The Westminster men's basketball team will officially start the season on Saturday when they host former NAIA rival College of Idaho in the Behnken Field House. Tipoff between the Griffins and Yotes is set for 6 p.m. MT.
 
3 THINGS
>Westminster is 13-11 all-time against College of Idaho
>C of I is the first of four NAIA schools the Griffins will face to start the season
>The Griffins are 14-2 in season openers since the program was reinstated in 1999
 
COVERING THE GRIFFINS
Saturday's game will be broadcast live on Griffins TV through the Game Central portal available at portal.stretchinternet.com/Westminster. Mike Lageschulte will call the play-by-play of the action. Griffins TV is optimized for all tablets and smart phones.
 
Live stats will also be available in the Game Central and at www.sidearmstats.com/westminster/mbball.
 
TICKETS
Single game and season tickets for Westminster basketball are now available for purchase online by visiting WestminsterGriffins.com/tickets.
 
FOLLOWING WESTMINSTER MEN'S BASKETBALL
Make sure to like Westminster Griffins on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and You Tube for the latest news about the Griffins. Updates of the weekend will be available on Twitter by following @wc_griffins.
 
Fans can stay connected with Westminster men's basketball team by following @griffinbasketball on Instagram.
 
NEW SEASON
This season marks the 40th year of men's basketball at Westminster dating back to the 1956-57 campaign. During that time, Westminster has compiled a 626-371 (.628) winning percentage. This marks the 17th season of men's basketball since the program was reinstated in 1999. The Griffins have gone 337-162 (.675) in that time and they won seven Frontier Conference championships and made 10 appearances in the NAIA National Championships.
 
NEW COACH
Norm Parrish takes over as head coach of the Griffins this season, becoming the fifth coach the team has had in its 40 year history. Parrish recorded a record of 453-197 (.697) in 20 years as the head coach at Salt Lake Community College. He has since spent time at the University of Utah and University of Hawaii before joining the Griffins in August.
 
NEW CONFERENCE
Westminster begins the NCAA Division II membership process in the 2015-16 season. The Griffins join the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference this year, but will not be eligible for postseason play. Westminster was a member of the RMAC from 1967-1979 where they went 109-81 (.574) in conference play and won three conference titles.
 
LOOKING BACK
The Griffins opened the new season last Friday with a 73-71 loss at Idaho State in an exhibition game. Jordan Pryor led the Griffins with 19 points on a night that he shot 5 of 15 from the field.  The senior made a pair of threes and was 7 of 8 at the foul line.
 
Westminster shot 40.7 percent from the floor as a team and they held ISU to just 25.4 percent. The key was the 39 made free throws of 50 attempts by the home side as they shot 78 percent from the stripe. ISU also had a 53-38 edge in rebounds, including 21 on the offensive end.
 
ABOUT WESTMINSTER
The Griffins open a new season after completing an 11-16 season last year. The team returns six players from that squad, including three starters and all three of its leading scorers. They finished last in the Frontier Conference with a 4-10 mark in conference games.
 
ABOUT COLLEGE OF IDAHO
College of Idaho will come to Salt Lake having played four games already this season. The Yotes are 3-1 and coming off a 100-96 overtime loss to Northwest Nazarene on Tuesday night. Their offense is scoring 97.8 points per game behind 14.8 made 3-pointers.
 
Five Yotes are scoring in double figures so far this season with Joey Nebeker leading the way at 25.8 points per game. He is shooting 45.2 percent from beyond the arc with 14 makes. Aitor Zubizarreta scores 15 points per contest and leads the team with 32 rebounds.
 
SERIES NOTES
Westminster holds a slim 13-11 edge in the all-time series against College of Idaho. The two teams have split 10 meetings in Salt Lake City. C of I won last year's overtime game, 80-68, in Caldwell. Westminster has been victorious in eight of the past 11 meetings.
 
RETURNING GRIFFINS
Jordan Pryor returns for his senior season after scoring 12.1 points per game as a junior. He led the team with 60 3-pointers and shot 36.8 percent from beyond the arc a year ago.
 
Quincy Bair returns after leading the team in scoring at 12.7 points per game last season. Bair shot 42.9 percent from three with 30 makes and had 15 blocked shots.
 
The Griffins also return Kenny Woodard for his senior season after he averaged 11.5 points per game as a junior. Woodard finished 3rd in the NAIA by shooting 89.6 percent at the foul line last season and he made 41 triples to shoot 36.3 percent from deep.
 
Westminster also welcomes back senior Isaiah Tademy after he scored 3.3 points per game and grabbed 2.6 rebounds. Casey Evans scored 8.0 points per night and led the team with 16 blocked shots. Bryce Callahan played in eight games and scored three points last season.
 
NEW GRIFFINS
This year's squad includes 10 newcomers and that group features six freshmen and four transfers. Zerrion Payton started at Idaho State and scored nine points with eight rebounds and four assists. He comes to Westminster after playing at Salt lake Community College the past two years.
 
Marcus Bryce, a transfer from Snow College, also started the exhibition game and scored four points in nine minutes before fouling out. Freshmen Zach Scott and Brandon Warr combined to score 17 points off the bench in the game.
 
PRYOR CHASING 1,000
Pryor enters his senior season 20th in team history with 755 career points. He needs to average 9.4 points per game to become the 10th player the reach 1,000 for their career. Pryor averaged 12.1 points per game last season and has averaged 8.7 per game in his career. He also ranks sixth all-time with 129 made threes while placing fifth with 369 attempts from beyond the arc.
 
GRIFFINS PICKED 15TH
Westminster received 48 points and was picked to finish 15th in the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll that was released on October 15. The Griffins finished head of Western New Mexico in the poll. MSU Denver was picked to win the league with Colorado State-Pueblo and Colorado Mesa Close behind in second and third respectively.
 
ALL RMAC GAMES ON GRIFFINS TV
New this season, fans will be able to watch all Westminster conference games on the Griffins TV Game Central portal. All Griffin conference games will be shown at portal.stretchinternet.com/Westminster and you will have the ability to watch multiple conference games at the same time. You can find all of the RMAC action by visiting RMACsports.tv.
 
RMAC SHOWCASE ON ALTITUDE
The RMAC Showcase is a monthly 30-minute feature driven television show with stories and highlights from around the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Episodes are shot on location at the 16 campus sites around the RMAC, various conference championships and at the RMAC office in Colorado Springs. Now in its 12th season on the Altitude Sports Network - the most watched regional sports network in the Rockies which is seen in more than 5.1 million homes in across the country - the RMAC Showcase is the longest running program on Altitude, not produced by the network itself. Altitude is available in the Salt Lake City market on Comcast 61, Dish Network 413, and DirecTV 681.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Westminster will spend next weekend in Fullerton, Calif., to play a pair of games at the Mid-November Classic hosted by Hope International University. The Griffins will play Hope International in an exhibition game on November 20 at 8:30 p.m. MT/7:30 p.m. PT. They will then play Biola on November 21 at 6:30 p.m. MT/5:30 p.m. PT.