GCU tops itself for 2-0 WAC start

Saturday, January 5

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Seattle U

Grand Canyon

1/5/2019 9:31:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery Coach Majerle Press Conference

Lopes hold Seattle 24 below its scoring average

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

The Utah Valley win was a wonderful opening act for Grand Canyon's WAC season but the second act was a show-stealer on Saturday night.

The Lopes' improving defense dug in more, holding Seattle to its worst shooting of the season and 24 points less than its season average. After a career game from Matt Jackson on Thursday, fellow senior Trey Drechsel gave GCU one on Saturday. And the offense the Lopes have been striving to play arrived during a 27-5 opening to the second half that sent GCU to a 71-57 win in front of 7,293 fans at GCU Arena.

The Lopes (9-6, 2-0 WAC) won their 14^th consecutive regular-season home game by keeping Seattle (12-5, 0-2) to 33.9 percent shooting, being led by Drechsel's 15 points and 14 rebounds and having four scorers in double figures for the first time since Dec. 1 against Boise State.

"Our guys are starting to take ownership of that and they're holding each other accountable and they understand it," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said. "They want to be good. That's the best feeling a coach ever has, when they judge themselves, they police themselves, they hold each other accountable and they want to be good.

"In the nonconference, losing games is hard and sometimes it can fracture you, but not this team. They've done a good job of staying positive and working harder and trying to get better. Sometimes, it takes a while. By no means do I think we are there, because we have a long way to go, but I see us starting to turn the corner."

GCU has held its past five opponents to 39.6 percent shooting but the defense was even more impressive for how it eliminated Utah Valley's and Seattle's top threats this week. The Lopes kept top Utah Valley scorers Jake and Conner Toolson to 6-for-20 shooting on Thursday and locked down even more on Seattle leading scorers Myles Carter and Morgan Means to 3-for-20 shooting on Saturday. Carter and Means combined for eight points, which is 23 less than their combined season average.

"We really gutted out the last two," GCU senior forward Gerard Martin said. "Coach Majerle has really been harping on playing hard and playing defense first. We've definitely locked in and improved on that end of the floor and you can see the results these two games against high-powered offenses."

The Lopes closed out the Redhawks strongly, leading for the game's final 29 minutes because of a 26-8 run that included Alessandro Lever hitting a buzzer-beating jumper for a 32-29 lead and a dominant 24-8 stretch over the first 10:06 of the second half. Drechsel scored 11 of his 15 points, which shared the team high with Lever, during that run but his rebounding as a 6-6 guard was more shocking.

Drechsel set his season high in the first half, when he grabbed 10 boards, and finished with 14, which is the most any Lopes guard has recorded since Dec. 3, 2013.

"A lot of rebounds came to me tonight because we had big guys boxing out," said Drechsel, whose parents visited from Washington for this week's games. "That's what we pride ourselves on at practice. Hit our man first, so when I'm at point guard or two-guard and I see my man not crashing, I can go in and get those defensive rebounds."

The Lopes' continuing emphasis on 3-point defense showed in quantity, not conversion. Seattle went 5 for 10 on 3s after averaging 20.4 3-point attempts per game during the team's best start in 55 years.

The Redhawks led 17-14 before being shut out for a stretch of 6:27, which was highlighted by Oscar Frayer's recovery blocked shot, Drechsel's charge drawn and Martin's steal. For a fifth consecutive game, GCU allowed less than 30 points in the first half.

"They're doing an unbelievable job," Majerle said. "I'm really happy for them and I think they understand now that for us to win, we're going to have to be good defensively and they are buying into it."

Seattle was reliant on its starters but one, guard Delante Jones, fouled out. The Lopes posted a 21-6 bench scoring advantage with junior reserve guard Carlos Johnson posting consecutive double-digit scoring games (10 vs. Utah Valley, 11 vs. Seattle). The Lopes broke out of an offensive slump with a 52 percent shooting second half.

This week, sophomore Damari Milstead posted his best two assist games of his career with eight on Thursday and seven on Saturday.

GCU ends the opening week of WAC play in a first-place tie with Cal State Bakersfield but its next game is Thursday night at New Mexico State, which lost its only WAC game Thursday at California Baptist but is the unanimous favorite to win the conference.

"It's win or die the rest of the year – that's Coach Majerle's motto," Martin said. "We're sticking to that. We have the ability to win every single game in conference and so we're going to go out and act like we can."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.