Paradise Jam ends vs. Illinois State

Monday, Nov. 25 \| 11 a.m. (Phoenix time) \| St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

	GRAND CANYON LOPES (2-5)	VS	ILLINOIS STATE REDBIRDS (2-3)

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

ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands – The weather and hospitality have been ideal for Grand Canyon during the Paradise Jam but the Lopes would prefer the right result.

GCU's last chance for that on the island comes Monday at 11 a.m. (Phoenix time) against Illinois State at the University of the Virgin Islands' Sports and Fitness Center. The game will be streamed on subscription site FloHoops.com with the GCU radio broadcast available on The Fanatic (1580 AM, 95.9 FM, 99.3 FM, 1580TheFanatic.com and the GCU Lopes app).

"We need this," Lopes junior center Alessandro Lever said. "We need to win and make a step forward as a team. Coach Majerle wants us to play with more concentration and more discipline as a team. That's how we need to be today."

After losses to Valparaiso and Fordham, GCU (2-5) held a focused film session on its off-day Sunday before taking back to the court for a morning shootaround at a local high school, where students watched the Lopes walk through the day's game plan.

"We've had too many speeches," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said. "We showed them all of our defensive film and and all of our offensive film and showed them exactly why we aren't being successful. It has to do with lack of discipline, lack of hustle and lack of ball movement. The best thing about film is it shows it. There was no disputing it. They're just not doing the things we do in practice."

Illinois State (2-3) will bring a high-energy defense that has been the staple of the Redbirds program under eight-year head coach Dan Muller, a former Illinois State player who won Missouri Valley Defensive Player of the Year twice for NCAA tournament teams. It will be a mix of man-to-man, zone and pressure defense against the GCU offense.

"We have to play better as a team together and looking for each other," Lever said. "Pass the ball, move the ball side to side and play better defense."

The Redbirds have one starter, 6-foot-4 senior guard Zach Copeland, who started last season but he has switched positions from point guard to shooting guard. Wichita State transfer Ricky Torres took over the point for a team that is shooting 40.6% from 3-point range to rank 26th in the nation. Sixth man Dedric Boyd, a 6-4 sophomore guard, is the Illinois State leading scorer by averaging 13.8 points in only 19.8 minutes per game with 45.5% 3-point shooting.

Illinois State has dropped three consecutive games, including a 67-65 loss to Central Florida and a 66-65 loss to Cincinnati, by allowing opponents to shoot 47.4% from the field on the season. That ranks as the 32nd highest opponent field goal percentage in the nation.

With GCU's tight early-season rotation with Oscar Frayer and Mikey Dixon out, freshman point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. and senior swingman Carlos Johnson rank second and fourth in the nation for total minutes played. Johnson leads the team in points per game (16.3) and rebounds per game (5.3) but the Lopes are shooting only 28.1% from 3-point range.

"If we just execute and play hard, we'll be fine," Majerle said. "We'll have a chance to win. We've got to find a way to start shooting the basketball. We can't continued to shoot a low percentage of 3s. We're not taking bad 3s. We take 3s that are just as good as any other team. We're just not making them. It's better when we swing the basketball and inside-out for 3s. They know whether it's they start trusting each other and do it."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.

Monday, Nov. 25 | 11 a.m. (Phoenix time) | St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jovan Blacksher Jr.

Mikey Dixon

Oscar Frayer

Carlos Johnson

Alessandro Lever

Grand Canyon University Athletics