GCU hosts Utah Valley in WAC opener

Saturday, January 7

Phoenix, Ariz.

7:00 P.M.

Grand Canyon

Utah Valley

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Photo by: Darryl Webb

1/6/2017 11:30:00 AM | Men's Basketball

SATURDAY, JAN. 7
7:00 p.m. MST \| GCU Arena \| Phoenix, Ariz.
GRAND CANYON LOPES 9-6 (0-0 WAC) GAME NOTES	vs.	UTAH VALLEY WOLVERINES 8-7 (0-0 WAC) GAME NOTES
HOW TO FOLLOW CW6 \| GCU.tv \| iHeart Radio App Live Stats \| @GCU_Hoops

The Grand Canyon men's basketball team kicks off the new year by hosting Utah Valley in the WAC opener at GCU Arena, on Saturday, Jan. 7. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. MST and will be broadcasted live in the Phoenix area on CW6 and streamed online at GCU.tv and the WAC Digital Network. Barry Buetel will be providing play-by-play with analyst Scott Williams and Kate Longworth on the sideline.

GCU fans can listen live online as Michael Potter and Tom Kuyper will be airing on the iHeart Radio App. The pregame show will start 15 minutes before tip and conclude with a postgame show featuring comments from head coach Dan Majerle.

GAME 16: QUICK NOTES

Grand Canyon looks to win their seventh straight home game as they face a Utah Valley team they have won four in a row against dating back to January 2015.

This will be the conference opener for both teams. In the preseason, Utah Valley was picked to finish fourth and fifth, by the coaches and media respectively. Both polls picked GCU to finish second.

GCU was 6-1 at home against the WAC in 2015-16, and is 16-6 at home against the WAC since joining the conference in 2013-14.

Joshua Braun averaged 32.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 14.5 free throws made in two games against the Wolverines last season, both GCU wins.

DeWayne Russell has scored in double-figures in 18-straight games, the first GCU player to achieve the feat in the Division I era.

Russell is averaging 24.2 ppg, ranking third in the NCAA, behind Central Michigan's Marcus Keene (30.7) and Valparaiso's Alec Peters (25.0). He is currently 10.1 points above his career average.

Russell ranks third in the country in minutes played, averaging 38.0 minutes per game. Russell has played all 40 minutes in six of his 13 games this season.

Oscar Frayer and Martin are the only two GCU players to start and play in all 15 games this season. Russell, Joshua Braun and Darion Clark have started every game they've played, but have each missed time.

Martin leads the WAC in steals (2.07), while Russell ranks second in the WAC in assists (4.38), and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.90). Frayer is sixth in blocked shots (0.9) and Keonta Vernon ranks fifth in rebounding (6.9).

Mark Pope is in his second season as head coach at Utah Valley, compiling a 45-20 record tin 65 games. He is 0-4 all-time vs. GCU.

Utah Valley shot 57.1 percent from the field in a 102-63 win over Antelope Valley in the Wolverines' final non-conference game of the season on Monday night. Conner Toolson leads the Wolverines in scoring, averaging 14.9 points per game.