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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team will travel to ninth ranked Indiana University (Pa.) Saturday night for a 7:30 p.m. Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division game.
 
WATCH ON YOUR TV – "PSAC NETWORK" APPS
• Fans can watch the game live and on-demand for free on the PSAC Digital Network.
• Search for "PSAC" in the app stores on Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku and Android TV devices.
• This game will be produced by IUP's student television station.
 
GAME 23 DETAILS
• Opponent: Indiana University of Pa.
• Date: Saturday, Feb. 8 – 7:30 p.m.
• Location: Kovalchick Complex  |  Indiana, Pa.
• Live Stats: Link
• Live Video: Link
• All-Time Series: Indiana leads 105-79
• Last Played: Jan. 8, 2020 at Slippery Rock (#9 Indiana won 78-74)
 
SERIES HISTORY AGAINST INDIANA
IUP owns a 105-79 advantage in the all-time series that dates all the way back to the 1915-16 season. The Rock were dominant early in the series, winning 29 of the first 43 meetings, but IUP has controlled the series since the early 1990s. The Crimson Hawks are 21-4 against SRU since 2010. Four of the last five games have been decided by five points or less. SRU has lost its last 30 road games at IUP dating back to 1992.
 
• Overall: IUP leads 105-79
• At IUP (since 1975): IUP leads 38-11 (last SRU road win - Feb. 19, 1992)
• First Meeting: 1915-16 Season (SRU won 30-28)
• Last Meeting: Jan. 8, 2020 at SRU (#9 IUP won 78-74)
• Last 5 Games: IUP leads 4-1
• Last 10 Games: IUP leads 8-2
 
FIRST MEETING THIS YEAR  |  Box Score
Indiana led wire-to-wire and escaped Slippery Rock with a 78-74 victory back on Jan. 8. The Rock had the ball down two points with 30 seconds to play with a chance to tie or take the lead, but were called for an offensive foul away from the ball with 20 seconds left, giving the ball back to IUP. The Hawks hit the free throws to seal the four-point win. IUP went 18-of-22 from the free throw line and made 10 3-pointers (10-of-27), while SRU posted a 26-15 advantage in two-point field goals, but made just 15 trips to the line (13-of-15) and made only 3-of-23 shots beyond the 3-point line. SRU outrebounded IUP by a 46-27 margin and outscored the Hawks 38-28 in the paint.
 
• Rock Leaders in That Game: Will Robinson Jr. (21 pts, 7 reb), Micah Till (16 pts, 11 reb, Jared Armstrong (8 pts, 4 ast), Jason Fowlkes (7 pts, 6 blk).
 
• IUP Leaders in That Game: Malik Miller (23 pts, 6 reb, 5 ast), Armoni Foster (23 pts, 7 reb), Ethan Porterfield (11 pts), Anthony White (8 pts).
 
SLIPPERY ROCK PRIMER
• Overall Record: 11-11
• PSAC Record: 7-9
• Home Record: 6-5
• Away Record: 4-6
• Neutral Site Record: 1-0
• Streak: W1
• Last 5 Games: 3-2
• Head Coach: Ian Grady | Second season (30-21)
 
PLAYOFF PICTURE
With six division games remaining in the regular season, Slippery Rock currently sits in the sixth and final playoff spot in the PSAC West standings at 7-9. The Rock have a four-game cushion over Clarion and Seton Hill and a five-game cushion on Edinboro. SRU also has head-to-head wins against all three of those teams. Indiana has already clinched a playoff spot and is likely to end up as the No. 1 seed in the Western Division with just two losses so far.
 
BOUNCE BACK
Slippery Rock shot worse than 35 percent from the field in back-to-back losses to Gannon and Cal U last week before bouncing back with a 71-64 win over Clarion Wednesday night at home. The previous two games marked the worst two offensive performances of the entire season by SRU.
 
GRADY GETS TO 30 WINS
Slippery Rock head coach Ian Grady won his 30th game Wednesday, becoming the third coach in SRU history to reach 30 wins in his first two years. The only active coach in the 18-team PSAC with more wins his first two years is West Chester's Damien Blair, who won 34 games his first two years. Grady's 30 wins are the most among all PSAC West coaches during their first two years.
 
CLOSE GAMES
12 of SRU's 22 games have been decided by eight points or less and eight games have been decided by five points or less. The Rock are 4-4 in games decided by five points or less, which included a four-point loss to IUP in the first meeting this year, and 3-3 in games decided by three points or less.
 
STARTING WELL HAS BEEN KEY
SRU is 9-2 when leading at halftime and just 1-9 when trailing at the break.
 
STRONG ON THE GLASS
SRU has outrebounded its opponent by double digits 10 times this season, including the first meeting against IUP when The Rock were +19 on the glass (46-27).
 
ROCK PLAYER NOTES
• Will Robinson Jr. has scored 20 or more points in 12 different games this year and leads SRU with per game averages of 18.6 points and 8.0 rebounds.
• Micah Till has now appeared in 14 straight games this season after missing the first eight games of the year. Till is averaging 18.0 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game. He is coming off a season-high 33 points Wednesday night against Clarion.
• Amante Britt is set to start his 52nd straight game, tying Micah Till for the most consecutive starts by any SRU player since 1980.
• Jared Armstrong returned to the lineup Wednesday night after missing seven straight games with an injury. Armstrong needs 12 more 3-pointers to break the SRU record for made 3-pointers in a two-year stretch. He currently has 113 in 44 games over the last two seasons.
 • Revelinio Tholel has started the last eight games and has made 17 starts this year as a true freshman. Tholel is averaging 5.4 rebounds per game over that stretch.
 
TILL CLIMBING CAREER LISTS
Forward Micah Till became the eighth player in SRU program history to reach 1,300 career points and has climbed to sixth all-time in scoring at SRU with 1,354 points in just 66 games. He is 68 points shy of passing Kevin Jones (1,421 in 117 games) for fifth place. Till is already one of just 14 players in SRU history to record at least 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in a career. Earlier this season, he became the only player in program history with at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 100 assists, 100 blocks and 100 steals. He is the third player in program history to reach 100 blocks and the 12th player in SRU history to reach 100 steals in a career. In 66 career games at SRU, Till has 1,354 points, 670 rebounds, 110 steals, 105 blocks and 111 assists.
 
STARTS STREAK FOR BRITT
Point guard Amante Britt will be making his 52nd consecutive start when he takes the floor against IUP. He has started every Slippery Rock game since setting foot on campus as a freshman a year ago. Since 1980, only one other SRU player has started his career at The Rock with at least 50 straight starts (Micah Till - 52). Britt is the only player at SRU since 1980 to start at least 40 consecutive games while beginning the streak as a true freshman.
 
APPEARANCES STREAKS
Point guard Amante Britt and guard Jason Fowlkes have appeared in all 51 games since the beginning of the 2018-19 season.
 
INDIANA PRIMER
• Overall Record: 18-2
• PSAC Record: 13-2
• Home Record: 11-0
• Away Record: 7-2
• Neutral Site Record: 0-0
• Streak: L1
• Last 5 Games: 4-1
• Head Coach: Joe Lombardi  | 14th season (323-102)
 
SCOUTING THE CRIMSON HAWKS
Indiana slipped four spots from No. 5 to No. 9 in this week's national rankings after having a nine-game winning streak snapped last Saturday with a 68-62 loss on the road at Mercyhurst. That loss marked just the second loss of the season for IUP, which has yet to lose at home. Indiana had the PSAC bye date on Wednesday and has not played since that defeat at Mercyhurst last week.   
 
IUP enters the game averaging 82.9 points per game and outscoring its opponents by an average margin of 17.1 points per game. The Crimson Hawks shoot 49.2 percent as a team, while holding opponents to just 65.9 points per game and 39.9 percent shooting. They are +5.1 in rebounding per game and +2.4 in turnovers per game.
 
Indiana is paced by its dynamic guard duo of Armoni Foster and Malik Miller, who both average more than 18.0 points per game. Foster leads the way at 18.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. Miller averages 18.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. Fellow guard Dave Morris gives IUP three guards that have started all 20 games this season. Morris averages 9.6 points and 4.0 assists per game. Ethan Porterfield leads the post players with 10.0 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. Shawndale Jones adds 9.2 points per game and Chuckie Humphries scores 7.4 points and grabs 6.3 rebounds per game.
 
UP NEXT
Slippery Rock returns home to host a pair of games next week with Pitt-Johnstown visiting Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. and Seton Hill visiting Saturday for a 3 p.m. game.



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