Lopes aim for eighth win, host Delaware State

Tuesday, December 15

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Delaware State

Tickets

Photo by: Darryl Webb

12/15/2015 2:59:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: Charles Hampton

The Grand Canyon men's basketball team looks to shake off an overtime loss to Omaha on Sunday as they take on the Delaware State Hornets on Tuesday, Dec. 15. Tip-off at Grand Canyon University Arena is schedule for 7 p.m. MT. It will be the first ever meeting between the two schools.

Delaware State enters Tuesday's game looking for their first win of 2015-16. The Hornets are in their sixth game of a tough nine-game stretch of road games. They fell to 0-9 on the season after an 80-22 loss to Michigan on Saturday. They were plagued by poor shooting, converting only 24 percent of their field goal attempts. For the season, DeAndre Haywood leads the team in scoring at 8.4 points per game.

The Lopes welcomed Dominic Magee to the lineup on Tuesday as the redshirt freshman scored 29 points in his collegiate debut. Joshua Braun and DeWayne Russell, the Lopes' two leading scorers prior to Sunday, both struggled with foul trouble before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Grandy Glaze continued his hot shooting, also scoring 29 points on 12-of-14 shooting from the floor. It was the fourth time this season that Glaze has shot over 85 percent from the floor with at least 8 attempts. The Lopes' 104 points were the most points they've scored in a game since transitioning to Division I.

Offense was not the telling story of the game though, as the Lopes defense gave up 61 points in the second half, allowing the Mavericks to fight their way back into the game and force overtime. Prior to the game, GCU had only given up an average of 67.5 points per game on defense.

"(It's a) disappointing loss," head coach Dan Majerle said after the game. "We can't outscore that team and that's what we tried to do in the second half. We tried to outscore them. They shot 72 percent in the second half and scored 61 points, shooting 35 free throws. Obviously, that's not the way we play and it's not the way we're going to play. We had that game and then we were just soft, mentally and physically."

Grand Canyon won the rebounding battle 42-34 over the Mavericks, the eighth time in nine games they have outrebounded their opponent. However, it was the first game the Lopes have lost when having the rebounding advantage. The loss broke a seven-game winning streak at home.