ST. GEORGE, Utah— Starting the year with two consecutive wins, the Western Oregon Wolves now face their first road trip of the season for a two-game swing at the Dixie State Classic. Matchups include a Nov. 23 meeting with Westminster College at 4 p.m. PST and Nov. 24 at 6:30 p.m. PST against Dixie State. Both games will take place at Burns Arena.

ABOUT WESTMINSTER COLLEGE (1-1): Friday marks the third straight game to open the season in which the Griffins will face a Great Northwest Athletic Conference opponent. They split a trip to Seattle for the Sodexo Classic when they were topped 81-72 by Seattle Pacific and emerged with an overtime win to close the weekend, 100-97 over Central Washington. The Griffins have had trouble controlling opponent's shooting, allowing a .534 field goal percentage through the first two contests. Sophomore Brandon Warr leads the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 19.0 points and 12.5 rebounds per game. Jake Connor and Jai Jai Ely have seen very little of the bench in the first two games. Both played 37 and 42 minutes, respectively in the first two games to average 39.5 minutes each contest. This is the second time in three years that Western Oregon will take on Westminster. The Wolves got a 65-58 win Nov. 25, 2016 over the Griffins at the Dixie State Classic to move to 1-0 all-time against them.

ABOUT DIXIE STATE (0-1): Dixie State had their work cut out for them in their season opener. Taking on No. 6 Cal Poly Pomona, the Trail Blazers put up a strong battle before eventually losing 72-66. Now in their first season in the RMAC, Dixie State captured a Pac West Conference Championship last season after winning a school-record 23 games which included a school-record 17-game winning streak. DSU is currently riding a streak of 10 straight winning seasons. The Trail Blazers return five letter winners from last year's team, all of which are seniors. Western Oregon is 3-2 all-time against DSU and 1-1 in St. George. The Wolves topped the Trail Blazers 97-86 last year in Monmouth. In their last meeting at Burns Arena, DSU pulled out a 78-73 win Nov. 26, 2016.

ABOUT WESTERN OREGON (2-0): Despite going undefeated in their first week of play, Western Oregon fell two places in the West Region rankings to No. 9 in the region. Earning wins over Warner Pacific and Colorado Christian, defense played pivotal roles in each game for the Wolves. In two games, Western Oregon has forced 41 turnovers while committing just 12 for a +14.5 turnover margin. They have also pulled away 19 steals in that time and allowed just 7. The 35 points scored by Colorado Christian Nov. 17 in WOU's 64-35 win was the fewest allowed in a game by the Wolves since Walla Walla's 29-point performance on Dec. 10, 2011.

NATIONAL RANKS: The Wolves currently rank inside the NCAA DII top 10 in several team categories. These include: 1st in TO margin (+14.5), 2nd in scoring defense (50.0 ppg), 2nd in fewest turnovers (12), 3rd in assist-turnover ratio (2.08) and 9th in scoring margin (+22.0).
 
TURNOVER MARGINS: The Wolves lead NCAA DII with a +14.5 TO margin. Including two exhibition games this season, WOU has forced at least 19 turnovers in every game they have played. They have additionally had no lower than a +8 TO margin in those games. That +8 spread came against the University of Oregon when the Wolves forced 19 turnovers while committing just 11.
 
SOUZA PERFECT FROM THE FIELD: Buster Souza tied his career-high with 14 points off the bench Nov. 17 in a 64-35 win over Colorado Christian. Souza led all scorers in 14 minutes of play. The senior forward was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field while also pulling in four rebounds and two assists. It was only the third time in the school's NCAA-era history that a player has been perfect from the field on seven or more shots.
 
HAWKEN PRESASON ALL-GNAC: Junior Riley Hawken was the only Western Oregon player selected to the GNAC Men's Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team, named a unanimous selection for the 2018-19 season. Hawken is one of six juniors on the team of 15 with the remainder being seniors. Hawken is the lone returning starter off of Western Oregon's GNAC championship team. He averaged 8.2 points and 5.3 rebounds per game while shooting 79.5 percent from the free throw line and averaging 1.6 assists per contest during the Wolves' historic season.

2018-19 GNAC PRESEASON POLL: The Wolves were picked to place third in the league standings following Saint Martin's and Seattle Pacific… WOU received two of the 11 first-place votes for 94 total points in the poll to SMU's 118 and SPU's 105… the Wolves were the only team outside of the Saint's to receive a first-place vote and held an 11-point buffer over fourth-place Western Washington.

2017-18 REVIEW: The Wolves went 31-2 overall last season and 19-1 in conference… They cruised to both a regular season and conference tournament title with their only regular season slip coming in the second game of conference play against Western Washington. After the loss to the Vikings, the Wolves rattled off a school-record 24 consecutive wins while setting a Great Northwest Athletic Conference record for wins. WOU returned to the West Regional Championship game for the second time in three years, falling to Cal Baptist, 80-76. Tanner Omlid pulled in several postseason accolades, being named the GNAC Player of the Year, D2CCA West Region Player of the Year, D2CCA and NABC All-American and NABC DII All-District Team.