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SALT LAKE CITY – The 10th-ranked Westminster College men's basketball team begins Frontier Conference play with two games on the road this weekend.  Westminster plays at Montana Tech on Friday before facing Montana Western on Saturday.  Both of the games will begin at 7:30 p.m. and follow the women's game between the same two teams.

Griffin Notebook
Westminster enters league play after going 12-4 during the non-conference season.  The Griffins are coming off a 1-1 trip to New Orleans for the Big Easy Challenge.  They picked up a win over Dillard (La.) before dropping a game against No. 7 Texas Wesleyan.  Westminster has won five of its previous seven games and has gone 5-1 in road games this season.

The Griffins rank sixth in the Frontier in scoring at 76 points per game.  They have scored 1,216 points this year which is second-most in the league and 12th in the NAIA.  They lead the Frontier in field goal percentage (51.1%) and free throw percentage (74.7%).

Defensively, Westminster holds the opposition to 66.9 points per outing while holding them to 43.3% shooting from the floor.  The Griffins grab 32.6 rebounds per game while also blocking 2.6 shots per contest.  They also average 8.1 steals with a positive 2.25 turnover margin.  The team averages 15.1 assists per game with a 1.16 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Jake Orchard is fourth in the league in scoring at 16.1 points per game and is 13th in the NAIA with 258 total points.  He leads the Frontier by shooting 57.2% from the field and is second by shooting 84% at the charity stripe.  Ben Walker ranks sixth in the conference by scoring 13.1 points per game and second by shooting 56.8% from the floor.

Walker grabs 5.0 rebounds per game to lead the team and ranks 13th in the Frontier.  Alex Drecksel ranks seventh in the conference by grabbing 1.9 offensive rebounds per game.  Jordan Hayter averages a team-best 2.75 assists per outing while Orchard records 1.3 steals per contest.  Walker blocks 1.1 shots per game and ranks third in the Frontier.

Road Game Coverage
Both games of the road trip will be available to watch online as well as having live stats available.  Links to access the live video and stats can be found at WestminsterGriffins.com on the day of the game.  You can also find the live video at www.gotw.tv and the live stats at www.dakstats.com/naia.

Series Notes
Westminster holds a 22-4 all-time record against Montana Tech. However, the Griffins dropped both meetings last season against the Orediggers with the first loss snapping a 19-game winning streak in the series by Westminster.  Before last season, the last loss against Tech was on Jan. 10, 2002.

The Griffins enter Saturday's game with a 22-5 record all-time against Montana Western.  The teams split the two meetings last season with each winning at home.  Westminster has won three of the last four games in the series while dropping three straight in Dillon.

Into the Top 10
After starting the year among the other teams receiving votes, Westminster has now been ranked in the Top 25 for two consecutive polls.  The Griffins moved to No. 10 in the poll that was released on Dec. 12, one spot ahead of the No. 11 they entered at on Dec. 5.

Westminster has now been ranked in the Top 25 of the coaches' poll 86 times since the program was reinstated in 1999.  When playing as a ranked team, Westminster has compiled a 158-66 record.

Massey Ratings
Westminster is rated No. 12 in the latest edition of the Massey Ratings that were released on Wednesday.  They have a rating of 0.86 and are rated second among the eight teams in the Frontier Conference.  They have played the 15th-rated schedule and are rated as the No. 10 defensive team.  As they enter league play, Westminster is rated as the favorite in 13 of the 14 games remaining on the 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.

Shooting the Lights Out
The 2010-11 Griffins are once again one of the top shooting teams in the NAIA.  Through 16 games, Westminster is shooting 51.1% 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 59.7% and an Effective Field Goal Percentage of 55.6%.  Both of those percentages factor in free throws and 3-point shooting.

Specialty Numbers
Westminster is averaging 76 points per game and is scoring 36.6 of those points in the paint.  The Griffins have 586 points in the key area this season and have limited the opposition to just 444 points down low.  They are also averaging 18.4 points per contest off of turnovers by the opposition.  Westminster opponents are averaging 15.3 turnovers per game.

Offensive Orchard
Orchard is the Griffins top scorer this season at 16.1 points per game.  The junior is fourth in the Frontier with that average while also ranking first in the league with a 57.2% field gal percentage.  Orchard has reached double figures in 14 of the 16 games and three times gone for at least 24.

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 13.1 points per game while also grabbing a team-best 80 rebounds.  Walker is shooting 56.8% from the floor and is second in the league in that department. The senior forward is third in the Frontier at 1.06 blocks per game and 38th in the NAIA with 17 total blocks.

1,000 Within Reach
Orchard has scored 756 points in his Westminster career and ranks 15th in school history in that department.  Through the first 46 games of his career, the junior is averaging 16.4 points per game.  He needs 216 more points to move into the top-10 in the record books.  He is on pace to finish the year with 997 career points which would place him ninth at Westminster.

To reach the 1,000-point plateau this season, Orchard would need to average 16.3 points per game over the remaining 15 games on the schedule.  Should the Griffins advance reach the finals of the Frontier Conference Tournament that average drops to 14.4 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 74.7% at the stripe this season and has shot 75% or better on eight occasions.  They rank first in the conference in free throw shooting and fifth in the NAIA.  Orchard makes 84% of his trips to the line to rank second in the league and 20th 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 75.6% in those situations, making 31-of-41 clutch attempts.  Orchard is a perfect 14-for-14 in clutch situations while Hayter is 7-for-8 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.