Plan remains amid rescheduling

Sunday, Feb. 19 \| 3 p.m. (Phoenix time) \| Kansas City, Mo.

	GRAND CANYON LOPES (6-11, 1-2)	VS	KANSAS CITY ROOS (9-10, 2-3)

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KANSAS CITY – Grand Canyon is anxious for the chance to get to .500 in conference play but the path turned complicated Friday.

The Lopes' WAC game at Kansas City is rescheduled for Sunday at 4 p.m. (3 p.m. Phoenix time) after GCU was unable to travel Friday because of harsh storms that shut down Kansas City's airport twice.

Plans shifted to practicing in Chicago on Friday and staying overnight again there before flying to St. Louis and busing to Kansas City on Saturday. But the Lopes have kept to the original plan to pack another victory into the trip so they can return to Phoenix in fifth place in WAC play.

In a tight, deep conference race, every WAC meeting feels critical. Under first-year head coach Billy Donlon, Kansas City (9-10, 2-3 WAC) went from a 2-0 conference start to three consecutive WAC losses with its season's first home loss Thursday in overtime to CSU Bakersfield.

"Every night's hard," Donlon said. "New Mexico State was a three-point game (Roos lost 74-71 at NMSU last week) and there were some tough calls that didn't got our way that probably would've kept it that way the whole time. And that's the best team in the league. Everybody else is good.

"If you, on your home court, play with the lack of toughness that we did (Thursday), it's going to be a problem so we've got to be ready for a very physical, well-coached Grand Canyon team."

The Lopes (6-11, 1-2 WAC) tried to re-establish winning ways Thursday at Chicago State, where an ideal first half did not carry over to the second half but GCU did enough to win 78-64 with junior center Alessandro Lever's career-high tying 25 points.

Lever is shooting 67.2% from the field over the past five games, when he has made 7 of 10 shots from 3-point range. He is the WAC's leading shooter at 54.9% from the field this season.

"Ale is one guy I won't put a limit on because he's probably our best shooter, along with Mikey (Dixon)," Majerle said. "We have to find a way to get Ale shots. We have to get him 14, 15 shots. When he's in the post, he's not going to be able to get a lot of opportunities because they are going to take the ball out of his hands (with double teams). If we can spread the floor and get him some 3-point shots, I'm more than eager to do that but we have to have a good mixture of getting it inside and outside."

After building a 43-23 halftime lead at Chicago State, the Lopes were slower to switch on defense and pass on offense in the second half and it showed in getting outscored by six. They will not have the luxury to survive those shortcomings against the defensive aggression of Kansas City, which fouls 21.9 times per game and induces 15.6 opponent turnovers per game.

"In the first half, we played more for each other," Lever said of Thursday's win. "We came back in the second half and started playing more selfish. Against a better team, we're definitely not going to win the game if we come back in the second half playing like that."

After going 7 for 29 from the field in his first three games this season, Dixon has averaged 15.5 points in the past two games to rid himself of the rust that built from sitting out a year for his transfer from St. John's. The 6-2 junior guard made all three of his 3-point shots Thursday at Chicago State.

"That's a challenge sitting out that long," Dixon said. "I feel like I'm all the way back into it. This was my fifth game back. I'm getting adjusted to it now. I can say I feel good. Everything's everything right now. We've just got to keep building now."

Lope tracks

GCU ranks 26th in the nation for least turnovers per game (11.4).
The Lopes fouls less than any WAC team at 15.8 per game.
Lever ranks 59th in the nation for field goal percentage (54.9%).
Senior Carlos Johnson needs 28 points to reach the 1,000-point mark for his career.
Johnson (35.42) and freshman Jovan Blacksher Jr. rank 52nd and 55th nationally for minutes per game.
Kansas City leads the WAC in 3-point shooting percentage (35.9%).
Roos 6-foot-10 senior center Javan White leads the WAC in rebounds per game at 7.4.
Donlon has started nine players in eight different starting lineups, tied for the third most in the nation.
GCU is 3-3 against the Roos in Kansas City after losing last year's visit in overtime despite Michael Finke's 36 points.

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.

Sunday, Feb. 19 | 3 p.m. (Phoenix time) | Kansas City, Mo.

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Players Mentioned

Jovan Blacksher Jr.

Michael Finke

Carlos Johnson

Alessandro Lever

Grand Canyon University Athletics