Wright State (8-5 and 1-3) is playing its first home game since Dec. 18. The Raiders have dropped two straight losing conference games at Milwaukee and at Green Bay. Last Saturday, Green Bay handed the Raiders a 52-49 loss at the Resch Center. Todd Brown scored a game-high 24 points to lead WSU. Brown has scored 20-plus points in the last four games, including a career-best 26 in a victory over Belmont on Dec. 29.

    The Penguins trail the all-time series by a 27-7 margin but will enter Thursday’s game having won the previous meeting. YSU snapped an eight-game Raiders winning streak last year with a 72-57 win on Senior Night (Feb. 23, 2007) as Quin Humphrey scored 35 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. In contests played in Dayton, YSU last won on Dec. 17, 1994 (62-56). The Guins have lost seven straight contests at Wright State and have won once in 17 tries. YSU actually dropped two games at the Nutter last year losing to Green Bay in the Horizon League Tournament.

• This is the 35th all-time meeting between YSU and Wright State. The Penguins have won seven times, including a 72-57 decision last year at the Beeghly Center.

• YSU made 12 field goals against Milwaukee. The last time YSU made 12-or-fewer in a game was at Detroit on Feb. 26, 2005.

• The Penguins shot 24.5 percent against UWM as well. The last time YSU shot below 24.5 percent was a 23.1 effort (15-of-65) in an 88-48 loss to Cleveland State on Feb. 23, 1993.

• In the six wins, YSU shot 48.1 percent from the field, had 108 assists on 162 baskets and committed 77 turnovers. In the eight losses, YSU has shot 36.1 percent, had 92 assists, 137 turnovers and shot 29.7 from three.

• The Penguins have attempted 165 free throws the past six contests (taking no fewer than 23 in a game). In the first eight games, YSU attempted 132 with a high of 20 against Kent State.

• The Guins are 5-0 this season when shooting better than 46 percent from the field.

• Senior guard Byron Davis has scored in double figures in a career-best 10 games this year.

• Senior John Barber has scored in double figures in nine of the last 11 games.

• Junior forward Jack Liles had a game-high 11 points against Milwaukee.

• Twice this year YSU has had five players score in double figures (Lock Haven, Robert Morris). Five times YSU has had at least four players reach double digits.

• All 14 players on the roster have scored and have a rebound while 11 have an assist.

• YSU has made at least 10 3-pointers on 10 occasions since Coach Slocum took over.

• YSU has won 14 straight games when leading at halftime. The last time the Guins lost when leading at half was at Canisius on Feb. 18, 2006. YSU was 9-0 when leading at half last year and is 6-0 this season when leading or tied.

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

• Barber will be playing his 101st career game on Thursday while senior Dwight Holmes will appear in his 94th contest.

• Davis has played in 101 career contests - 57 at New Mexico State and 44 at YSU.

    The Raiders have done whatever it takes to build an 8-5 record. WSU has held three opponents under 50 points this year, but has won twice when allowing 80-or-more points. After winning five straight, WSU suffered consecutive road losses to Milwaukee and Green Bay. Nine of its first 13 games have been decided by seven points or less.

    Senior guard Quin Humphrey scored 29 of his 35 points in the second half and notched his sixth double-double of the season as Youngstown State defeated Wright State 72-57 last year at Beeghly.

    Fellow senior Keston Roberts added 19 as the pair played their final regular season contest at the Beeghly Center. The victory was also head coach Jerry Slocum 600th win in his career.

    Wright State built a 33-25 halftime advantage. Humphrey went 8-for-10 overall in the second half and 4-for-6 from behind the arc to spark the come-from-behind win.

    The Penguins shot 62 percent from the floor in the second half and 51 percent overall while holding WSU to 25.5 percent.

    Quin Humphrey scored 22 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Penguins suffered a 62-49 loss to Wright State at the Nutter Center on Jan. 24, 2007.

    Trailing 34-23 at halftime, the Guins opened the second half scoring the first five points. The Raiders went in front 50-36 at the 10-minute mark before a final YSU run cut the deficit to 54-47 with 6:10 left. However turnovers on consecutive possessions ended all comeback hopes. YSU had 16 turnovers in the game.

    For the game, YSU shot 38.3 percent while Wright State shot 49.1 percent.

    Wright State owns a 27-7 advantage in the all-time series. The series dates back to a YSU victory in January 1977. In the last 15 games, the Penguins have scored more than 70 points twice (72 on Feb. 23, 2007 and 87 on Jan. 5, 2002) and won both.

    A three-game Youngstown State winning streak came to halt on the heels of a 24.5 percent shooting performance in a 61-39 loss to Milwaukee at the Beeghly Center on Monday night.

Milwaukee scored 10 of the game’s first 13 points before the Guins’ 5-0 run pulled them within 10-8. The Panthers took control by scoring 13 of the next 15 points and the closest YSU would get the remainder of the game was 10 points.

    UWM led 39-21 at halftime before fatigue may have played a factor as the team’s combined for 40 points in the second half. The Penguins and Panthers were 12-of-54 (22.2 percent) in the second stanza, including 0-of-15 from behind the 3-point line. Both YSU and UWM were playing for the third time in three days.

    The Penguins are 5-0 this year when shooting 46 percent or better from the field. In wins over Weber State (55.8 percent), Lock Haven (52), Saint Francis (46.3), UIC (50.0) and Loyola (46.5), YSU shot above 46 percent. The highest shooting percentage in a loss was 42.6 versus Robert Morris while the lowest in a win was 39.1 versus SRU.

    The Penguins have either been on from the line or way off.

In five games, YSU has shot 76.7 percent or better while in four others the Guins shot in the 60s. In five others, Youngstown State has shot 57.7 percent or below, including two contests in the 40s.

    After shooting 85.2 percent (29-of-34) against Kent State and Cleveland State, the Guins shot 56.5 percent, missing 10, in a three-point loss to Robert Morris.

    Guard Byron Davis has scored in double figures 10 times this year and leads the team with two 20-point performances.

Davis scored 20 points against Robert Morris (Dec. 17) and had a career-high 21 at Saint Francis (Nov. 28).

    He attempted a career-best 19 shots against RMU. For the year he has attempted double figures in shots 11 times.

His 10 double-figure games have already eclipsed his total of nine from last year.

    This year, Davis has been strong from the free-throw line making 48-of-61 attempts for an 78.7 percent clip. Last year, he made just 35-of-61 attempts, a 57.4 percentage. He was 6-of-6 against Loyola.

    In his career (New Mexico State and YSU) he has scored 786 points, making 99 3-pointers while dishing out 262 assists.

    Senior forward John Barber has scored in double figures in a career-best 10 games this season. On Monday, he was named the HL Player of the Week after scoring 42 points and grabbing 21 rebounds in wins over UIC and Loyola.

    Barber has double-figure scoring game streaks of six and four games. His previous career long streak was just two.

In the past 12 games, he has scored 150 points (12.5 per game) while grabbing 79 rebounds (6.5 per contest). He has grabbed at least five rebounds in 11 games.

    For his career, Barber has scored 793 points while grabbing 465 rebounds. He will play his 101st career game on Thursday night when YSU plays at Wright State.

    Freshman guard Vytas Sulskis scored a career-best 26 points against UIC last Thursday and followed that with a 11-point outing against Loyola.

    Against UIC, he was 9-of-13 from the field, 4-of-6 from 3-point range and 4-of-7 from the free-throw line. He also had seven rebounds, two assists and a steal.

    His 26-point effort tied for the third most by a Penguin freshman since 1980. Only Tim Jackson’s 32 and 31 point outings during the 1987-88 season were better than Sulskis’s effort.

    In the past seven games he is 15-of-31 (48.4 percent) from 3-point range. Sulskis has made 15 of YSU’s 32 treys in that span. For the year, Sulskis has made 22 3-pointers. The most by a freshman in school history is 31 by Mike Alcorn in 1990-91.

    YSU has shown time-and-time again it is a very strong second-half team. However, a big first half proved to be key in victories over UIC and Loyola.

    Since scoring 60 points in the first half against Lock Haven -- the most in a first half for the program since February 1992, YSU had struggled in the opening 20 minutes.

    In an eight-game stretch, the Guins had totaled 216 points in the first half (27 points a half). In the second half of those eight tilts, YSU has scored 292 points (36.5 points per half).

    YSU erupted for 53 first-half points against UIC and followed that with a 42-point effort versus Loyola. In the second half, the Guins had 27 against UIC and 29 versus Loyola.

    In the first three games of the year, the Guins scored more first-half points (126) than second (90).

    The Penguins have relied on seven players to handle the scoring duties this year. Of the 914 points scored, John Barber, Byron Davis, Jack Liles, Vance Cooksey, Vytas Sulskis, Mel Johnson and Dwight Holmes have contributed 851. Overall, 93.1 percent of YSU’s scoring goes through those seven individuals.

    The Penguins have had nine 30-point individual performances since Coach Jerry Slocum took over the program.

In the previous 13 seasons, the Guins had nine 30-point outings. Last year, Quin Humphrey had three 30-point outings while Keston Roberts had two. The five in one season was the most since 1986-87.

    Guard Vance Cooksey leads the Penguins with 46 assists. Cooksey has had at least three assists on eight contests. He also has scored in double digits against UCLA, Weber State, Notre Dame and Robert Morris.

    His defense has been strong as of late picking up 20 steals the last 12 games.

    Senior forward Dwight Holmes has seen an increased role the past six games. Holmes has played 118 minutes coming off the bench.

    He played a season-high-tying 25 minutes against UIC last Thursday. Against the Flames he scored four points, had three blocks, three steals and grabbed three rebounds.

    He scored a season-best 11 points against Robert Morris on Dec. 17 and had seven points in 22 minutes of action against Slippery Rock.

    Junior forward Jack Liles has provided a strong presence in the post.

    Liles leads the team with a 52.9 field-goal percentage making 63-of-119 shots. For the year, he is averaging 11 points and 5.7 rebounds per contest.

    Liles leads the team with 13 blocked shots and now is fifth in school history with 68 career swats. He has scored in double figures in nine games, including seven of the last nine.