Lopes blackout GCU Arena, host New Mexico State

The Grand Canyon men's basketball team aims for its eight consecutive win as they host New Mexico State, the four-time defending Western Athletic Conference tournament champions, on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2016 at Grand Canyon University Arena. The stadium will be blacked out as the Lopes will don their all-black uniforms and fans are encouraged to wear all black. This is the sixth meeting between the two schools with New Mexico State holding a 5-0 advantage in the series.

New Mexico State has won four of their last six games after taking down Utah Valley 78-66 on Thursday night. The Aggies have a 14-game winning streak against WAC opponents dating back to the 2014-15 campaign. Preseason WAC Player of the Year Pascal Siakam has lived up to the hype in the early part of the season, averaging 23.4 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game. Siakam has three 30-point games this season, including a career-high 35 points against Robert Morris and Oral Roberts. Ian Baker ranks second on the team in scoring at 15.4 points per game while leading the Aggies with 3.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

The Lopes look to continue their winning ways after winning their seventh consecutive game with an 83-63 win over UT Rio Grande Valley in the WAC opener. Joshua Braun, who ranks second in the WAC in scoring behind Siakam, hit a career-best six three-pointers in a 20-point performance on Thursday night. Grandy Glaze recorded his third double-double of the season and DeWayne Russell had his fifth double-digit assist total of the season.

"First league game, you never know how it's going to go," head coach Dan Majerle said after the win over UTRGV. "I think it's always tough. I knew [the Vaqueros] were going to come in and play extremely hard. We had a hard time against them last year. But we jumped on them early--first half was really good. We shot 54 percent, they shot 39 percent. We dominated on the boards. Josh came out shooting really well. We moved it extremely well against the zone. I'm very happy."

Grand Canyon held a 45-27 rebounding advantage over the Vaqueros and improved to 12-1 on the season when they out-rebound their opponent. The Lopes will have their work cut out for them on Saturday as the Aggies lead the WAC averaging 41.9 rebounds per game.

The Lopes will next take on Utah Valley on Saturday, Jan. 16. Tip-off has been moved up to 4 p.m MT.

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Players Mentioned

Joshua Braun

Grandy Glaze

DeWayne Russell

Grand Canyon University Athletics