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St. Joseph, Mo. - The Missouri Western men's basketball team open up a three game road swing this Wendesday when they travel to Emporia, Kan. to take on the Emporia State Hornets. Game time is set for 7:30 pm in White Auditorium. The Griffons close out the week in Pittsburg, Kan. taking on the Pittsburg State Gorillas at 1:30 pm on Saturday, January 11 in John Lance Arena. 

Griffon Notes
• This marks the 44th season of Griffons men's basketball
• This marks the first season in 25 years that the MWSU basketball team will be playing under a new head coach. Brett Weiberg is in his first season at MWSU and 8th season overall. He is 136-93 as a head coach with the previous seven seasons being at Northern Oklahoma College. He is just the 4th head coach in MWSU history and had  a 27-4 record last season at Northern (Okla.).
• The Griffons have been balanced in the scoring category with five active players scoring eight or more points a game. Three players average double digit numbers with Ryan Devers leading the way at 17.2 points per game. Cortrez Colbert and Adarius Fulton are averaging 14.1 and 10.4 points respectively.  Devers has scored over 20 points in his last two games including 35 in the Griffons victory over Nebraska-Kearney. The 35 points was the first time a Griffon did that since 12/19/10 when P'Allen Stinnett scored 33 against Washburn. The last player to score over 35 points was Reggie Bunch when he scored 38 on March 1, 2008 against Missouri Southern.
• The Griffons have struggled to rebound the ball getting outrebounded by nearly seven a game. They have just 31.5 rebounds to their opponents 38.8.
• The Griffons have 45 less turnovers than it's opponents and 34 more steals. Seven players have at least four steals this season with Fulton leading the charge with 27.
• Since joining the MIAA in 1989-1990 the Griffons are 18-7 in MIAA openers. The Griffons are 8-2 at home and 10-5 on the road.
• Since 1989-90 the Griffons are  19-6 in home MIAA openers. They beat the #15 Fort Hays State Tigers 82-79 in overtime on December 7.
• Since 1989-90 the Griffons are 13-12 in road MIAA openers after falling 73-30 against Northeastern State back on December 19, 2013.
• The Griffons are 4-2 since 1994-95 on January 8 and 0-6 on January 11. They are 2-0 at home, 2-2 on the road on January 8 and 0-1 at home and 0-5 on the road on January 11.  The Griffons are 2-0 on January 8 against Emporia defeating them 87-54 in 2001 and 80-61 in 2003. Both games were played in St. Joseph. The Griffons are 0-1 against the Gorillas on January 11 falling 67-57 in Pittsburg, Kan. in 2003. Last time the Griffons played on January 8 was in 2011 when they beat Lincoln 76-73 in Jefferson City. Last time they played on the 11th was in 20012 when they fell 87-86 against Truman State in St. Joseph.
• The Griffons were picked to finish 11th in the MIAA preseason coaches poll and 12th in the preseason media poll while the Tigers were picked 1st in both preseason polls.

Series vs. Each Team:
Coaches vs. Each Program - PSU:
This marks head coach Brett Weiberg's first meeting with the Griffons. Muff has a 53-42  record in his short tenure with the Gorillas. He is 4-1 against the Griffons.

Series vs. the PSU:
The Griffons and Gorillas have met 67 times in a series that dates back to the 1976 season. Missouri Western holds a 37-30 advantage in the series, including a 22-11 edge in games played at St. Joseph, Mo. The Griffons trail the series in Pittsburg, Kan. 18-15.

Coaches vs. Each Program - ESU:
This marks the first ever meeting for Brett Weiberg with the Hornets. Head Coach Shawn Vandiver is in is third season with the Hornets and it will mark the third meeting between the two coaches. He won his first ever game against the Griffons 59-57 on December 3, 2011 in St. Joseph and then fell 72-66 on January 25, 2012 in Emporia. He won last year in Emporia 71-60 on January 20. He is 2-1 against the Griffons and 1-1 in Emporia. The Griffons won the only MIAA Tournament game between the two schools on March 5, 2004 by a score of 86-80.

The Series vs. the Hornets:
Missouri Western holds the series edge 41-29 , but are 15-18 in games played in Emporia. MWSU has won four of the last five games against the Hornets in the fieldhouse but have lost six of the last seven in Emporia. Missouri Westerns holds a 22-11 lead in games play in the fieldhouse. This will be the 71st meeting between the Hornets and the Griffons.

Taking Care of the Ball
In order for the Griffons to be successful this season they have to keep the turnovers down. So far this season they have done just that turning it over just 121 times for an average of 9.3 per game. When the Griffons have turned the ball over less than their opponents they are 7-4 this season. When they turn the ball over the same amount of more they are 0-2.

Dishing the Rock
The Griffons have been very good at getting their teammates involved. Guards Ryan Devers, Cortrez Colbert and Adarius Fulton have dished out 61, 37 and 28 assists respectively. The Griffons have 174 assists on the season and when they dish out 15 assists or more the Griffons are 4-1 this season and when they have less than 15 assists they are 3-5.

Got to Rebound
With being undersized the Griffons have to rebound the ball. They are getting outrebounded by nearly seven a game. The Griffons have been outrebounded in all but two of their games this season. When they either outrebounded or keep the rebounding margin under ten they are 6-3 on the season.

Switching up the Starting Lineup
The Griffons used the same stargint linup for the first nine games which was, Cortrez Colbert, Ryan Devers and Adarius Fulton. Underneath they have used Cedric Clinkscales and Dzenan Mrkaljevic. Due to Clinkscales exhausting his eligibility last semester they were forced to changed their starting line up. They used Adaruis Fulton, Cortrez Colbert, Ryan Devers, Han Thun and Dzenan Mrkaljevic for the last two games before Christmas break.

Against Washburn they used the starting lineup of Adarius Fulton, Cortrez Colbert, Ryan Devers, Dareon Jones and Hans Thun. In their victory against Nebraska-Kearney they used the starting lineup of Fulton, Colbert, Devers, Thun and Marquardt.

Balanced Scoring
When the Griffons have four or more players score in double figures they are 5-2 on the season with their both losses coming on the road against Illinois-Springfield and Northeastern State.

Griffon Wins Against Top-25 Ranked Teams:
Since 2001-2002 the Griffons have defeated 15 teams that were ranked in the top-25 which includes their biggest upset yet on Dec. 7 in the fieldhouse when they defeated No. 1 Missouri Southern 75-67.
12/07/13 vs. #15 Fort Hays State - 82-79 OT
02/06/13 @ #17 Washburn - 79-74
01/12/13 vs. #24 Northwest Missouri State - 71-58
12/7/11 vs. #1 Missouri Southern - W, 75-67
12/11/10 vs. #6 Fort Hays State - W, 78-77
02/01/10 vs. #3 Fort Hays State - W, 75-69
02/24/09 vs. #2 Central Missouri - W, 55-49
12/18/09 vs. #12 Drury - W, 91-84 in High Desert Classic in Las Vegas
11/21/09 vs. #17 Central Oklahoma - W, 83-79 in Hillyard Tipoff Classic
2/19/05 @ #6 Central Missouri - W, 70-68
12/29/04 vs. #6 Washburn - W, 73-70
1/29/03 @ #18 Washburn - W, 68-67
1/23/02 vs. #13 Missouri Southern - W, 80-73
1/2/02 @ #4 Washburn - W, 95-92
1/30/02 vs. #11 Washburn - W, 73-71
2/4/02 @ #3 Northwest Missouri State - W, 64-59

Up Next
The Griffons will hit the road next week on January 15 to take on the University of Central Missouri Jennies. The game will tip at 7:30 pm in the UCM Multipurpose Building in Warrensburg, Mo.