Complete Game Notes
GAME PROGRAM INFO
Slippery Rock has moved away from printed game programs for all sports in 2022-23. This page will serve as the "Digital Game Program" for this week's game. To navigate to all gameday info for any SRU home events this year, simply visit
rockathletics.com/gameday or scan the QR code on the "Gameday Info" posters hanging in each facility.
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team will look to push its home winning streak to 12 games when it hosts California (Pa.) for a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division contest 3 p.m. Saturday at Morrow Field House.
ROTARY GAME
Saturday's game will serve as The Rock's annual Rotary Game. Slippery Rock men's basketball has invited Rotarians from District 7280 to attend and be recognized prior to the game. SRU head coach
Ian Grady is currently serving his second consecutive term as the president of Slippery Rock Rotary Club.
Rotary is a global network of 1.4 million neighbors, friends, leaders and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves. To learn more about the Rotary Club of Slippery Rock click
HERE.
MORE SPECIAL EVENTS
In what will be a day full of special events, SRU is also inviting all members of The Rock Athletic Club to Saturday's doubleheader as well as hosting the Slippery Rock Youth Development program for a game at halftime of the men's contest in addition to holding a 50/50 drawing with all proceeds going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
TICKETS (Buy in advance to avoid lines on game day!)
• Fans are encouraged to purchase advance tickets online
HERE.
• Tickets can also be purchased on game day.
• Adults- $10
• Students Ages High School-College – $5
• Children Ages 12 and Under – $5
• SRU Students – FREE with valid student ID
• Students from Other Colleges - $5 with valid student ID
WATCH ON YOUR TV - "ROCK ATHLETICS DIGITAL NETWORK" APPS
• Fans can watch Saturday's 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 13 DETAILS
Opponent: California (Pa.)
Date: Saturday – 3 p.m.
Location: Morrow Field House
Live Video: Link
Live Stats: Link
In-game Updates: Twitter (
@Rock_Athletics)
All-Time Series: Tied 89-89
Last Played: Feb. 28, 2022 (Cal won 72-55)
LAST TIME OUT
The Rock and Vulcans both opened the PSAC West portion of their conference schedules with home victories as Slippery Rock beat Gannon, 83-69, and California defeated Clarion, 86-68. Both games were played Wednesday.
ALL-TIME SERIES HISTORY vs. CALIFORNIA
In a series that can be traced all the way back to 1920, Slippery Rock and California have evenly split 178 games all-time. While SRU has won 17 of the last 22 games in the series, the Vulcans did win two of three games a year ago, including a 72-55 victory in the PSAC Tournament that ended SRU's season.
Overall: Tied 89-89
Current Streak: Cal W1
At Slippery Rock: SRU leads 55-35
First Meeting: Jan. 17, 1920 (SRU won 37-9)
Last Meeting: Feb. 28, 2022 (Cal won 72-55)
Most Points, SRU: 115 - Feb. 20, 1991
Most Points, CAL: 113 - Feb. 20, 1991
Largest Victory, SRU: 46 (86-40, Feb. 23, 1946)
Largest Victory, CAL: 35 (98-63, Feb 3, 1999)
SRU coach Ian Grady vs. California: 3-4
Cal coach Danny Sancomb vs. SRU: 4-3
THE ROCK vs. CALIFORNIA LAST YEAR (3 Games)
•
Amante Britt: 16.7 Points, 4.3 Assists, 3.0 Rebounds, 1.3 Steals
•
Jonathan McFall: 12.7 Points, 6.7 Rebounds, 1.5 Assists, 1.3 Steals
•
Bobby Clifford: 10.7 Points, 3.3 Rebounds, 1.0 Assists
•
Lashon Lindsey: 3.7 Points, 7.3 Rebounds
•
Dylan Ahearn: 1.3 Points, 1.3 Rebounds, 1.0 Assists
•
Nik Cazacu (1 Game): 1.0 Rebounds, 1.0 Blocks
THE VULCANS vs. SRU LAST YEAR (3 Games)
• Bryson Lucas: 8.3 Points, 2.7 Rebounds, 1.3 Steals
• Keith Palek III: 6.0 Points, 5.3 Rebounds, 2.7 Assists
• Zyan Collins*: 18.3 Points, 6.3 Rebounds, 2.0 Assists, 1.0 Steals
*Has not appeared in a game this season.
SLIPPERY ROCK PRIMER
Overall Record: 10-2
PSAC Record: 4-2
PSAC West Standings: 4th
D2SIDA Atlantic Region Poll: 9th
Home Record: 8-0
Away Record: 2-2
Streak: W1
Last 5 Games: 4-1
Head Coach: Ian Grady | Fifth season (61-38)
HOME STREAK CONTINUES TO GROW
Slippery Rock enters the weekend having won its last 11 games at Morrow Field House. The winning streak started with three home victories at the end of last season and has continued into this year with SRU's first eight home games of the year all being wins.
A win against California would give SRU the program's fifth home winning streak of at least 12 games since Morrow Field House opened in 1959. The longest home winning streak at SRU is 27 set over a three-year stretch between 1989 and 1991.
The Rock's current 11-game home winning streak is the third longest active streak in the PSAC behind only IUP (16) and Mercyhurst (12).
THE MAGIC OF MORROW
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 151-44 (.774) 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.
GAME No. 100 FOR GRADY
Saturday's game will be the 100th contest in which head coach
Ian Grady has led Slippery Rock. He will become the 10th head coach in program history to have guided SRU for 100 or more games.
Regardless of Saturday's result, Grady is already assured of having the third most wins - 61 or 62 depending on the outcome - in his first 100 games of any coach in program history behind only N. Kerr Thompson (75-25 / 1919-26) and Kevin Reynolds (65-35 / 2008-12).
Making Grady's early success even more impressive is the fact that no other coach at SRU has had more wins against fellow Division II teams in their first 100 games than Grady (55).
Across the PSAC, Grady already ranks fourth in the league in terms of victories among all active PSAC coaches in their first four full seasons at their current schools. He is two wins away from tying Shippensburg's Chris Fite for third place.
BEST 13-GAME STARTS IN SCHOOL HISTORY
If Slippery Rock were to beat California to improve its record to 11-2 it would tie this year's team for the third best 13-game start to a season in the program's 112-year history. Slippery Rock last started a season 11-2 in 2017-18 while the best 13-game start at The Rock was 12-1 in 1924-25 and 1923-24.
OFFENSIVE GLASS CLEANERS
Few teams in the Atlantic Rebound get on the offensive glass better than Slippery Rock. In fact, only five other teams in the 43-team region average more offensive rebounds per game than The Rock.
Helping SRU to its impressive performance on the offensive glass are five players who average at least 1.7 orpg in
Khalid Gates (2.6),
Ahmad Galimore (1.8),
Lashon Lindsey (1.7),
Jonathan McFall (1.7) and
Bobby Clifford (1.7) which has resulted in an average of 14.7 second chance points per game.
SHARING IS CARING
Slippery Rock recorded a season-high 15 assists in its win over Gannon.
Amante Britt, SRU's second leading scorer at 15.1 ppg and leader in steals with 20, paced the effort with a team-high five assists.
CUTTING OUT THE MISTAKES
Slippery Rock did a great job bouncing back from committing a season-high 22 turnovers in its loss against East Stroudsburg with just 13 miscues against Gannon. SRU has been solid on limiting its mistakes for the majority of the season with 13 or fewer turnovers in seven games and a season average of 13.7 per contest - the third lowest average in the PSAC West.
Conversely, SRU has also thrived on opponent mistakes 17.5 points off turnovers per game.
STICKY FINGERS
As a team, Slippery Rock has produced 10 or more steals in three of its last four games.
Amante Britt has nine of SRU's 40 steals over the last four games followed by
Alex Griggs (7),
Ahmad Galimore (5),
Jomo Goings (5),
Khalid Gates (4),
Lashon Lindsey (3),
Bobby Clifford (3),
Dylan Ahearn (2) and
Jonathan McFall (2).
AN INSIDE FORCE
Khalid Gates has wasted little time proving himself to be one of the top power forwards in the Atlantic Region. Gates leads SRU with 15.7 ppg, 6.6 rpg and 1.0 bpg while shooting 53.1 percent from the field. While not an official statistic, he has also been credited with a team-high 10 dunks on the year - three of which came vs. Gannon as part of a 13-point, five-rebound, two-steal, two-assist, one-block effort.
McFALL SHOWS OFF RANGE
Offensively speaking,
Jonathan McFall had one of his best games of the season against Gannon thanks in large part to his exploits from long range. McFall connected on 4-of-6 3-point attempts on the way to a 16-point night, in what was his highest point production since Nov. 22.
Over his two-year career at SRU, McFall has always been an efficient shooter from both the foul line (.839 / 94-for-112) and 2-point field goals (.582 / 185-318), but this season he has also drastically improved his 3-point shooting from 12.5 percent (5-of-40) in 2021-22 to 39.3 percent (11-of-28) this year.
For the season, McFall averages 12.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.0 steals while shooting 51 percent from the floor overall and 85.7 percent at the foul line.
LINDSEY ON A ROLL
Few athletes have been as consistent of late for The Rock than
Lashon Lindsey. Over the last five games, Lindsey has averaged 11.4 points on a .479 field goal percentage to go with 8.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists. On the year, Lindsey ranks second on the team in rebounding (6.4), second in steals (1.3), third in assists (1.5) and fourth in scoring (8.5).
CAREER NIGHT FOR JOMO
One of the many highlights of the Gannon game was the play of
Jomo Goings' who came off the bench to score a career-high 14 points courtesy of a 3-for-4 showing from 3-point range while also going 5-of-6 at the foul line. Goings has played in all 12 games this season with per game averages of 7.3 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.0 steal while shooting 78.8 percent at the foul line.
BIG BENCH GAME
Paced by
Jomo Goings' career-high 14 points, Slippery Rock's reserves accounted for 33 points against Gannon. The 33 bench points is tied for the most in a game this year by SRU and is the third highest total against a Division II team dating back to the 2018-19 season.
Joining Goings with bench production versus Gannon was
Dylan Ahearn (8),
Ahmad Galimore (6),
Alex Griggs (3) and
Nik Cazacu (2). The Rock's five-man bench combined to shoot an impressive 10-of-14 from the field.
SRU has been able to count on its bench to provide a scoring spark throughout the season. Over the first 12 games, The Rock's bench has outscored their counterparts eight times. All told, Slippery Rock reserves average 21.3 points per game.
HOW THE ROCK STACKS UP (PSAC Team rankings)
•
Offensive Rebounding: 3rd (13.6)
•
Blocks: 3rd (4.0)
•
Scoring Margin: 4th (+6.8)
•
Total Rebounding: 4th (39.2)
•
Rebounding Margin: 5th (+4.4)
•
Steals: 5th (8.92)
•
Turnover Margin: 6th (+2.08)
•
Opponent Scoring: 6th (69.6)
•
Opponent FG%: 6th (.424)
•
Turnovers: 7th (13.7)
•
Scoring: 9th (76.3)
ROCK AMONG THE PSAC'S BEST
•
Field Goal %: Khalid Gates – 6th (.531)
•
Free Throw %: Jonathan McFall – 6th (.857)
•
Total Steals: Amante Britt – 8th (20)
•
Total Blocks: Khalid Gates – 9th (12)
•
Steals Per Game: Amante Britt – 9th (1.7)
•
Offensive Rebounding: Khalid Gates – 10th (2.6)
•
Blocks Per Game: Khalid Gates – 11th (1.0)
•
Total Points: Khalid Gates – 12th (188)
•
Scoring Average: Khalid Gates – 15th (15.7)
•
Total Points: Amante Britt – 15th (181)
•
Defensive Rebounding: Lashon Lindsey – 15th (4.8)
CLUTCH FOUL SHOOTING
The pressure of late-game foul shooting has had no effect on The Rock this season, in fact SRU has shined when tasked with converting free throws in crunch time. As a team, Slippery Rock enters the Mansfield game having made 81.7 percent (49-of-60) of its free throws in the final five minutes of regulation this season.
RECORD BY STARTING LINEUP
SRU has utilized five different starting lineups in its first 12 games.
Britt, Clifford, Gates, Galimore, McFall: 5-0
Britt, Clifford, Gates, Galimore, Lindsey: 3-1
Britt, Clifford, Gates, McFall, Lindsey: 1-0
Britt, Clifford, Gates, Goings, Lindsey: 1-0
Britt, Clifford, Gates, Goings, Galimore: 0-1
BRITT AND LINDSEY AMONG ROCK'S ALL-TIME BEST
The veteran duo of Britt and Lindsey currently find themselves ranked among the all-time Rock greats in several career statistical categories.
SRU Career Blocks (No. 13-15)
13: Daniel Pratt (1992-94): 61
14: Troy Miller (1991-94): 59
t15: Lashon Lindsey (2019-SA): 57
t15: Jade Burka (2007-11): 57
t15: Bill Johnson (1987-90): 57
SRU Career Assists (No. 6-10)
6: Myron Brown (1987-91): 299
7: Brent Schrempf (1993-95): 293
8: Amante Britt (2018-SA): 291
9: Todd Baker (1986-89): 282
10: Louie Moore (1997-00): 275
SRU Career Steals (No. 6-10)
6: Jamar Scales (2005-09): 138
7: Troy Mild (1980-84): 129
8: Micah Till (2017-20): 127
9: Amante Britt (2018-SA): 124
10: William Johnson (2002-05): 117
SRU Career Minutes Played (No. 6-10)
6: Dave Freeman (1998-03): 2,740
7: Tabari Perry (2010-14): 2,701
8: Amante Britt (2018-SA): 2,655
9: Jamar Scales (2005-09): 2,484
10: Louie Moore (1997-00): 2,411
SRU Career 3-Pointers Made (No. 9-13)
9: C. Russell (1987-91): 101
10: Shaun Grill (2002-04): 91
11: Amante Britt (2018-SA): 88
12: Eroll Robinson (2005-09): 87
13:
Frankie Hughes (2021-22): 85
CALIFORNIA PRIMER
Overall Record: 5-7
PSAC Record: 2-4
PSAC West Standings: t-5th
Home Record: 3-2
Away Record: 1-5
Neutral Site Record: 1-0
Streak: W1
Last 5 Games: 2-3
Head Coach: Danny Sancomb | Fifth season (55-47)
SCOUTING THE VULCANS
California comes to The Rock having split its last four games, including a convincing 18-point victory over Clarion earlier in the week. This year's Vulcan team is drastically different than last year's squad which won 23 games and advanced to the Sweet 16.
Of last year's top four scorers, All-American Philip Alston is now the leading scorer at Division I Loyola Chicago, Brent Pegram (17.4 ppg) and Preston Boswell (11.2 ppg) both exhausted their eligibility and Zyan Collins (14.4 ppg) is yet to play a game this season.
This year's team relies almost exclusively on its starting lineup of Keith Palek III, Jermaine Hall Jr., DJ Slaughter, KJ McClurg and Cam Polak. All five play over 30 minutes per game, and four are over 33 mpg.
Palek III (19.3) and Hall Jr. (17.2) are the PSAC's third and fifth leading scorers while Polak and McClurg add 15.4 ppg and 13.2 ppg. Palek also leads the Vulcans in rebounding (7.2) and steals (1.5). McClurg (7.1), Hall Jr. (6.7) and Polak (4.4) round out Cal's top rebounders.
California's top reserve is Donald Washington Jr., who has scored 12 points in three straight games.
The Vulcans are second the PSAC in scoring at 83.0 ppg while ranking 15th in points allowed per game (78.9). California also ranks third in the PSAC in field goal percentage (.484). One of the more perimeter-oriented teams in the league, Cal averages 24 3-point attempts per game.
UP NEXT
Slippery Rock returns to the road for a pair of PSAC West games next week as SRU will first take on upstart Seton Hill University 7:30 p.m. Jan. 11 before traveling to Erie, Pennsylvania where it will square off against perennial contender Mercyhurst University 1 p.m. Jan. 14.
To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on Twitter (@Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics) and Instagram (RockAthletics).
