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SALT LAKE CITY – The 13th-ranked Westminster College men's basketball team opens the 2012-13 season with two games in New Mexico this weekend. Westminster plays at New Mexico Highlands on Friday at 7 p.m. in Las Vegas, N.M. That is followed with a 7 p.m. game on Saturday at Northern New Mexico in Espanola, N.M.

Friday's game will be the first meeting all-time between the Griffins and the NCAA DII New Mexico Highlands. Westminster holds a 2-0 edge against Northern New Mexico. They claimed a 100-52 win over the Eagles last season in the Behnken Field House.

Griffin Notebook
This year's team returns nine players, including two starters, from the team that went 21-11 last season. The squad features five seniors while also welcoming in seven newcomers. Westminster was selected as the preseason favorite of the Frontier Conference coaches to win the league this season.

The team averaged 72.4 points per game last season and shot 50.7 percent from the floor to ranks second in the NAIA. The Griffins also ranked second in foul shooting at 74.2 percent for the year. They allowed just 65.75 points per game while ranking fifth in the country with a 1.19 assist-to-turnover-ratio.

Orchard's the Pick
Senior forward Jake Orchard was selected as the Frontier Conference Preseason Player of the Year. Orchard was an honorable mention All-American last season after averaging 15.2 points per game and shooting 53 percent from the floor. He ranked in the NAIA top 50 in both field goal percentage and free throw percentage (.816) and also recorded 42 steals and 65 assists.

Closing in on 1,000
Orchard enters the season just 60 points shy of 1,000 for his career. Only eight players in school history have scored 1,000 points as a Griffin with the last being Nate Sanchez and Danny Stosich who accomplished the feat during the 2008-09 season. At his current 15.9 career scoring average, Orchard should reach 1,000 points in the team's fourth game of the season.

Checking in with Hayter
Senior Jordan Hayter returns after scoring 9.7 points per game last season and placing second on the team with 87 assists. He was a 50.2 percent shooter from the floor last year and 32.3 percent from beyond the arc. Hayter recorded a team-best 45 steals and reach double figures in points on 17 occasions on his way to being named second team all-Frontier Conference.

Starting Fast
Historically the Griffins have been excellent in the first few weeks of the season. Since the program was reinstated in 1999, Westminster is 81-35 (.698) in all games played before Dec. 1. They went 9-2 in those games last season and are 17-2 in Oct. / Nov. dating back to the 2010-11 season. The only season the team was below .500 through November was the 1999 team that finished 3-4.

In the Polls
Westminster is ranked No. 13 in the 2012-13 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Preseason Top 25 Poll, the NAIA announced Tuesday. Westminster received 139 points in the poll to sit in a tie for the 13th position with Biola (Calif.). The team has now been ranked in 87 polls all-time and they return to the preseason poll for the first time since starting the 2010-11 season at No. 12. This marks the fourth time the team has been No. 13 or better in the preseason poll in the past six years.