Defense, Jackson tip WAC with win

Thursday, January 3

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Utah Valley

Grand Canyon

1/3/2019 9:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery Postgame with Coach Majerle

Utah Valley held to 37.5 percent shooting at GCU Arena

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

Grand Canyon was looking for a player to step up offensively to help Alessandro Lever even before the Lopes' leading scorer fell ill and missed Thursday morning's team shootaround.

Nobody knew that player would be senior Matt Jackson but Utah Valley could have had a notion.

The Wolverines' visits to GCU Arena have not gone well in large part because of Jackson, who has been at his best in each of his past three home games against Utah Valley. Jackson scored a career-high 19 points and tied his career high for rebounds with eight to make a team defensive effort stand up in the Lopes' victorious 71-60 WAC opener.

GCU (8-6) won its 13^th consecutive regular-season home game by holding Utah Valley (11-5) to 37.5 percent shooting. The Wolverines entered the game shooting 48.3 percent and averaging 75.5 points, 15.5 more than they scored Thursday. GCU held Utah Valley to two made field goals over a nine-minute stretch during crunch time to maintain a lead it held for the game's final 36 minutes.

"It was a great start for us because Utah Valley is a very good team," Lopes head coach Dan Majerle said. "They've had a great nonconference schedule and it's a big win for us. It's a confidence booster."

The Lopes often have opened games sluggishly but Jackson scored eight points during a 17-9 start that included shutting Utah Valley out for 4 ½ minutes. Jackson moved into the starting lineup four games ago because of an injury to senior Michael Finke, who returned in a reserve role Thursday.

Jackson's previous scoring high of 13 came in a 2016 home win against Utah Valley. Last season, Jackson set rebounding and assist highs in a tense home win against the Wolverines. On Thursday, he had a career game with quality two-way play that made him a far-and-away plus/minus leader for the Lopes. GCU outscored Utah Valley by 20 in his 31 minutes and got outscored by nine in the other nine minutes.

"I just give credit to my teammates," Jackson said. "They were giving me the ball in good spots and I was able to finish plays.

"I just felt like I had a good couple looks early. Obviously with Ale being sick tonight, anything I could do to help was what I was trying to do."

GCU's perimeter shooting woes continued (4 for 24 on 3-pointers) but the Lopes hit on 50 percent of their two-point shots, where their post work established an early advantage. Sophomore point guard Damari Milstead handed out a career-high eight assists while snagging a team-high three steals.

When Utah Valley cut GCU's 11-point halftime lead to one point (49-48) with 9:38 to go, Lever used the Wolverines' double teams against them by assisting on three consecutive cutting layups. It was part of a 10-2 run that included Lever fouling out Utah Valley senior big man Connor MacDougall, a Phoenix product, with 4:44 to play. Lever finished with 14 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Utah Valley's five-game winning streak came to an end without another threat down the stretch, which was capped by a Carlos Johnson alleyoop dunk.

"We've got to build off this game and see where it takes us," said Johnson, who added 10 points and five rebounds. He said opening the WAC against top WAC teams "lets them get a taste of us and lets them know we're not going to back down from anything. It's just showing what we can be early. We need to keep playing hard and beat these good teams."

The WAC's other projected top teams, Seattle and New Mexico State, were upset on the road at Cal State Bakersfield and California Baptist, respectively, on Thursday night. Seattle visits GCU Arena on Saturday at 6 p.m.

"Tremendously important," Jackson said of staying undefeated in WAC openers (6-0). "We can't lose WAC games at home. It's hard enough to win on the road. 1-0 is all that matters."

Majerle reminded the team of the rebound count throughout the game. The Lopes are 8-0 when they win the boards and 0-6 when they do not. They were active for loose balls, like when Trey Drechsel leaped out of bounds to save a ball that Oscar Frayer dived to the floor to retrieve.

Even though it lost 61-58 Saturday at San Diego, GCU played one of its better defensive games against one of the nation's most efficient offenses. Previously, it beat Northern Iowa by holding the Panthers to 40.4 percent shooting at home.

Utah Valley's 26-point first half was its lowest-scoring first half since before it won 10 of 11 games with the only loss coming at Arizona, where it led at halftime.

"Defense is something you can do every day," Majerle said. "That's something we hung our hat on last year. We were really good at it and I think our guys are starting to take pride in it. This is two games in a row that we've shut down two realty good offensive teams and that's what won this game for us."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.