly Center.

    Byron Davis scored 16 points and senior John Barber contributed 15 points and eight rebounds. After falling behind by 15, the Guins stormed and got within 54-46, after a three-point play by Liles.

    Butler answered with its own 12-0 run after two treys by Pete Campbell and two more by A.J. Graves expanded BU’s advantage back to 66-46.

    Of the 15 all-time meetings, the Guins have scored more than 70 points twice (76 on Feb. 25, 2004 and 90 on Dec. 19, 1983). Three of the seven meetings in Indianapolis have been decided by eight points or less.

    John Barber scored a career-high 25 points, but Todd Brown’s late 3-pointer lifted Wright State past the Youngstown State 50-47 on Saturday at Beeghly.

    Barber was 9-of-15 from the field, 3-of-7 from behind the 3-point arc and was 4-of-5 from the free-throw line.

The Penguins trailed 31-23 at halftime and 43-33 with 11:51 remaining.

    Five straight points cut the deficit to 43-38 before Scottie Wilson’s basket with 9:23 left put the Raiders in front 45-38. The Guins held WSU scoreless for the next 5:01 to get as close as 45-43 after Vytas Sulskis connected on a 3-pointer and John Barber made two free throws.

    Jordan Pleiman’s rebound putback of a Vaughn Duggins missed 3-pointer gave the Raiders a 47-43 lead before a free throw by Dwight Holmes and 3-pointer by Barber tied the contest with 2:15 remaining.

    Guard Byron Davis has scored in double figures 19 times while scoring 20-or-more points on four occasions. He had nine double-figure scoring games last year.

    Davis scored a career-high 23 points against Valparaiso on Jan. 17. On Jan. 24, he finished with 22 at Milwaukee. He had 21 points at Saint Francis (Nov. 28) and 20 against Robert Morris (Dec. 17).

    Against Valpo, he set a career high by making 10 shots. He tied his career high making four 3-pointers at UWM.

    In his career (New Mexico State and YSU) he has scored 934 points, making 117 3-pointers while dishing out 281 assists.

    Freshman guard Vance Cooksey leads the team with 66 assists and 33 steals.

    After starting 16 of the first 17 games, he has come off the bench the last seven games. He had six points, four assists and two steals against Wright State.

    Cooksey has scored in double digits against UCLA (10), Weber State (18), Notre Dame (13), Robert Morris (11) and at Loyola (11). His high is eight assists at UND.

    In the final five minutes, Cooksey is 24-of-29 (82.8 percent) from the free-throw line.

    Senior forward John Barber has scored in double figures in 19 games. Barber finished with a career-best 25 points against Wright State on Saturday. Last Thursday, he had picked up his ninth career double-double and fifth of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds against Detroit. He has a double-double in two of the last four contests (19-11 at Loyola).

    In the past 22 games, he has scored 299 points (13.6 per game) while grabbing 160 rebounds (7.3 per contest). He has grabbed at least five rebounds in 21 games.

    For his career, Barber has scored 942 points while grabbing 546 rebounds. He had 15 points and eight boards against Butler earlier this season.

    Freshman guard Vytas Sulskis has set a freshman school record by making 36 3-pointers this season. The previous best was 31 held by Mike Alcorn in 1990-91. Sulskis is 35-of-87 from 3-point range for an impressive 40.2 percent conversion rate.

    Sulskis has scored in double figures 10 times this season, including a career-best 26 points against UIC on Jan. 3. His effort against the Flames tied for the third most by a Penguin freshman since 1980.

    Junior forward Jack Liles continues to provide a strong presence in the post.

    Liles, who has come off the bench the past four games, is shooting 54.1 percent from the field. He has made 100-of-185 shots from the field. For the year, he is averaging 10.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per contest. He has scored in double figures 14 times this season after having 14 in his career entering the season. He scored a career-high 21 points against Butler earlier this season.

    Liles leads the team with 20 blocked shots and ranks fourth in school history with 75 career swats.

    Senior forward Dwight Holmes had a career-best 19 points at Loyola last Thursday. Holmes, whose previous career high was 12 at Duquesne on Nov. 13, 2007, was 7-of-9 from the field and 5-of-5 from the free-throw line. He also played a career-best 32 minutes. Holmes has started the last four games for YSU after starting 23 times last year.

    He has seen an increased role since the Robert Morris game on Dec. 17. Entering that contest Holmes had played just 70 minutes and had 16 points and 17 rebounds.

    Since that time, Holmes has played 295 minutes in the last 16 games. He has scored 87 points in those games.

    Junior guard Mel Johnson is the Penguins’ version of Vinnie Johnson. As the sixth man, Johnson has scored 73 points, grabbed 56 rebounds, has 26 steals, 26 assists and nine blocks.

Mikko Niemi has started the last seven games at the point guard spot for the Penguins after starting once in 17 games.

At UIC on Feb. 2, Niemi scored a career-high eight points. Against the Flames, he made three field goals, including two 3-pointers. He attempted a career-high seven shots. He has played double figures in minutes in 12 of the last 14 games.

    The Penguins have been sharp at the free-throw line the last three games. YSU has made 69 of its last 95 attempts (72.6 percent) from the charity stripe. Nine times this year, the Guins have shot better than 76 percent, but on 11 other occasions, YSU has shot below 61 percent, including two 30-percent efforts.

    The Penguins will play at Buffalo on Feb. 23 in a matchup created by the O’Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. YSU owns a 13-10 all-time series lead over the Bulls. UB won the most recent meeting - 86-66 - at Alumni Arena on Dec. 6, 2003.

    As part of the contract, the Penguins are supposed to play host to the Bulls during the 2008-09 season.

    YSU has shown spurts of playing well during different halves this season.

    In the first three games of the season, the Penguins had 126 first-half points compared to just 90 second-half points, including a 60-point effort against Lock Haven, the most since February 1992.

    In an eight-game stretch (Nov. 24-Dec. 29), the Guins totaled 216 points in the first half and 292 in the second half.

    From Jan. 3-12 (five games) YSU had scored 187 points (37.4) in the first half and 128 (25.6) in the second. In the most recent eight games, YSU has scored 210 points (26.3 per game) in the first half and 289 (36.2 per game) in the second stanza.

    The Penguins have relied on seven players to handle the scoring duties this year. Of the 1,538 points scored, John Barber, Byron Davis, Jack Liles, Vance Cooksey, Vytas Sulskis, Mel Johnson and Dwight Holmes have contributed 1,456. Overall, 94.7 percent of YSU’s scoring goes through those seven.