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SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College men's basketball team returns home for two Frontier Conference games this week in the Behnken Field House.  Westminster plays Carroll College on Thursday in the conference home opener for the Griffins.  They then face Rocky Mountain College on Saturday night.  Both games will tipoff at 7:30 p.m.

Griffin Notebook
Westminster enters the week at 12-6 on the season after dropping two road games last weekend.  They are 0-2 in the Frontier Conference after those losses at Montana tech and Montana Western.  The current three-game losing skid is the first for the Griffins since the 2006-07 season. 

The Griffins rank seventh in the Frontier in scoring at 74.8 points per game.  They have scored 1,347 points this year which is second-most in the league and 10th in the NAIA.  They lead the Frontier in field goal percentage (50.3%) and free throw percentage (75%).

Defensively, Westminster holds the opposition to 67.7 points per outing while holding them to 43.9% shooting from the floor.  The Griffins grab 32.4 rebounds per game while also blocking 2.5 shots per contest.  They average 8.1 steals with a positive 2.33 turnover margin.  The team averages 14.8 assists per game with a 1.16 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Jake Orchard is second in the league in scoring at 16.5 points per game and is 11th in the NAIA with 297 total points.  He ranks second in the Frontier by shooting 55.6% from the field and is second by shooting 83.3% at the charity stripe.  Ben Walker ranks eighth in the conference by scoring 12.5 points per game and tops the conference with a 56.5% field goal percentage.

Walker grabs 4.9 rebounds per game to lead the team and ranks 15th in the Frontier.  Alex Drecksel ranks seventh in the conference by grabbing 1.9 offensive rebounds per game.  Jordan Hayter averages a team-best 2.78 assists per outing while Orchard records 1.2 steals per contest.  Walker blocks 1.1 shots per game and ranks third in the Frontier.

Game Coverage
Both games this weekend will be carried live on Griffins TV.  The pregame coverage begins at 7:20 p.m. with Mike Lageschulte handling the play-by-play and Lance Barton providing the color commentary.  Head coach Adam Hiatt stops by to chat with the guys during the postgame show.  Live Stats will also be available for the two games.  Links for Griffins TV and the Live Stats are available at WestminsterGriffins.com.

Promotions
Thursday night is a “Purple Out” as fans are encouraged to wear purple.  Fans wearing purple Griffin apparel will receive $1 off the admission price.  It is also Youth Basketball Night with kids receiving FREE admission by wearing their team jersey to the game. Saturday is Camper Reunion Night where all Westminster summer campers receive FREE admission by wearing you summer camp T-shirt to the game.  Stick around after the game for an autograph session featuring both Westminster basketball teams.

Series Notes
Westminster has a 17-13 lead in the all-time series with Carroll.  The teams have split the previous four meetings with Carroll taking an 86-62 win in the last meeting during last season's conference semi-finals.  The Griffins have won the last four games played in Salt Lake City.

Against Rocky, Westminster holds a 23-7 lead in the 30 all-time meetings.  The Griffins have won the last seven meetings and 17 of the previous 19 match-ups against the Bears.  Westminster is 14-0 all-time against Rocky when they play in Salt Lake City.

Shooting the Lights Out
The 2010-11 Griffins are once again one of the top shooting teams in the NAIA.  Through 18 games, Westminster is shooting 50.3% from the field which leads the Frontier Conference and ranks fifth in the NAIA.  They have shot above 50% from the floor in 11 games and five times been above 55%.

Looking deeper into the shooting numbers, the Griffins have a True Shooting Percentage of 58.7% and an Effective Field Goal Percentage of 54.8%.  Both of those percentages factor in free throws and 3-point shooting.

Specialty Numbers
Westminster is averaging 74.8 points per game and is scoring 36.8 of those points in the paint.  The Griffins have 662 points in the key area this season and have limited the opposition to just 488 points down low.  They are also averaging 18.4 points per contest off of turnovers by the opposition.  Westminster opponents are averaging 15.1 turnovers per game.

Massey Ratings
Westminster currently sits at No. 22 in the latest edition of the Massey Ratings.  They dropped 10 positions from last week and have a rating of 0.68.  They are rated second among the eight teams in the Frontier Conference and have played the 14th-rated schedule.

The Massey Ratings are compiled each week with new ranking being released daily.  Kenneth Massey is the creator of the rating formula and all ratings can be found on his web site at www.masseyratings.com.

Offensive Orchard
Orchard is the Griffins top scorer this season at 16.5 points per game.  The junior is second in the Frontier with that average while also ranking second in the league with a 56.5% field goal percentage.  Orchard has reached double figures in 16 of the 18 games and three times gone for at least 24.  He has been the teams leading scorer in nine games while also collecting the most steals in a game on six occasions.

He was named the Frontier Player of the Week on Dec. 5 after scoring 28 points in the win at Northern Colorado.  Orchard finished the game 9-of-10 from the field and 6-of-6 from beyond the arc.  He also had two rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal.  The weekly award was the second of his career.

Welcome Back Walker
Walker returns this season after taking a redshirt last season with an injury.  He is currently second on the team in scoring at 12.5 points per game while also grabbing a team-best 89 rebounds.  Walker is shooting 56.5% from the floor and is leads he league in that department. The senior forward is third in the Frontier at 1.06 blocks per game and 37th in the NAIA with 19 total blocks.

1,000 Within Reach
Orchard has scored 795 points in his Westminster career and ranks 15th in school history in that department.  Through the first 48 games of his career, the junior is averaging 16.6 points per game.  He needs 177 more points to move into the top-10 in the record books.  He is on pace to finish the year with 1,010 career points which would place him ninth at Westminster.

To reach the 1,000-point plateau this season, Orchard would need to average 15.8 points per game over the remaining 13 games on the schedule.  Should the Griffins advance reach the finals of the Frontier Conference Tournament that average drops to 13.7 points per game.

With the Game on the Line
The Griffins are one of the nation's top team when it comes to shooting free throws.  Westminster is shooting 75% at the stripe this season and has shot 75% or better on 10 occasions.  They rank first in the conference in free throw shooting and fifth in the NAIA.  Orchard makes 83.3% of his trips to the line to rank second in the league and 17th nationally.

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 76.7% in those situations, making 33-of-43 clutch attempts.  Orchard is a perfect 15-for-15 in clutch situations while Hayter is 8-for-9 and AJ Reilly is 6-of-7.

Home Advantage
The Griffins have been excellent at home since 1999.  During that time, Westminster has compiled a 135-22 (.860) record in home games and have recorded at least 10 home wins in a season 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 72-8 (.900) 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” while twice going undefeated at home in league action.

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.