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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team looks to lock up a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference playoff berth for the sixth time in the last seven seasons when The Rock visit Edinboro Wednesday night for a PSAC Western Division game at 7:30 p.m.

LIVE COVERAGE
The Edinboro sports information office will provide live statistics and a live video stream of the game at the links above.

THE OPENING TIP
• Slippery Rock returns to action after a week off as The Rock had their PSAC bye last Saturday.
• Slippery Rock is coming off a crucial 56-51 home win over Mercyhurst last Wednesday that moved SRU one game closer to the top three in the league standings.
• The Rock enters the game at 16-7 overall and 11-6 in PSAC games, good enough for fourth place in the PSAC West.
• Slippery Rock can clinch a PSAC playoff berth for the sixth time in the last seven years with a win Wednesday night.
• The Rock won the first meeting between these two teams earlier this year, 69-65 at SRU.
• Edinboro is riding a two-game losing skid after falling to nearby rivals Gannon at home and Mercyhurst on the road last week.
• Edinboro enters the game at 10-10 overall and 8-10 in PSAC games.
• The Fighting Scots are in a battle for one of the final PSAC playoff spots and enter the game in seventh in the PSAC West standings, three games behind fourth place SRU, one game back of fifth place California (9-9) and a half game back of sixth place Pitt-Johnstown (8-9).
• Slippery Rock has won the last four meetings between these two teams and has won 10 of the last 13 meetings since Kevin Reynolds became head coach at SRU in 2008.
 
THE COACHES
• Slippery Rock is coached by Kevin Reynolds in his seventh season. Reynolds owns a 133-68 overall record and is third on the all-time SRU coaching wins list. SRU has reached the PSAC playoffs five times and the NCAA Tournament twice under Reynolds. SRU has advanced to the PSAC title game twice in the last five years and has won at least 20 games in a season four times under Reynolds.

• Edinboro is coached by Pat Cleary in his second season. He owns a career record of 20-26 after posting a 10-16 mark last winter in his first season as head coach. Cleary is 0-3 as a head coach against Slippery Rock. Before taking over as the head coach, he spent 14 seasons at Edinboro as an assistant coach under Greg Walcavich. He's an Edinboro lifer, having spent two years before that as a student assistant and graduating from Edinboro in 1999.
 
PSAC PLAYOFF SPOT ON THE LINE FOR SRU
Both teams have a lot to play for Wednesday night. Slippery Rock can lock up a PSAC playoff berth for the sixth time in the last seven years, while Edinboro will be fighting to hang on to its chances of reaching the conference postseason for the first time under Pat Cleary. The Rock will stay fourth in the division standings regardless of the outcome, while Edinboro could move up a spot with a win, pending other game results.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
Slippery Rock and Edinboro have met 180 times in a series that dates back to the 1912-13 season. The Fighting Scots hold the upper hand in the series, 94-86, but The Rock have owned the advantage in recent years. Slippery Rock has won four straight in the series and has won 10 of the 13 games since the 2008-09 season.  The last Edinboro win in the series came at McComb Fieldhouse during the 2012-13 season.
 
LAST MEETING AGAINST EDINBORO - DEC. 3  |  Box Score
Slippery Rock fought off a 32.4 percent shooting effort with a dominant performance on the glass, grabbing 56 rebounds and outrebounding Edinboro by 15 in a 69-65 win at Morrow Field House way back on Dec. 3 in the first meeting between the teams.
 
The Fighting Scots knocked down an uncontested 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it a four-point game, but Slippery Rock led at halftime and never trailed in the second half. The Rock built a double figure lead on three occasions, but a resilient Edinboro team kept clawing away at the deficit.
 
The Scots got it to three points, 63-60 with 35 seconds to play, but Slippery Rock answered with four straight successful free throws to put the game away.
 
Edinboro shot 38.1 percent from the field and was kept in the game by the long ball, knocking down eight 3-pointers. Henri Wade-Chatman led all scorers with 25 points and Jaymon Mason added 12 points.
 
SRU was led by 19 points and eight rebounds from Frank Holloway, the only Rock player in double figures. Five other SRU players recorded at least eight points in the game.
 
LAST TIME OUT  |  Box Score
Slippery Rock shot just 28.8 percent from the field, its worst shooting effort of the season, last Wednesday against Mercyhurst. Hearing that figure, you would assume a double-digit loss, but The Rock answered the poor offensive performance with a strong defensive effort and solid free throw shooting to come away with an improbable 56-51 win over the Lakers.
 
Antonio Butler scored nearly 40 percent of Slippery Rock's points with a game-high 22 and accounted for roughly 20 percent of the total scoring in the game. No other SRU player reached double figures and only one Mercyhurst player reached double figures, as Jean Onana led his squad with 12 points.
 
The Rock made 23-of-31 free throws and knocked down six shots from the charity stripe in the last 50 seconds to seal the win. SRU posted a 45-35 rebounding advantage and held Mercyhurst to just 32.1 percent shooting from the field.
 
BEST REBOUNDERS IN THE NATION
Much of the success of Slippery Rock over the last seven years has come from the rebounding advantage. This year is no different as The Rock leads the nation in rebounding margin at +13.6 and also leads the country in offensive rebounds at an average of 18.6 per game. SRU ranks 12th in the country in defensive rebounds with 28.2 per game and The Rock's 1,076 total rebounds are 87 more than any other D2 school.
 
NOT JUST THE BEST IN DIVISION II
Slippery Rock isn't just the number one rebounding team in Division II, The Rock is the best rebounding team in the entire NCAA, regardless of Division. SRU has more total rebounds and has the best rebounding margin of all NCAA programs. The best rebounding advantage in Division I belongs to Quinnipiac at +12.9 and the best number in Division III belongs to Gordon at +12.0. The highest total number of rebounds in Division I belongs to Quinnipiac at 1,039. The highest number of total rebounds in Division III belongs to Brooklyn at 1,042.
 
Division I Rebounding Stats  |  Division II Stats  |  Division III Stats
 
1,000 REBOUND CLUB
Slippery Rock's 1,076 rebounds is the highest total of all NCAA programs. The Rock is the only Division II team with 1,000+ rebounds. The next highest total in all of the NCAA is Division III's Brooklyn with 1,042. The best Division I total is Quinnipiac's 1,039. Only eight NCAA men's programs have 1,000 rebounds so far this year.

Slippery Rock - Division II - 1,076 - 23 games
Brooklyn - Division III - 1,042 - 23 games
Quinnipiac - Division I - 1,039 - 23 games
North Carolina - Division I - 1,027 - 24 games
Sage Colleges - Division III - 1,014 - 21 games
Brigham Young - Division I - 1,005 - 26 games
Valparaiso - Division I - 1,003 - 26 games
Sam Houston State - Division I - 1,001 - 24 games

TOTAL TEAM EFFORT
While Slippery Rock leads the nation in rebounding, no individual on the team averages more than 6.5 rebounds per game. Five players average at least 4.7 rebounds per game, eight players average 3.5 or more and every player on the roster averages more than 1.0. Cornelius Brown leads the way at 6.5 boards per game. Frank Holloway adds 6.3, Antonio Butler grabs 5.9, Chaquille Pratt pulls down 5.0 and Jamal Gatali grabs 4.7. Six SRU players have at least 30 offensive rebounds on the year.
 
SPECIALTY ADVANTAGES
Slippery Rock owns an advantage in every "specialty" statistic that shows up in the box score. The Rock have outscored opponents 1,715-1,529 in total points, among that is a 547-341 edge in bench points, a 315-253 advantage in points off turnovers, a 400-202 advantage in second chance points and a 176-118 edge in fast break points.
 
SECOND CHANCE SCORING
Slippery Rock's 18.6 offensive rebounds per game are the best in the country and have led to a massive 400-202 advantage in second chance scoring this season. That breaks down to an average of 17.4 offensive points per game that The Rock scores after grabbing an offensive rebound. Conversely, opponents average just 8.8 second chance points against The Rock's defense.
 
BENCH SCORING
In addition to the second chance scoring, Slippery Rock has put up a big advantage this year in bench scoring. The Rock is outscoring opponents' reserves 547-341 on the year, an average of 23.8 points per game to 14.8 points per game (+9.0).
 
SHOOTING WOES
The massive rebounding advantage on the offensive glass has helped Slippery Rock to a 74.6 point per game scoring output, which ranks seventh among all teams in the PSAC and has helped mask shooting struggles all season. The Rock rank second to last in the PSAC in shooting percentage at 40.9 percent. SRU ranks 13th in 3-point percentage at 32.5 percent and ninth in free throw percentage at 71.1. The team has shot better than 45 percent overall in just six games. The Rock have shot less than 40 percent from the field 11 times, including eight of the last nine games and nine of the last 11 outings.
 
DEFENSE IS THE BEST OFFENSE
Along with dominating on the glass, Slippery Rock ranks among the best in the PSAC in field goal percentage defense with opponents shooting just 40.1 percent from the field, the third lowest total in the league. SRU also ranks fifth in scoring defense with opponents scoring 66.5 points per game. The Rock are fourth in the PSAC in scoring margin at +8.1 points per game.
 
NO COMEBACKS ALLOWED
Slippery Rock has led at halftime in 13 of the 23 games so far this year and has won all 13 of them. The Rock came back to win three of the nine games they trailed at halftime.
 
ROED STRUGGLES THIS YEAR
Slippery Rock has been one of the toughest teams to beat in the PSAC on its home floor and has been much more vulnerable on the road. The Rock has an .804 winning percentage at home since Kevin Reynolds became coach in 2008 (78-19) and are .517 in road games during that stretch (45-42). SRU is 10-1 at home and 4-5 on the road this season.
 
BUTLER ON FIRE
Rock guard/forward Antonio Butler is averaging 19.0 points over his last 11 games and has scored 20+ points in six of those games. He is coming off a 22-point showing against Mercyhurst and has scored in double figures in 15 straight and 20 of SRU's 23 games overall.
 
CLUTCH ON THE LINE
Butler has taken a team-high 45 free throw attempts in the final three minutes of games this year, and has knocked down 38 of them for an 84.4 percent efficiency when the pressure is on. He is 47-of-56 (.839) overall from the line over the last six games.
 
TAKING CARE OF THE BALL
Slippery Rock is averaging 12.3 turnovers per game, the third lowest total of all 18 teams in the PSAC. That has helped SRU to a fifth best assist to turnover ratio in the league at 1.05. The Rock has recorded 10 or less turnovers in a game nine times this season and has forced opponents into double digit turnovers 15 times. Edinboro ranks first in the PSAC in turnovers at 12.1 per game and ranks fourth in assist to turnover ratio at 1.09.
 
SCOUTING EDINBORO
On paper, it is a mystery how Edinboro is only 10-10 this season. The Scots lead the PSAC in shooting percentage defense and fewest turnovers. They rank in the top half of the PSAC in nearly every statistical category and rank in the top five in most prominent categories.
 
Edinboro scores 74.6 points per game and allows 65.2, nearly identical numbers to SRU. The Scots shoot 43.9 percent overall (#9 in PSAC), but hold opponents to just 39.6 percent (#1 in PSAC). They also shoot 39.6 percent from 3-point (#2 in PSAC) and pull down 39.8 rebounds per game (#3 in PSAC).
 
Henri Wade-Chatman is one of the stars of the league and averages 19.0 points per game. Jaymon Mason adds 13.9 points per game. Tommy Scales scores 7.9 points and grabs 6.1 rebounds per game and Casey Baker adds 7.6 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.

NEXT UP
Slippery Rock will play four more regular season games after Wednesday night's game at Edinboro. The Rock will host Seton Hill Saturday at 3 p.m. before playing back-to-back road games at Indiana (Pa.) Feb. 18 and Clarion  Feb. 22. SRU returns home to close out the regular season on Senior Night, Feb. 25 against California (Pa.).