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SALT LAKE CITY – The 19th-ranked Westminster College men's basketball team completes this four-game home-stand with two games this week against Frontier Conference foes. Frontier newcomer Dickinson State (N.D.) comes to town for the first time ever on Thursday. On Saturday, conference rival Carroll (Mont.) makes the annual trip to Salt Lake City. Both games will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Behnken Field House.

Game Coverage
Both games this week will be streamed live on Griffins TV with Mike Lageschulte (play-by-play) and Lance Barton (analyst) on the call. The games will not be available on Comcast 6 this week. Live Stats will also be available for both of the games. Links for all of the live features can be found in the calendar section of WestminsterGriffins.com.

Griffin Notebook
Westminster enters the week at 14-4 overall and 2-3 in the Frontier Conference. They split two games at home last week, losing to Great Falls (Mont.), 73-71, and then defeating No. 10 Montana State-Northern, 82-50. The win over Northern snapped a three-game losing streak and was the team's third win against a ranked opponent this season.

The Griffins have a 6-1 home record this season and they are 11-2 against teams that were not ranked in the NAIA Top 25 at the time of the game. Westminster is 8-1 when scoring at least 80 points in a game and 6-0 when they shot at least 50 percent from the field. They are 10-3 when leading at halftime and 12-1 when leading with five minutes remaining in regulation.

With a scoring average of 80.24 points per game, Westminster ranks second in the Frontier and 24th in the NAIA. They are 26th nationally by shooting 46.8 percent from the field and their 36 percent from beyond the arc is 29th nationally. The Griffins average 14.7 assist per game and rank 12th in the country with a 1.16 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Westminster holds the opposition to 63.65 points per game and rank 13th nationally in scoring defense. Griffin opponents shoot 43 percent from the field and 32.2 percent from beyond the arc. Westminster leads the league with an average of 12 steals per game and is No. 1 in the country in turnover margin at 8.53.

Against the Opposition
Westminster is 1-0 all-time against Dickinson State. The only meeting in the series was a 59-56 win by the Griffins on Oct. 31, 2008 in Dillon, Mont.

The Griffins are 18-14 against Carroll all-time. The two teams have alternated wins in the last six meetings after Westminster had won three straight in the series. Westminster won the meeting in SLC last year, 75-54, on Jan. 12, 2012.

Winning 300
The next win by the Griffins will be No. 300 since the program was reinstated for the 1999-2000 season. During that time, Westminster has a record of 299-129 for a 69.9 winning percentage. The team has won at least 20 games in 11 of the 13 seasons and won seven Frontier Conference championships. Westminster has been to the NAIA National Championships nine times since 1999 and has 12 NAIA All-Americans.

Orchard's the Pick
Jake Orchard is once again having a balanced season for the Griffins. The Frontier Conference Preseason Player of the Year is averaging a team-high 13 points per game and he has scored in double figures in 11 games this season. He shoots 46.2 percent from the field and leads the team with 42 assists and 38 steals. Orchard's 2.24 steals per game rank 30th in the NAIA.

Join the Club
With 18 points against Vanguard (Calif.) on Nov. 9, Orchard became the ninth Griffin to score 1,000 points for a career. The senior has 1,161 career points entering the weekend to rank seventh in school history. At his current career scoring average of 15.3 points per game, Orchard is on pace to score 1,344 points through the team's first game of the Frontier Conference Tournament. He needs to average 18.7 points and 2.5 steals per game to become the career leader in each of those categories.

Robertson Making an Impact
Tallon Robertson has made a significant impact of the Griffins front line this season. The junior is averaging 10.8 points per game while shooting 55.1 percent from the floor. Robertson has led the team in scoring in four games and has reached double figures nine times. He has two double-doubles and his career-high 21 points over Saint Xavier led him to MVP honors at the Tom Byron Classic.

Into the Lineup
Blake Skidmore transitioned to the starting lineup last weekend by scoring 18 points in each of the games and leading the team in scoring both nights. The junior is second on the team in scoring at 11.4 points per game and he is shooting 47.1 percent from the field and 42.6 percent from beyond the arc. He came off the bench in 14 of the team's first 15 games and averaged 10.4 points per game in those contests. In three games as a starter, Skidmore is averaging 16 points per game and shoots 51.6 percent from the floor.

Crashing the Glass
Senior Alex Drecksel is the team's leading rebounder at 6.12 rebounds per game. He ranks seventh in the Frontier in rebounding and third in the league by grabbing 2.82 offensive rebounds per night. Drecksel grabs 14.3 percent of all available rebounds while he is on the floor with a 12.8 percent on the offensive end. He needs 37 offensive rebounds to set the single-season school record with 85 and would need to average 3.1 per game to reach that mark in the team's remaining 12 games on the schedule.

Creating Scoring Opportunities
Westminster currently leads the NAIA in turnover margin (+8.53) thanks to forcing 21.5 turnovers per game. They are coming up with 12 steals a night to rank seventh in the NAIA. The Griffins score 23.2 points per game from opponent turnovers which accounts for 28.9 percent of the team's 80.2 points per game. In contrast, Griffin opponents are scoring just 9.9 points from turnover per game or just 15.6 percent of their total points.

Looking Ahead
Westminster hits the road for two games next week. They open the trip with a rare non-conference game against a conference opponent when they face Dickinson State on Jan. 24 in North Dakota. They will then face Rocky Mountain (Mont.) on Jan. 26 in Billings, Mont. in the first of back-to-back games with Rocky.