Visit to isles ends on Lopes smiles

Monday, November 25

St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

11 a.m. (Phoenix time)

Grand Canyon

3-5

Illinois State

2-4

Grand Canyon

Illinois State

11/25/2019 1:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Postgame with Isiah Brown Postgame with Coach Majerle Photo Gallery

Brown's career-high 21 leads win vs. Illinois State

By: Paul Coro

ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands – Playing the right way came at the right time to shift Grand Canyon in the right direction Monday.

Trouble in the Paradise Jam changed for the Lopes, when they controlled the vast majority of a 68-63 victory against Illinois State by receiving a career-high 21 points from GCU junior guard Isiah Brown.

GCU (3-5) led for 35 of the 40 minutes as a team effort maintained high energy that was evident in pass deflections, rebound control and more ball movement offensively.

"Just overall, I'm really, really happy," Lopes head coach Dan Majerle said. "We outrebounded them. We just have to continue to make sure we make the positive steps and not revert back again. We have to understand what winning looks like and why we got to that win. We played extremely hard. We played with a lot more discipline."

The Lopes opened with a different look, giving junior small forward J.J. Rhymes and freshman power forward Bryce Okpoh their first Division I starts against Illinois State (2-4). That unit rewarded the coaching staff with an active defensive tone that held Illinois State to only one shot on every possession for the first 14 1/2 minutes of the game.

The offense, with a more deliberate approach, missed quality shots early but clicked later for a 14-point burst in 3:11, starting with a Brown drive and ending with a Brown 3-pointer that put GCU ahead 18-7.

"My teammates and the coaching staff continued to give me confidence and keep my spirits right," said Brown, who shook off coming off his three lowest scoring games of the season. "It's about going out and trying to do whatever it takes to win."

With Brown hitting five 3-pointers and Lever adding a game-high 23 points, the Lopes withstood every Illinois State threat. Even when the Redbirds briefly led, GCU was resilient to stay within a possession and rally each time.

"We just tried to refocus," Brown said. "We've definitely gone through some adversity. Tough two losses here. We tried to treat today as a new day and had a new opportunity to come out and play against a really good team. We tried to do whatever it took to win. I thought we were good on both sides of the ball and that's what it took."

An Illinois State 10-0 run in the first half cut the lead to one and Rhymes responded with a strong six-point sequence.

The Redbirds nearly stole the lead and momentum before half but Brown hit a late 3 and Lever drew a foul on the final possession to give GCU a lead.

But unlike the competitive first halves of the Lopes' first two Paradise Jam games, GCU backed it up with a cleaner offensive second half and clutch moments.

Illinois State tied the game with 6:34 and 5:31 remaining as standout Zach Copeland heated up but senior swingman Carlos Johnson, playing a reserve role Monday, made a key tip-in on a missed 3-pointer and scored off his own alleyoop miss to put GCU back in front each time.

Lopes freshman point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. gave the Lopes a 62-57 lead with 3:49 to go on a driving 3-point play and Lever made a textbook up-and-under move for a 64-61 lead with 1:25 to go but it took a key Rhymes offensive rebound and two free throws apiece from Brown and Rhymes to ice the win.

"I saw a lot more passion," Majerle said. "A lot more will. Guys flying around. I said, that's all I care about. I can go with the missed shots and all that stuff as long as I see guys with the will and the passion and playing hard. That's one thing we've always done at Grand Canyon and we haven't seen that out of our games this year and it reflects on our record. We just have to play hard. When you play hard and together, good things are going to happen."

GCU received a boost from Okpoh, the 6-foot-7 freshman from The Colony, Texas. His length and activity made a difference defensively but he showed the most impact on the boards with a season-high eight rebounds in 29 minutes after entering the game with six rebounds on the season in previous brief appearances.

"He played his butt off on the boards and defensively, switching out and guarding guys," Brown said of Okpoh. "I was really proud of him."

Brown and Blacksher pride themselves on being "pesty" and their perimeter defense without fouling was disruptive to Illinois State's offensive rhythm on Monday.

Those starting guard showed better patience on offense in the second half with no turnovers between them and neither leaving the floor. Lever logged 37 minutes, going 9 for 21 from the floor while drawing double teams and showing assertiveness and aggressiveness in his misses too.

"He's got to be able to finish down there," Majerle said. "But he works really hard. You're talking about a big man that we've put a lot through him and he plays 37 minutes. I know he gets extremely tired. But that's life right now. He's got to fight through it and we've got to find a way to get him a little bit more rest."

GCU won the rebounding battle 39-33 with Okpoh and Johnson each getting nine and the team scoring 12 on second chances. The defense played aggressive while only fouling 11 times.

The Lopes lost in the Paradise Jam first round because Valparaiso shot 20 more free throws and GCU made 18 turnovers. GCU shot 12 more free throws than Illinois State and went from 10 first-half turnovers to four second-half turnovers on Monday.

"We just got to try to keep it going," Brown said. "We can't take a step forward and then take a step back. We've been through some adversity. We're going to keep fighting and keep learning from it and we're going to get it figured out."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.