Island agenda puts Valpo game 1st

Friday, Nov. 22 \| 11 a.m. (Phoenix time) \| St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

	GRAND CANYON LOPES (2-3)	VS	VALPARAISO CRUSADERS (3-1)

WATCH: FloHoops \| LISTEN: 1580 The Fanatic \| STATS: View

ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands – Basketball before beaches.

The ocean water and tropical scenes of the U.S. Virgin Islands are inviting but Grand Canyon has business before pleasure this weekend. After winning in Phoenix on Tuesday night, the Lopes left campus Thursday morning and were scheduled to arrive in St. Thomas on Thursday night with a tight schedule to prepare for a Paradise Jam first-round game against Valparaiso at 11 a.m. (Phoenix time) on Friday.

While Valparaiso (3-1) was getting acclimated to island life Tuesday night, GCU (2-3) was giving its best effort of the season to beat Montana State with a late 17-0 rally that it wants to carry into an eight-team tournament. The 20th Paradise Jam features six teams with winning records and two 2019 NCAA tournament qualifiers (Cincinnati and Nevada).

The Lopes open with their first-ever game against a Valparaiso team that won the 2017 Horizon League regular-season title before moving to the Missouri Valley Conference. The Crusaders have been to the NCAA tournament nine times since 1996.

GCU's tourney games will be streamed on subscription site flohoops.com with the GCU radio call on The Fanatic (1580 AM, 95.9 FM, 99.3 FM and 1580TheFanatic.com).

"It is going to be a long travel day but our guys are going to be focused," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said after coaching his 200th Lopes game on Tuesday night. "They have got to be set up for a good Valpo team. They are playing extremely well. So I am excited. This will be fun for our guys. I'll be a good tournament and good teams. It's going to feel a lot sweeter and with a little more confidence after the win (on Tuesday night)."

Fourth-year Valpo coach Matt Lottich, a former Stanford standout, boasts the No. 26 scorer in the nation in 6-foot-3 sophomore guard Javon Freeman-Liberty, the nephew of former Illinois star Marcus Liberty. He is averaging 22.3 points per game and led the past two Crusaders wins with a 30-point, 13-rebound game against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and a 21-point, nine-rebound, five-assist, four-steal outing against North Dakota.

Valpo has rallied from double-digit deficits in two of its wins before taking on GCU in the 3,000-seat Sport and Fitness Center at the University of the Virgin Islands. The winner will play the winner of Nevada (2-3) vs. Fordham (3-0) at 3:30 p.m. Sunday with the loser facing the Nevada-Fordham loser at 1 p.m. Saturday. The championship game will be played Monday with Cincinnati (2-1), Western Kentucky (4-0) and Bowling Green (3-1) battling on the other side of the tournament bracket.

"We know what kind of team we are," said Lopes senior power forward Lorenzo Jenkins, who is coming off a career-high 20-point game. "We know what we can do and what we're capable of. We know that we're explosive. So we were telling ourselves, once we get that first win, it can get rolling for us. One of the biggest things going into the Virgin Islands was getting (the Montana State) win before we left because that will create a lot of momentum for us. We feel good about it for sure."

Some of that optimism stems from how quickly GCU freshman point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. is adapting to the college game on both sides of the ball. His defense was key in limiting Montana State's top scorer, Harald Frey, on Tuesday while he shifted from scoring in double digits for the first three games to playmaking on Tuesday night.

Blacksher became the only freshman in the nation to deliver 10 assists in a game while making one turnover this season. In that Saturday win, GCU tied a program Division I record low with four turnovers as a team.

"Every game is not going to be a scoring game for me, which is fine, perfectly fine," Blacksher said.. "I'm a shot maker, shot creator."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.

Friday, Nov. 22 | 11 a.m. (Phoenix time) | St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

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Players Mentioned

Jovan Blacksher Jr.

Lorenzo Jenkins

Grand Canyon University Athletics