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SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College men's basketball team returns home for the first time in nearly three weeks when they host the Westminster Thanksgiving Classic this weekend. Westminster opens the Classic on Friday against Lyndon State at 7 p.m. The Griffins will then play UC-Colorado Springs on Saturday at 7 p.m. Carroll plays the opposite opponent each night at 5 p.m. with every game being played in the Behnken Field House.
Griffin Notebook
Westminster is currently 7-2 overall this season after going 1-1 last weekend in California. The Griffins defeated Cal State Monterey Bay 72-68 on Thursday and then fell 72-69 at No. 9 Azusa Pacific on Saturday. After starting the year 6-0, Westminster is 1-2 in the last three games.
Westminster is averaging 78.6 points per game to start the season and rank fifth in the Frontier Conference in that category. They are shooting 52.1% from the field which leads the league and is ninth in the NAIA. At the stripe, Westminster leads the NAIA by shooting 76.8%.
Defensively, Westminster is holding the opposition to 72.1 points per outing and 45.3% shooting. The Griffins grab 32 rebounds per game and have a 0.89 rebounding advantage per game. The Griffins have posted a 1.00 assist-to-turnover ratio and block 2.4 shots in a game.
Jake Orchard is tops on the squad in scoring at 17.2 points per game. He is second in the Frontier in that category and leads the league with his 61% field goal percentage. Orchard is also second in the league at the foul line by shooting 84.7%.
Ben Walker is scoring 12.9 points per game while leading the team with 45 rebounds and
AJ Reilly scores 9.8 points per game.
Thanksgiving Classic Coverage
All four games of the Thanksgiving Classic will be streamed live on Griffins TV. The two games featuring Carroll will be video only. Dan Clayton will handle the play-by-play of Friday's Westminster game with Mike Lageschulte taking to the mic for Saturday's game. The video goes live around 10 minutes prior to tipoff with head coach
Adam Hiatt appearing during the postgame show.
Live Stats will also be available for every game of the Classic. The live stats feed begins at tipoff. Links for both Griffins TV and the Live Stats can be found at WestminsterGriffins.com.
Series Notes
Westminster will meet both opponents on this week's schedule for the first time in the program's history. They will e the fifth and sixth first-time opponents the Griffins have faced this season. Westminster is 4-0 in the other first-time meetings this year.
Looking Back
Westminster used a balanced offensive attack to lead them to a 72-68 win over Cal State Monterey Bay. Orchard led the way with 18 points behind 6-of-10 shooting. Reilly and
Jordan Hayter scored 10 points apiece with Hayter also adding two assists.
Tanner Gregory and
Ben Walker scored nine points apiece while
Alex Drecksel added eight.
The Griffins dropped a 72-69 decision against No. 9 Azusa Pacific on Saturday. Hayter led the Griffins with 16 points with four rebounds and two assists. Walker added 10 points and four rebounds. Drecksel and Gregory scored nine points apiece. Westminster shot 50.9% from the floor in the game and scored 32 points in the paint.
Fast Starters
Westminster has an all-time record of 79-35 (.693) in the months of October and November. They have gone 35-8 in the opening months since 2007 and are 7-2 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 nine games, Westminster is shooting 52.1% from the field which leads the Frontier Conference and ranks ninth in the NAIA. They have shot above 50% form the floor in seven games, including each of the last four.
Westminster has a True Shooting Percentage of 61.7% this season. They also have an Effective Field Goal Percentage of 56.4%. Those percentages take into account free throws and 3-point field goal percentage.
Offensive Orchard
Junior Orchard is the Griffins top scorer this season at 17.2 points per game. He is second in the Frontier with that average while also ranking first in the league with a 61% field gal percentage. Orchard has reached double figures in all nine games this season and twice gone for at least 24.
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 12.9 points per game while also grabbing a team-best 45 rebounds. Walker is shooting 53.2% from the floor and leads the team with 45 rebounds and 11 blocked shots.
With the Game on the Line
The Griffins are the nation's top team when it comes to shooting free throws. Westminster is shooting 76.8% at the stripe this season and has shot 75% or better on six occasions. Orchard is 32st nationally at 84.7% while Reilly is 36th at 83.9%.
Westminster is even better in clutch situations. A clutch situation is defined as any free throw with less than 5:00 remaining in the game (plus all of overtime) and a positive or negative differential of 10 points or less. The Griffins are shooting 81.1% in those situations. Orchard is a perfect 13-of-13 in clutch situations while Reilly has gone 6-for-6.
Home Advantage
The Griffins have been excellent 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.
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.
