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
CBI sends GCU to West Virginia
3/17/2019 7:08:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
Lopes to play regular NCAA tourney team on Wednesday
Grand Canyon still will get its postseason shot against a powerful program.
The Lopes (20-13) were invited to return to the 12th annual Roman College Basketball Invitational for a first-round game at West Virginia, where they will open the 16-team tournament Wednesday at 4 p.m. (Phoenix time). The winner will advance to a March 25 quarterfinal against the Wednesday winner of Howard at Coastal Carolina at a site to be determined. The tournament is rebracketed for the March 28 semifinals.
Following GCU's second consecutive run to the WAC Tournament championship game, the Lopes will travel to West Virginia to face a Mountaineers team that was in the past four NCAA tournaments and is led by legendary head coach Bob Huggins. Coaching his alma mater, Huggins (859-361) only trails Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, Syracuse's Jim Boeheim and North Carolina's Roy Williams for wins among active Division I coaches.
In Huggins' 37th coaching season, the Mountaineers have endured losing their top three scorers for a 14-20 season but have beaten three top-25 teams, have gone 10-6 at WVU Coliseum and made a run to the Big 12 Tournament semifinals last week as a No. 10 seed. West Virginia beat three teams that were ranked at the time (Kansas, Iowa State and Texas Tech) and three teams that are currently in the top 25 (No. 7 Texas Tech, No. 17 Kansas and No. 20 Wofford).
The Mountaineers edged Oklahoma in the Big 12 Tournament first round 72-71 before shocking No. 7 Texas Tech 79-74 a night later. Like GCU, West Virginia lost when it played its third game in three nights, an 88-74 loss to Kansas on Friday in Kansas City.
The CBI tournament will lead up to a best-of-three championship series, which will be televised by ESPNU on April 1-5. GCU lost a first-round CBI game to Mercer last season. Fellow WAC programs Utah Valley (vs. CSU Northridge) and California Baptist (vs. Loyola Marymount) also are participating in the CBI.
West Virginia, often coined "Press Virginia" for its full-court defense, is led this season by All-Big 12 second-team selection Derek Culver. The 6-foot-10, 255-pound freshman power forward is averaging 11.7 points and 10.3 rebounds and was the Big 12 rebounding leader during conference play. Junior forward Lamont West averages 10.8 points per game. Freshman forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. scored 28 in the win against Texas Tech after averaging 3.9 points per game for the season.
The Mountaineers have used 17 different starting lineups this season with 14 players getting a start. They rank third in the nation for offensive rebounds per game (14.4) and ninth for free throw attempts (23.8 per game).
Wednesday's game will be streamed at WVUsports.com.
The Lopes (20-13) were invited to return to the 12th annual Roman College Basketball Invitational for a first-round game at West Virginia, where they will open the 16-team tournament Wednesday at 4 p.m. (Phoenix time). The winner will advance to a March 25 quarterfinal against the Wednesday winner of Howard at Coastal Carolina at a site to be determined. The tournament is rebracketed for the March 28 semifinals.
Following GCU's second consecutive run to the WAC Tournament championship game, the Lopes will travel to West Virginia to face a Mountaineers team that was in the past four NCAA tournaments and is led by legendary head coach Bob Huggins. Coaching his alma mater, Huggins (859-361) only trails Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, Syracuse's Jim Boeheim and North Carolina's Roy Williams for wins among active Division I coaches.
In Huggins' 37th coaching season, the Mountaineers have endured losing their top three scorers for a 14-20 season but have beaten three top-25 teams, have gone 10-6 at WVU Coliseum and made a run to the Big 12 Tournament semifinals last week as a No. 10 seed. West Virginia beat three teams that were ranked at the time (Kansas, Iowa State and Texas Tech) and three teams that are currently in the top 25 (No. 7 Texas Tech, No. 17 Kansas and No. 20 Wofford).
The Mountaineers edged Oklahoma in the Big 12 Tournament first round 72-71 before shocking No. 7 Texas Tech 79-74 a night later. Like GCU, West Virginia lost when it played its third game in three nights, an 88-74 loss to Kansas on Friday in Kansas City.
The CBI tournament will lead up to a best-of-three championship series, which will be televised by ESPNU on April 1-5. GCU lost a first-round CBI game to Mercer last season. Fellow WAC programs Utah Valley (vs. CSU Northridge) and California Baptist (vs. Loyola Marymount) also are participating in the CBI.
West Virginia, often coined "Press Virginia" for its full-court defense, is led this season by All-Big 12 second-team selection Derek Culver. The 6-foot-10, 255-pound freshman power forward is averaging 11.7 points and 10.3 rebounds and was the Big 12 rebounding leader during conference play. Junior forward Lamont West averages 10.8 points per game. Freshman forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. scored 28 in the win against Texas Tech after averaging 3.9 points per game for the season.
The Mountaineers have used 17 different starting lineups this season with 14 players getting a start. They rank third in the nation for offensive rebounds per game (14.4) and ninth for free throw attempts (23.8 per game).
Wednesday's game will be streamed at WVUsports.com.
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