Completed Event: Men's Basketball at UNLV on February 7, 2026 , Loss , 78, to, 80
M Basketball
at UNLV
L 78-80
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Rapid Recap: GCU 78, UMKC 50
1/19/2019 8:11:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
GCU Arena is always a basketball party but this week was a blowout extravaganza.
Grand Canyon followed up Thursday's 80-46 rout of Chicago State by dominating Kansas City 78-50 at home Saturday night for the largest combined victory margin of any Lopes homestand in their WAC history. GCU's 16th consecutive regular-season home win kept it in first place with CSU Bakersfield, which can remain tied with the Lopes if it wins at home later Saturday night against Chicago State.
GCU (12-7, 5-1) left even less to mystery in Saturday's win than Thursday's one because of how it pounced on the Roos (7-12, 2-2 WAC) from the tip and never trailed. The Lopes scored the game's first 12 points and kept UMKC scoreless through two time outs, an Oscar Frayer injury and until the 13:14 mark.
The Lopes were missing senior power forward Matt Jackson (rib injury) for the fourth consecutive game and Frayer did not return to the game but they still were ahead 33-11 in the first 14 minutes of the game. Senior power forward Michael Finke's activity was a major reason for that as he scored 12 of the Lopes' first 17 points. He made his first two 3-point shots but also scored off an offensive rebound, a fastbreak trailing layup and a pass fake to set up a drive.
Finke's start was followed up junior guard Carlos Johnson, who did much more than score in double figures off the bench for the sixth consecutive game. He converted powerful drives or drew free throws on them and added two 3-pointers for a career-high 21 points, topping a 19-point game he had for Washington against Arizona State two years ago.
It was Johnson and freshman guard Tim Finke making back-to-back 3-pointers to cap a 12-1 run that gave GCU its 33-11 lead. The Roos, coming off a one-point loss at CSU Bakersfield on Thursday, never threatened with GCU leading 41-21 at halftime by holding UMKC to 32 percent shooting with 12 turnovers. Roos leading scorer Xavier Bishop scored seven points, which is nine less than his season average.
Lopes senior guard Trey Drechsel, who posted a 14-rebound game on Jan. 5, reached double-digit rebounds again Saturday by the first two minutes of the second half. Drechsel recorded his second double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds while also getting three of GCU's 11 steals.
GCU shot 50 percent from the field and made 23 of 27 free throws, its third-highest total of made free throws this season. The Lopes grabbed 13 offensive rebounds for a 16-7 advantage in second-chance points with Tim Finke getting four of his nine rebounds on offense.
GCU next will head to the road for a pair of one-game weeks with Saturday games at California Baptist and CSU Bakersfield.
Return to gculopes.com for Paul Coro's full game recap with comments from Dan Majerle and players.
Grand Canyon followed up Thursday's 80-46 rout of Chicago State by dominating Kansas City 78-50 at home Saturday night for the largest combined victory margin of any Lopes homestand in their WAC history. GCU's 16th consecutive regular-season home win kept it in first place with CSU Bakersfield, which can remain tied with the Lopes if it wins at home later Saturday night against Chicago State.
GCU (12-7, 5-1) left even less to mystery in Saturday's win than Thursday's one because of how it pounced on the Roos (7-12, 2-2 WAC) from the tip and never trailed. The Lopes scored the game's first 12 points and kept UMKC scoreless through two time outs, an Oscar Frayer injury and until the 13:14 mark.
The Lopes were missing senior power forward Matt Jackson (rib injury) for the fourth consecutive game and Frayer did not return to the game but they still were ahead 33-11 in the first 14 minutes of the game. Senior power forward Michael Finke's activity was a major reason for that as he scored 12 of the Lopes' first 17 points. He made his first two 3-point shots but also scored off an offensive rebound, a fastbreak trailing layup and a pass fake to set up a drive.
Finke's start was followed up junior guard Carlos Johnson, who did much more than score in double figures off the bench for the sixth consecutive game. He converted powerful drives or drew free throws on them and added two 3-pointers for a career-high 21 points, topping a 19-point game he had for Washington against Arizona State two years ago.
It was Johnson and freshman guard Tim Finke making back-to-back 3-pointers to cap a 12-1 run that gave GCU its 33-11 lead. The Roos, coming off a one-point loss at CSU Bakersfield on Thursday, never threatened with GCU leading 41-21 at halftime by holding UMKC to 32 percent shooting with 12 turnovers. Roos leading scorer Xavier Bishop scored seven points, which is nine less than his season average.
Lopes senior guard Trey Drechsel, who posted a 14-rebound game on Jan. 5, reached double-digit rebounds again Saturday by the first two minutes of the second half. Drechsel recorded his second double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds while also getting three of GCU's 11 steals.
GCU shot 50 percent from the field and made 23 of 27 free throws, its third-highest total of made free throws this season. The Lopes grabbed 13 offensive rebounds for a 16-7 advantage in second-chance points with Tim Finke getting four of his nine rebounds on offense.
GCU next will head to the road for a pair of one-game weeks with Saturday games at California Baptist and CSU Bakersfield.
Return to gculopes.com for Paul Coro's full game recap with comments from Dan Majerle and players.
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