Lopes Welcome NAU in CIT Opener

The Grand Canyon men's basketball team (17-14, 8-6) opens postseason play with an opening round matchup with Northern Arizona (19-14, 13-5 in Big Sky) tonight at 6 p.m. in GCU Arena on the campus of GCU. The Antelopes, in their second season of transition to D-I, will be playing in their fourth consecutive postseason. GCU was selected to the CIT last season and were selected to the NCAA Tournament the previous two seasons, their final two as a member of the PacWest and D-II.

TV: Cox7 or http://www.collegeinsider.com/college-basketball-tournament/. Pregame show to begin at 5:30 p.m.
Announcers: Barry Buetel (PxP), Scott Williams (Analyst) and Kyndra De St. Aubin (Sideline)

Radio: KXXT 1010 AM or http://www.familyvaluesradio.com
Announcers: Michael Potter (PxP) and Dan Nichols (Analyst)

Live Stats: http://www.gculopes.com/

VS. NORTHERN ARIZONA
GCU is 17-31 all-time against Northern Arizona. NAU won the last meeting between the two, 63-61, on Dec. 14, 2013 in Flagstaff. The game was the first for Daniel Alexander as an Antelope after sitting out the first half of the year due to NCAA transfer rules. He scored 14 in the contest. Prior to last season, they two had not met since 1987.

COLLEGEINSIDER.COM POSTSEASON TOURNAMENT
Grand Canyon will be making its second trip in as many years to the CIT. Last season the Lopes dropped an opening round game to Pacific, 69-67. GCU carried a 10-point lead into the half in a game that was played in Antelope Gym due to the construction for the GCU Arena expansion product.

SECOND SEASON IMPROVEMENT
GCU has gone 17-14 this season after going 15-15 last season in their first Division I campaign. The Lopes posted an 8-6 WAC mark, after going 10-6 in year one. This season GCU finished in a tie for second in the conference after a third-place finish last season.

NEVER A DULL A MOMENT
GCU has played in 14 games decided by five or fewer points this season, including six of their last nine. The Lopes are 7-7 in those games. In those 14 contests, GCU has lost seven by a combined 17 points and have won seven by a combined 21 points. Of those six losses, three have been by two points and two have been by just one point.

PRODUCTION AT THE POINT
DeWayne Russell is averaging a team-best 14.7 points in 22 games since making his GCU debut on Dec. 13 at Indiana. He is averaging a team-high 33.5 minutes per game and had a stretch of nearly 72 minutes without committing a turnover, spanning over two contests.

CONSISTENT PRODUCTION
GCU redshirt freshman Joshua Braun has scored in double figures 18 times this season, including 16 of his last 21 games. He scored a career-best 25 points on Jan. 24 at UTPA. Braun pulled down a career-best 10 rebounds on Jan. 29 vs. Kansas City. He was tabbed as the Western Athletic Conference's Men's Basketball Player of the Week for Dec. 15-21.

SENIOR LEADERSHIP
Royce Woolridge has led the charge in the last six games, averaging 14.3 points per game and 3.2 rebounds. He has shot .614 (27-for-44) from the floor and has gone 26-for-30 from the line. Against Seattle on March 7, Woolridge scored a GCU-best 28 points. He also scored 20 on Feb. 20 vs. New Mexico State.

ALEXANDER'S CONTRIBUTION
Daniel Alexander has scored in double figures on 14 occasions this season, including a season-best 19 on Jan. 29 vs. UMKC. In games he has scored in double figures the Lopes have gone 10-4. He has had five or more rebounds in nine of those games.

GET ON THE GLASS BOYS
GCU has been outrebounded in their last five games and in nine of their last 12. They have also been outrebounded in 19 contests this season. When GCU does beat its opponent on the glass, they are 9-3.

MONEY FROM THE LINE
GCU is shooting .830 from the line (122-for-147) in its last seven games and were only .676 in their first 24 games. . They are second in the WAC at .710 for the season (471-663).

AMONG WAC LEADERS
Among WAC teams (as of Mar. 17), GCU ranks first in scoring offense (68.6); second in field goal percentage (45.3) and free throw percentage (71.0) and third in three-point field goal percentage (34.1). Individually, DeWayne Russell is fourth in points per game with 14.7, while he also ranks sixth with 33.45 minutes per game and second with 3.95 assists per game. Joshua Braun is seventh in field goal percentage (46.6 percent) and sixth in three-point percentage (39.3).

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