Lopes look ready for takeoff in rout

Thursday, December 21

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

9-3

Longwood

3-10

Longwood

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Takashi Sato

12/21/2017 9:44:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score

GCU led Longwood 34-5, cruised with big bench night

By: <a href="http://gculopes.com/index.aspx?path=coro">Paul Coro</a>

Grand Canyon had a red-eye flight to catch and played like it Thursday night.

The Lopes took off early against Longwood, turning on the jets for an 86-56 drubbing that gave them a travel time cushion and winning momentum for Saturday's game at Louisville.

Thursday night's outcome became quickly clear for the 7,006 fans at GCU Arena, whether it was when sophomore guard Fiifi Aidoo's 3-pointer had the Lopes flying to a 17-3 lead or when junior forward Gerard Martin's 3-pointer took it to 34-5 after 11 minutes of play.

The dominance was not as dramatic after that but the Lopes had eliminated any concerns of looking ahead to Louisville or looking lightly upon Longwood, which tested No. 3 Arizona State 35-30 for a half two nights earlier. GCU led 44-20 at Thursday's halftime with a jarring 28-0 advantage in bench scoring.

"I thought our guys came out really focused," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said. "Came out and played really well in the opening minutes and shot the ball extremely well. The bench came in, Fiifi brought a lot of energy, Matt (Jackson), everybody. Just a good win. Those are two home games that you get nervous for but our guys did a great job of coming out and taking care of business. I'm proud of them."

The Lopes (9-3) followed Monday's 33-point win with a 30-point victory, giving them three blowouts by at least 30 points in their past five games.

This win had some of GCU's best offensive pace, including 16 fastbreak points. It was helped by a defense that had Longwood going two for 12 from the field with six turnovers in the game's first 11 minutes. That set up an offense that made 15 of its first 21 shots, including six of their first eight 3-point attempts.

"It stemmed from our defense," Martin said. "When we get stops, we can get out and run early. When the defense is set, it's hard to get quick shots. When we play defense like we did tonight, we can get out and run and get early looks."

Majerle returned sophomore guard Oscar Frayer to the starting lineup in a move that was just as much to help sophomore guard Fiifi Aidoo get more scoring opportunities. Aidoo broke out of a shooting slump during his four-game starting stint and he had his hottest stretch of the season against Longwood.

Aidoo scored 10 points in two minutes and four seconds of the first half with two 3-pointers, an alleyoop dunk and a stepback jumper. He finished with 14 points, two off his career high, and is now seven for 13 on 3s in the past five games.

"I just felt like, 'Let it fly,' and I did," Aidoo said. "It wasn't like, 'I have to shoot now because I came from the bench.' I just did what felt right."

The Lopes' torrid scoring pace cooled late in the first half with nearly six scoreless minutes but they bridged halftime with 14 unanswered points to extend the lead to 33.

The Lopes had their best consecutive 3-point shooting games of the season, following Monday's win that included 11 3s by making 13 of them Thursday. Five players made at least two while Longwood only hit three of 15 to keep GCU in step with its 3-point defensive reputation. The Lopes entered Thursday's games with the least amount of opponent made 3s in Division I and the sixth-lowest opponent 3-point percentage.

GCU kept Longwood to 42 percent shooting from the field. If not for Boise State's buzzer-beating 3-pointer in regulation, the Lopes' defense would have held the past five opponents to 60 points or fewer.

"We have guys who can go in and play four- or five-minute stretches and play really hard defensively and that's what we try to key on," Majerle said. "Go out there and let our defense get our offense going and pick up our energy."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.