Lopes drop tight loss at Illinois

Saturday, December 30

Champaign, Ill.

2 P.M.

Grand Canyon

10-5

Illinois

10-5

Grand Canyon

Illinois

Photo by: Travis Neely

12/30/2017 5:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score

GCU led 32-27 at half but Illini rallied late

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

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Grand Canyon kept the Illinois crowd of 13,762 quiet in the first half.

The Lopes had Fighting Illini fans resorting to random moments of encouragement in the second half, when GCU led or was tied for all but 3 ½ minutes.

But Illinois fans eventually left pleased when its team's frigid 3-point shooting thawed more than the sub-zero terrain around State Farm Center. After missing 14 of 17 3-point tries, the Fighting Illini made two late 3-pointers to hold off the Lopes 62-58.

GCU did not trail in the second half until 5:39 remained but never led again because of 29 percent second-half shooting. The Lopes fell to 10-5 with each of this season's losses coming to a team that now has at least 10 wins.

"This is (day) 10 of an 11-day road trip so I'm happy with how hard we played," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said. "We didn't shoot the ball well, which has been a problem all year long. I knew coming in here that we were going to face a tough defensive team in Illinois and they were exactly that. We just didn't shoot well enough to win the game."

GCU closed out non-conference play with a stellar first half of defense, a 12-point second half from senior power forward Keonta Vernon and freshman center Alessandro Lever getting all of his career-high 13 points in the first half.

Illinois, now 9-1 at home, took its first lead of the second half when senior power forward Michael Finke, whose brother Tim is a GCU signee, made a 3-pointer for a 54-51 Illini edge with 5:39 to go. Until then, the Illini (10-5) had made two of 14 3-point tries against a Lopes defense that entered Saturday at No. 2 in the nation for opponent 3-point percentage.

Following Finke's 3, GCU shut out Illinois for three minutes and tied the game but Illini freshman reserve Trent Frazier beat the shot clock with a 3 for a 57-54 lead. After a Vernon left-handed post score off a tough catch, the Lopes defense got a stop but lost the rebound out of bounds to give Illinois a fresh shot clock with 45 seconds remaining in the game.

Another Illini freshman reserve, Da'Monte Williams, made an open 3 against the Lopes' aggressive defense for a 60-56 lead with 15.2 seconds to go.

"We fought hard but we've got to make those plays that make the difference at the end of games," GCU senior guard Joshua Braun said. "We'll continue to improve and take steps forward and continue to get better as we get into WAC play. That's what really matters for us. We've just got to make those strides and improvements and we'll be all right."

GCU's active perimeter defense kept Illinois to 27 first-half points and keyed eight fastbreak points, all of which came in the first half.

Coming off the bench after missing Wednesday's win for a knee bruise, sophomore guard Oscar Frayer gave GCU a lift against Illinois with six consecutive points on a lob finish, fastbreak reverse and fastbreak slam. He finished with 10 points after a highlight putback slam that came with his waist above 6-foot-6 Kipper Nichols as he was fouled.

"Holy cow, that was impressive," Illinois coach Brad Underwood said.

GCU took a 32-27 lead to halftime after an 8-3 Lopes close was keyed by two Frayer steals, a Frayer follow score and four of Lever's points. Lever made five of seven first-half shots, scoring with variety on a fadeaway jumper, a 3-pointer, a post move, a fastbreak runner and a tip-in.

"Ali was great," Majerle said. "Oscar, coming off that knee (bruise), I didn't know if he'd even play but he's one athletic guy. He just flies around and I'm very happy for Oscar coming off that knee. Ali just keeps getting better every game. He's going to be really good, so I'm very excited to have him."

Illinois, now 9-1 at home, did not make a 3-point shot in the first half and committed 11 of its 20 turnovers.

"They played harder than us in the first half," Illinois coach Brad Underwood said of the Lopes. "They played with more determination than us in the first half."

The Lopes struggled from 3-point range, making a season-low three 3-pointers on 20 attempts. Braun and Casey Benson, GCU's leading scorers for the season, made two of 14 shots combined for the game.

GCU was playing in the hometown of Tim Finke, its most-heralded signee who was out of town for a high school tournament. GCU staff traveled two hours to watch the 6-foot-6 guard play Friday night in Centralia, Ill., and planned to return there Saturday.

"I needed him tonight," Majerle said. "That would've been good. I love Tim. Josh will be gone. I told Tim we need a shooter. He's a high-character kid. I love his family. His brother (Michael) plays extremely hard. I went and watched him practice and I knew right away he's one of those kinds of kids that we like in our program: a guy that loves to be in the gym and is only going to get better, can really score, can shoot it. We're excited to get him."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.