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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team officially opens its 2021-22 season this weekend with a pair of games at Morrow Field House as it hosts the inaugural Butler County Chamber of Commerce Conference Challenge.
 
Slippery Rock will first meet Notre Dame College 5 p.m. Friday followed by a 7 p.m. tipoff Saturday night against Alderson Broaddus University.
 
CONFERENCE CHALLENGE SCHEDULE
Friday
5 p.m. – Slippery Rock vs. Notre Dame
7 p.m. – Seton Hill vs. Alderson Broaddus
Saturday
5 p.m. – Seton Hill vs. Notre Dame
7 p.m. – Slippery Rock vs. Alderson Broaddus
 
TICKET PRICES
Adult General Admission - $10.00
Visiting PSAC Student with ID - $5.00
Age 6 to High School - $5.00
Under 6 Years Old - FREE
*Alumni Discount with Current Alumni Membership Card $2.00 off General Admission Only
 
COVID-19 FAN INFORMATION (MORROW FIELD HOUSE)
• Fans should not attend any events if you are experiencing any symptoms or feeling ill.
• Masks are REQUIRED inside all buildings on the SRU campus, regardless of vaccination status.
• Fans are encouraged to social distance when possible at events.
 
WATCH ON YOUR TV - "ROCK ATHLETICS DIGITAL NETWORK" APPS
• Fans can watch all four games of the Butler County Chamber of Commerce Conference Challenge game live and on-demand for free on the Rock Athletics Digital Network, created and operated by the SRU athletic communication office.
 
• Search for Rock Athletics Digital Network in the app stores on Amazon Fire TV, Apple RV, Roku and Android TV devices. The streaming web player linked above will also integrate with Chrome Cast devices to allow viewers to cast the game to those devices.
 
GAME 1 DETAILS
Opponent: Notre Dame
Date: Friday, Nov. 12 – 5 p.m.
Location: Morrow Field House | Slippery Rock, Pa.
Live Video: Link
Live Stats: Link
In-game Updates: Twitter (@Rock_Athletics)
All-Time Series: Tied 1-1
Last Played: Nov. 8, 2019 (SRU won 78-76)
 
ALL-TIME SERIES vs NOTRE DAME
Slippery Rock and Notre Dame have met twice over the last four years with each team earning neutral-site wins in Fairmont, West Virginia. The two games have been decided by just four points.
 
LAST MEETING
Will Robinson Jr. recorded a double-double of 25 points and 17 rebounds while Jared Armstrong went for 20 points while connecting on a buzzer-beater 3-pointer to lift Slippery Rock to a 78-76 victory over Notre Dame on Nov. 8, 2019 in Fairmont, West Virginia.
 
GAME 2 DETAILS
Opponent: Alderson Broaddus
Date: Saturday, Nov. 13 – 7 p.m.
Location: Morrow Field House | Slippery Rock, Pa.
Live Video: Link
Live Stats: Link
In-game Updates: Twitter (@Rock_Athletics)
All-Time Series: Tied 1-1
Last Played: Nov. 28, 2014 (SRU won 80-70)
 
ALL-TIME SERIES vs ALDERSON BROADDUS
Slippery Rock is 1-1 all-time against the Battlers. Like the Notre Dame series, Slippery Rock and Alderson Broaddus have split a pair of neutral site contests in the only two games played between the schools.
 
LAST MEETING
SRU and Alderson Broaddus last played during the 2014-15 season when SRU earned an 80-70 victory in Erie, Pennsylvania at the Gannon Classic after Antonio Butler and Cornelius Brown scored 23 points apiece.
 
SLIPPERY ROCK PRIMER
• 2019-20 Overall Record: 15-14
• 2019-20 PSAC West Record: 11-11
• 2019-20 PSAC West Finish: Sixth place
• 2019-20 Postseason: PSAC Tournament (First Round)
• 2021-22 PSAC West Preseason Poll: Second place
• Head Coach: Ian Grady | Fourth season (34-24)
 
QUICK HITS
• The Rock's contest against Notre Dame marks SRU's first official game since its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament contest at Pitt-Johnstown on March 2, 2020 - a span of 617 days.
 
• A short-handed Slippery Rock squad recently played its lone exhibition of the season Nov. 5 against Iowa University of the Big 10 Conference in what was a 99-47 win for the Division I Hawkeyes.
 
• This weekend's games mark the start of a four-game homestand for SRU.
 
• SRU features a 15-man roster that includes nine new student-athletes in the program since its last official game in 2019-20 in addition to six returners. three players that have played significant minutes for The Rock in Amante Britt, Nik Cazacu and Lashon Lindsey. Among the key newcomers and former redshirts for The Rock this season are Bobby Clifford, Tyler Frederick, Jomo Goings, Frankie Hughes and Jonathan McFall.
 
A LOOK BACK AT IOWA
In a final tune-up for the 2021-22 season, Slippery Rock lost an exhibition game at Division I Iowa, 99-47, Nov. 5.
 
A short-handed Slippery Rock team, which was without the services of three projected starters, trailed Iowa by just 13 points with five minutes remaining in the first half before the Hawkeyes scored 10 unanswered points to take a 41-18 lead into halftime. Iowa came out of the break by scoring 30 of the first 32 points in the second half to put the game out of reach.
 
Slippery Rock was paced by Amante Britt, who posted a team-high 10 points to go with three rebounds and a pair of steals. Nik Cazacu and Jomo Goings scored eight points apiece with Cazacu also pulling down five rebounds and blocking a pair of shots while Goings came away with two steals of his own on the defensive end of the floor. Tyler Frederick fought through foul trouble to pull down a game-high nine rebounds, six of which came on the offensive glass, all the while scoring six points.
 
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Few teams in the Atlantic Region dominate at home like Slippery Rock does at Morrow Field House. Since 2008-09, Slippery Rock is an outstanding 132-39 (.772) at home. Luckily for SRU, 16 of The Rock's 28 games this season will be played in the friendly confines of Morrow Field House.
 
NO PROBLEM IN NON-CONFERENCE GAMES
If recent history is any indication, Slippery Rock is likely to start the year with a solid record as SRU has been great in non-conference games over the last 12 seasons.
 
Dating back to the 2008-09 season, SRU has gone 84-39 (.683) in non-conference competition. Included in the record is an impeccable 44-6 (.880) mark in non-conference home games - SRU plays five of its 6 games outside the PSAC this year at Morrow Field House.
 
THE ROCK vs. THE MEC
Since the Mountain East Conference's formation in 2013, Slippery Rock is 6-5 against MEC teams.
 
DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN
With the exception of last year's canceled season, Slippery Rock will be opening its year against Notre Dame for a third straight season. The Rock and Falcons have split the previous two openers, both of which were played in Fairmont, West Virginia.
 
Despite the relatively recent games against Notre Dame, only three current players from either team, all from SRU, have played in the series.
 
Amante Britt and Nik Cazacu each played in both of the previous season-openers against Notre Dame with Britt averaging 5.0 points, 2.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game and Cazacu chipping in two points and two rebounds over the contests.
 
Lashon Lindsey made his collegiate debut in the 2019-20 game between Slippery Rock and Notre Dame, coming off the bench to grab two rebounds and pass out one assist in seven minutes.
 
SLIPPERY ROCK IN SEASON-OPENERS
In the 105-season history of the men's basketball program at Slippery Rock, SRU has tallied a 61-44 (.581) record in its season-openers.
 
The most consecutive seasons with a season-opening win at The Rock is 11 (1981-92) while the program's longest losing streak in season-openers is five twice (1954-59, 1995-00).
 
OPENING THE YEAR AT HOME
Saturday's game against Notre Dame is somewhat of a rarity for The Rock as the contest marks the first time since the 2011-12 season, and just the seventh time in the last 21 seasons overall, in which SRU has played its first game of the season at Morrow Field House.
 
Slippery Rock has won each of its last three times it has opened its season at home with wins over Westminster (2011-12, 102-48) and Ohio Eastern (2009-10, 88-61 / 2008-09, 103-63).
 
NEW YEAR - NEW LEADING SCORER
One thing is for certain about the 2021-22 Slippery Rock men's basketball team - it will have a new leading scorer from its most previous season of competition for an eighth straight year.
 
The last time an athlete led Slippery Rock in scoring in consecutive seasons was Devin Taylor who recorded team-highs of 364 points over 27 games in 2011-12 and 449 points in 32 games in 2012-13.
 
Since then, SRU's leaders in points have been Maurice Lewis-Briggs (540 / 2013-14), Antonio Butler (504 / 2014-15), Cornelius Brown (446 / 2015-16), Naquil Jones (397 / 2016-17), Micah Till (640 / 2017-18), Jared Armstrong (477 / 2018-19) and most recently Will Robinson Jr. (433 / 2019-20).
 
LINDSEY LOOKS TO PICK UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF
Lashon Lindsey had a fantastic finish to his freshman season when The Rock last played in 2019-20 as the Meadville, Pennsylvania product averaged 9.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game while shooting 53.6 percent (22-for-41) from the field overall over the final six games of the season.
 
How impressive was Lindsey's late-season run? Of all 2019-20 freshmen in the PSAC West, no other freshmen in the division averaged more rebounds per game in their team's last six games while only Luke House (Cal U) averaged more points (10.3 ppg). House transferred to Drexel for the 2020-21 season.
 
Lindsey's late surge compared favorably to PSAC West Freshman of the Year Ethan Porterfield (Indiana), who went for 9.5 ppg, 7.2 rpg, and 2.2 bpg over IUP's last six games.
 
SLIPPERY ROCK IN BACK-TO-BACKS
Slippery Rock has been great in the second game when playing contests in back-to-back days. Dating back to the 2008-09 season, Slippery Rock is 31-14 (.689) in the second game of back-to-backs.
 
FROM ALL OVER THE GLOBE
Slippery Rock's 2021-22 roster is made up of players representing four states, the United States capital, one U.S. territory and two other countries. Dating back to the 1966-67 season, only the 2018-19 edition of the Slippery Rock men's basketball had a more diverse representation of athletes' home states / countries with nine.
 
Bahamas: Jonathan McFall
Greece: Nik Cazacu
Massachusetts: Dylan Ahearn
New Jersey: Zaire Rogers
Ohio: Frankie Hughes, Trey Metzka
Pennsylvania: Amante Britt, Brandon Caruso, Bobby Clifford, Tyler Frederick, Lashon Lindsey, Colin McQuiston, Eric Taylor
U.S. Virgin Islands: Earl Baker Jr.
Washington D.C.: Jomo Goings
 
NOTRE DAME PRIMER
• 2020-21 Overall Record: 8-9
• 2020-21 MEC Record: 8-8
• 2020-21 MEC North Finish: Third place
• 2020-21 Postseason: MEC Tournament (First Round)
• 2021-22 PSAC West Preseason Poll: Second place
• Head Coach: Mark Richmond | Third season (17-29)
 
SCOUTING NOTRE DAME
Coming off of an abbreviated 2020-21 season in which it went 8-9, Notre Dame was picked to finish eighth in the Mountain East Conference this season. NDC figures to be led by Michael Sampson, who averaged a double-double of 11.2 ppg and 10.2 rpg a season ago, as well as transfers Junior Farquhar (Eastern Illinois) and Daylan Lee (West Virginia Wesleyan).
 
ALDERSON BROADDUS PRIMER
• 2020-21 Overall Record: 6-11
• 2020-21 MEC Record: 6-10
• 2020-21 MEC North Finish: Fourth place
• 2020-21 Postseason: MEC Tournament (First Round)
• 2021-22 PSAC West Preseason Poll: Second place
• Head Coach: Stephen Dye | Third season at A-B (15-30) | 12th overall (119-184)
 
SCOUTING ALDERSON BROADDUS
Alderson Broaddus returns a strong nucleus from last year's team which went 6-11 including KJ Walker (13.0 ppg, 5.4 apg), Coryon Rice (8.6 ppg, 2.6 apg, 1.4 spg), Zach Simpkins (6.6 ppg) and John Grayson (nine blocks in 13 games last year). Alderson Broaddus was predicted to finish ninth this season in the always-competitive MEC.
 
UP NEXT
Slippery Rock continues its season-opening four-game homestand when it hosts Penn State Fayette 7:30 p.m. Nov. 17.
 
 




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