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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team will open the 2016-17 season with a pair of tough tests this weekend at the Clarion Hotel Conference Challenge in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. SRU plays No. 7 Wheeling Jesuit Friday at 5 p.m. and host Shepherd Saturday at 7 p.m.
 
GAME ONE DETAILS
Opponent: Wheeling Jesuit University
Date: Nov. 11, 2016 – 5 p.m.
Location: Shepherdstown, West Virginia – Butcher Center
Live Video: Link ($7.99 for a 24-hour all-access pass)
Live Stats: Link
In-game Updates: Twitter (@Rock_Athletics)
All-Time Series: Wheeling Jesuit leads 1-0
Last Played: 2004-05 (Cardinals won 72-65 at WJU)
 
GAME TWO DETAILS
Opponent: Shepherd University
Date: Nov. 12, 2016 – 7 p.m.
Location: Shepherdstown, West Virginia – Butcher Center
Live Video: Link ($7.99 for a 24-hour all-access pass)
Live Stats: Link
In-game Updates: Twitter (@Rock_Athletics)
All-Time Series: Shepherd leads 6-5
Last Played: Nov. 10, 2013 (Slippery Rock won 76-68 at Shepherd)
 
SERIES HISTORY
Slippery Rock and Wheeling Jesuit have played just one time, a 72-65 Cardinals home victory during the 2004-05 season, while The Rock and Shepherd have played 11 times with the Rams holding a narrow 6-5 lead in the series. SRU and Shepherd have not played in four years; the last meeting between the schools saw The Rock pull out a 76-68 win on the road thanks to a 20-point, six-rebound performance by Maurice Lewis-Briggs on Nov. 10, 2013.
 
SLIPPERY ROCK PRIMER
2016-17 Preseason PSAC West Poll: Seventh
2015-16 Record: 15-13
PSAC West Record: 10-12 (Sixth place)
Postseason: N/A
2015-16 Home Record: 10-4
2015-16 Away Record: 5-8
2015-16 Neutral Site Record: 0-1
Head Coach: Kevin Reynolds | Ninth season at SRU (153-85)
 
SCOUTING THE ROCK
• Last Time Out: Slippery Rock trailed Central Michigan by just six points with 10 minutes remaining in regulation before a late Chippewa run gave CMU a 91-74 exhibition victory Nov 5.
 
• Slippery Rock is 33-26 against Mountain East Conference teams all-time and 3-1 against teams competing in the MEC dating back to the 2013-14 season.
 
• SRU has a history of strong starts to the season under head coach Kevin Reynolds. Since Reynolds' first year at Slippery Rock in 2008-09, SRU is a combined 11-5 (.688) in its first two games of a season. Slippery Rock has started the season 2-0 four times under Reynolds and has went 0-2 just once.
 
• Slippery Rock has dominated non-conference opponents over the last eight years with a 65-25 (.722) record in non-league games.
 
• Slippery Rock compiled a superior +19 rebounding margin (84-65) in its two exhibition games against Division I teams. SRU outrebounded the University of Tennessee 44-35 and Central Michigan University 40-30.
 
• The Rock's rebounding edge resulted in a 36-21 advantage in second chance points over its Division I counterparts in the exhibition games.
 
• Khyree Wooten, Merdic Green and George Chase are all off to great starts, albeit unofficial ones due to exhibition games not counting, to their respective Rock careers.
 
• Wooten was the team's leading scorer in the exhibitions at 15.0 points per game in addition to pulling in 5.0 rebounds per game, passing out 1.5 assists a contest and making 1.0 steals per game. He shot 12-of-23 (.522) from the field overall and 3-of-7 (.429) from 3-point range.
 
• Green grabbed eight of SRU's 38 offensive rebounds over The Rock's two exhibition games while scoring 11 points and totaling 5.5 rebounds a game.
 
• Chase was an efficient 9-for-16 from the field and a perfect 6-for-6 from the foul line in exhibition play on the way to 12.5 points per game. Chase also produced per game averages of 7.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.0 blocks against Tennessee and Central Michigan.
 
• Other top performers against UT and CMU included Christal Malalu (5.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 62.5 field goal percentage), Tony Gates (5.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.0 spg) and Amir Maddred (5.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg).
 
WHEELING JESUIT PRIMER
NABC Top 25 Poll: Seventh
2016-17 Preseason MEC Poll: Third
2015-16 Record: 28-4
2015-16 MEC Record: 20-2 (Tied for first)
Postseason: NCAA Tournament (First Round)
2015-16 Home Record: 12-1
2015-16 Away Record: 12-2
2015-16 Neutral Site Record: 4-1
Head Coach: Danny Sancomb | 10th season at WJU (165-101)
 
SCOUTING THE CARDINALS
• Wheeling Jesuit is coming off of its best season in school history. The Cardinals went 28-4, earned a share of the Mountain East Conference regular season title and received a berth into the NCAA Tournament.
 
• Haywood Highsmith is Wheeling Jesuit's top returner. The 2015-16 first team All-MEC honoree nearly averaged a double-double with an incredible all-around per game stat line of 14.5 points and 9.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.2 steals a year ago while shooting 56.2 percent from the field. 
 
• In addition to Highsmith, Wheeling Jesuit also returns starters Kyle Ritz (12.9 points / 6.7 rebounds), Pat Moseh (11.9 points / 5.8 rebounds / 3.2 assists) and Drake Goddard from last year's team.
 
• The nationally ranked Cardinals bring back eight reserves from last season including Chase Lawson (4.2 points / 1.0 assists) and Matt Stewart (3.2 points / 1.8 rebounds)
 
• A year ago, Wheeling Jesuit ranked third in the MEC in points per game allowed (72.8) and sixth in points per game (83.6).
 
SHEPHERD PRIMER
2016-17 Preseason MEC Poll: Tied for sixth
2015-16 Record: 15-14
2015-16 MEC Record: 10-12 (Eighth)
Postseason: MEC Tournament (First Round)
2015-16 Home Record: 10-6
2015-16 Away Record: 5-8
2015-16 Neutral Site Record: 0-0
Head Coach: Justin Namolik | Ninth season at SU (114-116)
 
SCOUTING THE RAMS
• Shepherd returns four starters and four of its top five scorers from last year in Steffen Davis (16.0), AJ Carr (14.1), Skyler Roman (13.6) and Naim Muhammad (12.7).
 
• The Rams ran a perimeter oriented offense in 2015-16, making 317 of its 788 3-point attempts (40.2 percent). In comparison, just one team in the entire PSAC attempted more than 700 3-pointers last season (Millersville – 705). Returning Ram players accounted for 205 of the 317 made triples including Davis who connected on 97-of-238 3-pointers, the most of any player in the MEC.
 
• Carr also averaged a team-high 7.8 rebounds and shot 46.2 percent from the field overall and 40.8 percent from 3-point range.
 
• Muhammed guided the offense with a team-high 5.0 assists per game last year.
 
• Shepherd will play East Stroudsburg to start the Conference Challenge on Friday prior to Saturday's game against The Rock.
 
UP NEXT
Slippery Rock plays its annual non-conference game against Ohio University Eastern at Morrow Field House on Nov. 15 at 7 p.m.