Response game awaits in Iowa

Wednesday, December 19

Cedar Falls, Iowa

6:30 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Northern Iowa

12/18/2018 10:09:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

GCU Game Notes

Lopes stay on road to take on Northern Iowa

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

Wednesday, Dec. 19 \| 6:30 p.m. (Phoenix time) \| Cedar Falls, Iowa

	GRAND CANYON LOPES (5-5)	AT	NORTHERN IOWA PANTHERS (4-6)

WATCH: ESPN+ \| LISTEN: 1580 The Fanatic, 99.3FM & 95.9 FM \| STATS: View \| FOLLOW: @GCU_MBB

Every time Grand Canyon took a hit this season, it had a counterpunch until a lopsided loss at Texas.

After that fight never surfaced in Austin, the Lopes need to show it Wednesday night at Northern Iowa.

"This is a team that has always fought back," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said.

It is a quality that embodies the team's leader and is being tested this week as the Lopes remain on the road, practicing Monday in Austin after the 98-60 loss there before traveling to Cedar Falls, Iowa, on Tuesday.

It is a non-conference game that feels as if it carries more importance to see how GCU responds and to show it can perform on the road before WAC play begins next month.

"This is a must-win," said Lopes junior guard Carlos Johnson, who posted 13 points and seven rebounds Saturday. "No letup. We've got to come out and play hard. Both groups. We've got to come out with a W, some way, somehow. We've got to jell mentally and take care of our jobs.

"It was a crazy loss. We've got to get back to work."

Texas shot 69 percent in the first half, which was a mixed bag of the Longhorns shooting far above their season standard and the Lopes allowing them to feel that comfortable. Texas scored on 24 of 33 possessions in the first half.

Although Northern Iowa (4-6) does not have Texas' resume, which includes wins against North Carolina and Purdue, the Panthers will offer a tougher road atmosphere than the subdued, spotty crowd in Austin. But the Lopes' response to a rough loss and a tough crowd will need to come from within.

"I'm tired of being the most passionate guy in the room, whether it's losing, winning, competing, practicing, all that stuff," Majerle said. "These guys got to want it. They're going to have to bounce back. Hopefully this was an eye-opener and our guys will come out at Northern Iowa and play tougher and better and get back to fundamentals. We'll see if this was a good loss or a bad loss. It'll be a good character builder to see how our guys bounce back."

GCU is 4-0 at home this season but 1-3 in neutral-site games and 0-2 in away games.

The only momentum that came out of Saturday's loss was a 14-point second half by senior power forward Michael Finke, who demonstratively tried to get the team going when it took the court trailing by 26 to start the second half.

"We want to get a road kill," Finke said. "It's a really good program historically and we're going to need to really battle with them.

"It's really pride. We've got to go out there and suck it up as hard as we can and know that we're a lot better than what we showed (at Texas)."

The game showed a new rotation wrinkle for the Lopes. With senior Trey Drechsel and sophomore Damari Milstead as the starting backcourt for a second consecutive game, senior Gerard Martin handled the backup point guard duties. He had done that in spot situations in the past but he did it for extended minutes on Saturday, giving Majerle a chance to reincorporate sophomore Roberts Blumbergs into the rotation.

"He's the one guy I know who will go out there and play extremely hard," Majerle said of Martin. "He did a good job at the point. I thought he was very effective. He's very smart. He knows all the plays. He made good passes. I thought he did really well."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.