Lopes must move on to UTRGV

1/11/2019 10:17:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

GCU looks to shake off NMSU buzzer loss with win in Edinburg

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

Saturday, Jan. 12 \| 6 p.m. (Phoenix time) \| Edinburg, Texas

	GRAND CANYON LOPES (9-7, 2-1)	VS	UT RIO GRANDE VALLEY VAQUEROS (9-9, 1-1)

WATCH: ESPN+ \| LISTEN: 1580 The Fanatic \| STATS: View \| FOLLOW: @GCU_MBB

EDINBURG, Texas – The Grand Canyon team was given plenty of time to think Friday when its travel from Las Cruces, N.M., to McAllen, Texas, lasted 11 hours with a flight delay.

It came at a time when it was easy to dwell on Thursday night, when the Lopes lost at New Mexico State on a half-court buzzer shot shown repeatedly across the nation. Reliving the last game will not win the next one so GCU is moving on to Saturday night, when another important conference road game awaits at Texas-Rio Grande Valley at 6 p.m. (Phoenix time).

"They battled hard," Lopes head coach Dan Majerle said of Thursday's 77-75 loss on a 50-foot shot. "They deserved to win it, but didn't. We can either let this linger and hurt us or we can move on and go to UTRGV and get back to winning ways."

For the returners on GCU (9-7, 2-1 WAC), this game offers a chance to shake off Thursday's loss and avenge last season's visit to UTRGV Fieldhouse. The Lopes lost 83-81 when the Vaqueros took the lead on an inbounds steal and layup with 2.4 seconds remaining and GCU center Alessandro Lever, who scored 14 of his 22 points on free throws, missed a 4-foot shot at the buzzer.

"It's tough to play there," Lopes sophomore point guard Damari Milstead said. "UTRGV beat us last time so we're not taking them lightly. We're going to be focused and ready to play to get a W and start back on a streak. We've got to somehow forget about that game (at NMSU) and push forward."

Milstead's late-game heroics nearly gave GCU its first-ever win at New Mexico State on Thursday, when he scored nine of the Lopes' final 13 points and their last six points. Within 12 seconds, Milstead scored twice on layups after steals to give GCU a lead with 13 seconds remaining.

"It was crazy going through it," Milstead said. "I didn't want to foul him (NMSU guard A.J. Harris) so I jabbed at him a couple times and the ball happened to come loose and he tried to dive for it and fell. I got an open layup. The second time, I wanted to take a chance so I let him go by and tried to tap it from behind because I knew we had to foul anyway."

There was "surreal" disappointment after the game Thursday and the Lopes were unable to practice Friday in South Texas because of the travel issues.

"The biggest thing is we have to get over this one," Majerle said of the loss to the Aggies. "These guys wanted this game so bad and I know how I feel."

UTRGV (9-9, 1-1) was a preseason pick to finish sixth in the WAC but opened conference play with an 81-74 victory at California Baptist before losing 75-67 to CSU Bakersfield on Thursday, when it nearly rallied from an 18-point hole.

The Vaqueros rank second nationally for total steals (177) and third for free throw attempts (449) with sophomore guard Javon Levi snagging 2.6 steals per game. Their leading scorers are in the frontcourt with 6-foot-7, 185-pound junior Lesley Varner II (12.2 points per game, 6.0 rebounds per game) and 6-7, 240-pound senior Terry Winn III (11.9 ppg, 5.2 rpg).

GCU senior power forward Matt Jackson did not travel with the team because of a rib injury and the defense was further affected Thursday night when senior forward Gerard Martin missed the final five minutes for an ankle sprain.

Offensively, the Lopes have shown more balance with four double-digit scorers in each of the past two games.

"We have the capability of guys to step up and be that second or third guy, but Ale (Lever) is the guy that we need to focus and get him the ball," Majerle said. "We're going to have other guys step up, but Ale has to score for us."

Lope tracks

Since being outrebounded at Texas 40-19, the Lopes are outrebounding opponents by an average of 5.2 boards per game over a 4-2 stretch.
Junior reserve guard Carlos Johnson has scored in double figures in three consecutive games for the first time in his career. He has more double-digit scoring games this season (10) than his two previous seasons at Washington combined (eight).
Junior swingman Oscar Frayer is shooting 44 percent from 3-point range (18 for 41) over the past nine games after hitting 25 percent of his 3s (7 for 28) in the first seven games of the season.
GCU was called for more fouls (24) on Thursday than in any game since Nov. 25.

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.