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SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College men's basketball team will open the 2013-14 season with a trip to Canada for three games at the Calgary Cup. Westminster will begin the season on Thursday when they face Mount Royal at 8 p.m. at Kenyon Court. The Griffins will then play Alberta on Friday at 4 p.m. and Calgary on Saturday at 7 p.m. Both of those games will be held at Jack Simpson Court.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Saturday's game against Calgary will have live stats available. A link for the stats can be found in the calendar section of Westminster Griffins.com.

GRIFFIN NOTES
Westminster begins the season after posting a 22-8 record during the 2012-13 campaign. They return nine players from that team, including three starters. Last season the Griffins led the NAIA in turnover margin at 7.21 while placing eighth in both steals per game (11.0) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.20).

Tallon Robertson returns for his senior season after averaging 10.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game last season. He is the leading returner in each of those categories. Colton Moon scored 8.9 points per game as a sophomore while picking up 63 assists and 42 steals. Blake Skidmore will also be looked to as a scoring threat this season after averaging 9.3 points per game a season ago.

NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
Westminster has been very successful in non-conference play during the first two years with Adam Hiatt as head coach. Last season, Westminster compiled a 12-2 record in non-conference games. One of those losses came against eighth-ranked Westmont (Calif.) with the other coming in the quarterfinals of the Frontier Conference tournament. Over the past two season, the Griffins are 26-7 in non-conference games for a .788 winning percentage.

FAST STARTERS
The Griffins have a history of getting seasons off to a fast start. In the 14 seasons since the program was reinstated, Westminster is 13-1 in season openers and they have won 11 straight. They have also been stellar in games through the end of November. Since 1999, the Griffins have gone 89-36 (.712) through the end of November. They are 25-3 (.893) over the past three season during that time, including an 8-1 mark last season.

IN CANADA
This trip to Canada marks the second time in three seasons that Westminster has opened the season in the country. They began the 2011-12 season with a pair of wins over Victoria. That is the only other time that the Griffins have played games outide of the United States. This trip will also mark just the third time the team has played games in October, joining that 2011-12 season and a Halloween game with Dickinson State (N.D.) in 2008.

RUN THROUGH ROBERTSON
Senior Tallon Robertson looks to be the focal point of the Griffin offense this season. The forward is the highest returning scorer from last season with an average of 10.6 points per game. Robertson scored in double figures during 14 games last season and six times cored more than 15. He also collected 5.1 rebounds per night while shooting 54.4 percent from the floor.

CLIMBING THE LONG DISTANCE CHARTS
Junior Colton Moon begins the season 14th in school history with 70 made threes. He is coming off a season with 61 made triples and has a career average of 1.67 made per game. If that average continues through this season, Moon will end the year with 120 makes from deep to place sixth in school history. He 42.7 percent accuracy from beyond the arc in his career is the fifth-highest percentage in school history.

SKIDMORE A STARTER
Blake Skidmore looks to transition to the starting lineup for his senior season. In 19 games off the bench last season, Skidmore averaged a team-best 8.8 points per game while shooting 37.5 percent from beyond the arc. He also made 10 starts as a junior where he averaged 10.3 points per game and shot 36.1 percent from distance. Skidmore made at least one three in 22 of the 29 games he played a year ago, including a stretch of 11 straight games at one point.

CLOSING IN ON 50
Head Coach Adam Hiatt begins his third season just seven wins shy of 50 for his career. Howard Richardson, Tom Steinke, and Tommy Connor all surpassed 50 wins as head coach at Westminster during their careers. Steinke, a member of the Westminster Hall of Fame, set the school record by earing win No. 50 in just the 69th game he coached. Hiatt would have to start the season 7-0 to match that record for fastest head coach to 50 wins in school history.

FOLLOWING THE GRIFFINS
To keep up with all of the latest news and information about the Westminster men's basketball team, fans are encouraged to "Like" the Griffins on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. And as always, make sure to visit WestminsterGriffins.com for all things Griffins during the 2013 season.

LOOKING AHEAD
The Griffins won't be in action again until they play host to the Westminster Tipoff Classic on Nov. 1-2. That weekend they welcome Azusa Pacific (Calif.), Montana Western, and Western State (Colo.) to the Behnken Field House for a pair of games each night.