Completed Event: Men's Basketball at UNLV on February 7, 2026 , Loss , 78, to, 80
M Basketball
at UNLV
L 78-80
Grand Canyon University Athletics
GCU, UVU to settle score in semis
3/15/2019 2:22:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
WAC Tournament CentralGrand Canyon Game NotesUtah Valley Game NotesTournament Bracket (PDF)WAC Tournament History
Lopes, Wolverines split regular-season series
Friday, March 15 | 8:30 p.m. (Phoenix time) | Orleans Arena -- Las Vegas, Nev. |
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GRAND CANYON
LOPES (19-12, 10-6)
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UTAH VALLEY WOLVERINES (24-8, 12-4) |
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| WATCH: ESPN+ | LISTEN: 1580 The Fanatic | STATS: View | FOLLOW: @GCU_MBB | ||||
LAS VEGAS – Utah Valley is the hotter team but only Friday night's WAC Tournament semifinal can settle who is the better team between Utah Valley and Grand Canyon.
The Wolverines enter Orleans Arena for the 8:30 p.m. (Phoenix time) tip-off with an eight-game winning streak that includes an 82-70 home against GCU last week. But the Lopes beat Utah Valley 71-60 at home in January and come off a stronger performance in the first round, when GCU (19-12) scored 49 second-half points on Seattle after the Wolverines (24-8) needed to rally from a nine-point, second-half deficit against Kansas City.
Whoever settles the rubber match will advance to Saturday's WAC Tournament championship game at 7:30 p.m. to vie for an automatic NCAA tournament berth.
"We threw everything away," Lopes sophomore point guard Damari Milstead said of the WAC regular season. "That was one season. Now it's time for this postseason run. Now we know we've got to execute. We know we're capable of beating anybody but we also know we're capable of losing to anybody. We've got to be locked in and play."
Getting to the title game will take the type of defensive focus the Lopes displayed when they only used six players to hold Seattle to 36.1 percent second-half shooting in Thursday's quarterfinal. Utah Valley ranks 16th in the nation for field goal shooting percentage (48.5) and 12th for 3-point percentage (39.1).
The difference between the teams' two meetings has been how the Lopes handled the Toolson cousins, Jake and Conner. When GCU won, the Toolsons made 6 of 20 shots for 13 points combined. When the Lopes lost, the Toolsons made 12 of 25 shots for 37 points combined.
"We had a hard time at their place with the pick-and-roll, which we handled a lot better at our place," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said. "So we're going to have to find a way to slow those guys down. They'll be ready for us. We know exactly what they're going to run. There will be no surprises. They'll know what we're going to do. It'll just be coming down to two teams like it did last year, two very evenly matched teams."
In the computerized NCAA NET rankings, both rank among the top 26 percent of Division I teams – Utah Valley at No. 90, GCU at No. 93.
They met at this semifinal point last year, when the Lopes won 75-60, but the cast for each team has changed. It even changed dramatically since this season's first meeting, when GCU leading scorer Carlos Johnson and Michael Finke were coming off the bench and Utah Valley center Richard Harward was an unknown.
On Friday night, Johnson and Finke are starters who became the team's best offensive threats down the stretch, including Thursday's game that featured Johnson's career-high 31 points and Finke's 22 points. Harward has become a third offensive threat in the post, having a 15-point, 8-rebound game off the bench against Kansas City on Thursday like he did with a 14-point, 8-rebound game he posted against GCU a week earlier.
But Jake Toolson, a junior guard, is easily the most dangerous threat. The former Gilbert (Ariz.) Highland standout and BYU transfer was the WAC Player of the Year because he efficiently averaged 16.0 points by shooting 55 percent from the field, 47 percent from 3-point range and 85 percent from the free throw line.
Like Toolson's ability to score in a variety of ways, Utah Valley has to deal with Johnson, whose midseason turnaround with 3-point shooting has made defenses even more vulnerable to when he drives the lane and attacks the rim.
With Johnson's 31-point, no-turnover game Thursday, GCU is only of only nine teams in the nation to have two players post a 30-point, no-turnover game with Finke also doing it on Feb. 14 at Kansas City.
The Lopes know they will have support with the purple faction likely only growing from the throng of about 2,000 GCU fans at Thursday's quarterfinal.
"It's awesome," Majerle said. "This is a great venue for us. Our fans travel extremely well. It's always good to see our student section and all the people in purple here who have been following us. We really do appreciate it. It means the world to us."
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
Players Mentioned
Friday, June 05
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Tuesday, June 02