Dixon debut set for New Mexico

Tuesday, December 17

Albuquerque, N.M. / Dreamstyle Arena

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

New Mexico

12/17/2019 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

GCU Game Notes UNM Game Notes GCU Media Guide

Shooting standout plays 1st Lopes game at 'The Pit'

By: Paul Coro

Tuesday, Dec. 17 \| 7 p.m. \| Albuquerque, N.M.

	GRAND CANYON LOPES (4-8)	AT	NEW MEXICO LOBOS (10-2)

WATCH: Mountain West Network \| LISTEN: 1580 The Fanatic \| STATS: View

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Grand Canyon junior guard Mikey Dixon has referred to Dec. 17 as "go time," a debut that has been a long time coming since he arrived at GCU in January.

Dixon is permitted to play in a game for the Lopes for the first time after practicing with them since transferring from St. John's last season. Even though "go time" officially hits Tuesday night when GCU visits New Mexico (10-2) at "The Pit," Dixon noticeably cranked up his game in recent practices with eager anticipation and focused preparation.

"I always had something to look forward to since the beginning," Dixon said of his 12th month at GCU. "Now that it's here, I'm just excited and ready to play to do whatever I can to better my team. Hopefully, I can add some of my skill sets and bring some passion and energy."

Dixon's scoring ability and energetic play will help the Lopes immediately in a starting role, but only the confines of GCU Basketball Practice Facility have revealed that this year. His GCU coaches and teammates have a good idea of what is coming from the 6-foot-2 shooting guard after practicing with the Delaware native and seeing his frequent post-practice and nighttime shooting sessions.

"He's an elite scorer," said Lopes freshman Ethan Spry, who had the benefit of playing with Dixon on the scout team and scrimmages. "The guy can score pretty much any way he wants to – shooting pull-ups, mid-range, taking it to the basket. There have been a handful of practices where he's been pretty much unguardable by anyone. I've had to guard him and it's a nightmare. Pick your poison. You get up too close, he's really quick and gets around you. If you leave him too much space, it's a knock-down shot."

Dixon knew how to navigate this layoff. After winning Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year for averaging 16.5 points per game as a Quinnipiac freshman, Dixon sat out the 2017-18 season to transfer to St. John's.

Dixon was shooting 43% from 3-point range for St. John's as a key reserve last season before he entered the NCAA transfer portal in January, quickly catching the GCU staff's attention.

"Mikey's been great in practice, but we're fooling ourselves if we think one guy's going to come in and change the culture of this team," Lopes head coach Dan Majerle said. "Mikey's a good player."

Dixon has no limitations for immediate playing time, especially against a New Mexico team that is 7-0 at home this season after completing a two-game season sweep of New Mexico State there on Saturday.

Six of the Lobos' top seven scorers previously played for another Division I program, including top scorer and former Ohio State guard JaQuan Lyle. New Mexico is in its third season under head coach Paul Weir, who coached NMSU in 2016-17.

"As soon as I got the scouting report for this game, I was locked in," Dixon said. "When you're playing, it's a whole new mental state of mind. I've been putting in the work so I feel comfortable.

"I love playing basketball so there's nothing that I'm worried about. The biggest thing is I'm going to have to push through some fatigue, obviously, without playing actual game speed for a year. But I think that's going to be the least of my worries."

Lope tracks

Before his season as NMSU head coach, Weir was an Aggies assistant for current GCU associate head coach Marvin Menzies when Menzies led NMSU for nine seasons.
GCU ranks 41st in the nation for least turnovers per game (11.7).
This Lopes schedule stretch of Liberty, Northern Iowa and New Mexico has a combined opponent record of 35-3.
GCU played Liberty and San Diego State, two of the nation's four remaining undefeated teams.
GCU guards Jovan Blacksher Jr. (seventh, 428 minutes), Carlos Johnson (11^th, 420) and Isiah Brown (14^th, 416) rank in the top 14 in the nation for minutes played.
New Mexico ranks second in the nation for free throws made (221) and free throws attempted (302).
The Lobos are No. 34 for field goal percentage (48.2%) but have the 33rd-lowest average for 3-point attempts per game (5.3).
New Mexico 6-10 senior power forward Carlton Bragg Jr. transferred from Arizona State following a redshirt season that followed playing two seasons at Kansas. He is coming off a 17-point, 17-rebound, four-steal, one-block game against NMSU, marking the third time a player has accumulated that line in a Division I game over the past decade.