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SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College men's basketball is on the road for a second consecutive week with two games in California this week. Westminster will travel to Seaside for a game on Thursday against Cal State Monterey Bay. They will then head down the coast for a Saturday game in Azusa against No. 9 Azusa Pacific.
Griffin Notebook
Westminster enters the week at 6-1 overall after going 1-1 at last week's Las Vegas Classic. The Griffins won the Classic opener against Cal State San Marcos on Friday before dropping Saturday's game with No. 4 Concordia (Calif.). That loss snapped the season-opening six-game winning streak which was the third longest such streak in school history.
Westminster is averaging 80.9 points per game to start the season and rank third in the Frontier Conference in that category. They are shooting 52.1% from the field which leads the league and is 13th in the NAIA. At the stripe, Westminster is shooting a league-best 76.6% which is good for fourth in the nation.
Defensively, Westminster is holding the opposition to 72.7 points per outing and 44.3% shooting. The Griffins grab 34.3 rebounds per game and have a 3.43 rebounding advantage per game. The Griffins have posted a 1.08 assist-to-turnover ratio and block 2.6 shots in a game.
Jake Orchard is tops on the squad in scoring at 18.1 points per game. He is second in the Frontier in that category and leads the league with his 61.5% field goal percentage. Orchard is also second in the league at the foul line by shooting 86.3%.
Ben Walker is scoring 13.9 points per game while leading the team with 37 rebounds and
AJ Reilly scored 10.4 points per game.
Game Coverage
Thursday's game against Cal State Monterey Bay will feature live video streaming and live stats. The game at APU on Saturday will also feature live stats.
Links for all of the live features can be found at WestminsterGriffins.com under the calendar.
Series Notes
Thursday will mark the first-ever meeting between the Griffins and Otters. Monterey Bay is the second of four games against NCAA division II opponents this season.
Westminster and Azusa Pacific have split six all-time meetings. APU has won the last two meetings, including an 81-66 win in Azusa last December. The last Griffin win in the series was an 83-69 affair in the Behnken Field House on Nov. 8, 2008.
Looking Back
Westminster won its sixth consecutive game to start the year with a 76-66 victory over Cal State San Marcos on Friday in Las Vegas. Orchard led three Griffins in double figures with 24 points.
Jordan Hayter added 19 points and Reilly added 13.
Westminster lost their first game of the year on Saturday with an 88-69 loss against No. 4 Concordia (Calif.) at the Las Vegas Classic. Walker led the Griffins with 21 points against Concordia (2-0). Orchard added 19 points in the loss.
Fast Starters
Since 2005 Westminster has started the year strong during the opening five games of the year. The Griffins are 28-7 during the first five games of the season over the past seven seasons and only once had a losing record during the span. After going 5-0 to start the year this season, Westminster has now started a perfect 5-0 three times since 2008.
Westminster has an all-time record of 78-34 (.696) in the months of October and November. They have gone 34-7 in the opening months since 2007 and are 6-1 this season. The Griffins have won at least four straight during the fall months on seven occasions in 12 years.
Chasing 20
Westminster begins the year looking for a 10th straight 20-win season. Since the program was reinstated in 1999, Westminster has recorded 20 wins a total of 10 times in 12 years. They are the only Frontier Conference team to record 20 wins in each of the last six seasons.
Westminster set a school record with 30 wins during the 2008-09 season and they have averaged 26 wins per year during the current eight-year streak. The Griffins have an all-time record of 264-114 since reinstatement and only had a losing season (12-15) during the initial campaign of 1999-2000.
Shooting the Lights Out
The 2010-11 Griffins are once again one of the top shooting teams in the NAIA. Through seven games, Westminster is shooting 52.1% from the field which leads the Frontier Conference and ranks 13th in the NAIA. They have shot above 50% form the floor in five of those seven games.
Westminster has a True Shooting Percentage of 61.9% this season. They also have an Effective Field Goal Percentage of 56.5%.
Welcome Back Walker
Senior Walker returns this season after taking a redshirt last season with an injury. He is currently second in the team in scoring at 13.9 points per game while also grabbing a team-best 37 rebounds. Walker is shooting 51.5% from the floor and also has nine blocks and six steals.
Offensive Orchard
Junior Orchard is the Griffins top scorer this season at 18.1 points per game. He is second in the Frontier and 49th nationally with that average while also ranking first in the league with a 61.5% field gal percentage. Orchard has reached double figures in all seven games this season and twice gone for at least 24.
Griffins Picked to Finish Fourth in Frontier
According to a poll of the Frontier Conference men's basketball coaches, the Westminster College men's basketball team is picked to finish fourth in the upcoming season. That would mark the same finish the team had last year.
The Griffins received 33 points in the poll along with one first-place vote. Last year's conference tournament champion Montana State-Northern was picked to win the 2011-2012 league title. Regular season champion Carroll College was second followed by Montana Western. After Westminster the order was Lewis-Clark State, Rocky Mountain College. Montana Tech and the University of Great Falls tied for seventh. MSU-Northern received five first place votes and Carroll received two.
Orchard and Walker Named Preseason All-Conference
Westminster College had two representatives on the Preseason All-Frontier Conference team that was released earlier this month. Commissioner Kent Paulson announced that Orchard and Walker both made the five-player team
Orchard was named first team all-conference last season along with being named the newcomer of the year. He as also named an honorable mention All-American after averaging 16.6 points per game and was 12th nationally with his 55.5% field goal percentage. Orchard could be found third in the Frontier in steals, fourth in scoring, eighth in offensive rebounds and 16th in total rebounds.
Walker sat out last season as a redshirt due to an injury. In 2009-10, Walker was named honorable mention All-American and first team all-conference with the Griffins. He averaged 15.4 points per game that season and was second in the NAIA with a 67.7% field goal percentage. During the season, Walker recorded a school-record 49 blocked shots and ranked 16th nationally.
Home Advantage
The Griffins have been dominate at home since 1999. During that time, Westminster has compiled a 132-21 (.863) record in home games and have recorded at least 10 home wins nine times. They have also posted a 73-10 (.880) mark in Frontier Conference home games.
Westminster has been even better at home since opening the Behnken Field House in 2006. The Griffins have an all-time record of 69-7 (.908) in their current home and only once have they lost more than one home game in a season. In conference, the Griffins have a 38-4 (.905) all-time record in “The Nest” and twice gone undefeated during league home games.
