Slow start rolls into big blowout for GCU

Tuesday, December 1

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Mississippi Valley State

Mississippi Val.

Grand Canyon

12/1/2020 10:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Drew Presser Blacksher Presser Photo Gallery

Lopes trounce MVSU by 39 for DI era's 4th-largest victory margin

By: Paul Coro

The final margin of Grand Canyon's win against Mississippi Valley State was startling enough. Tuesday night's 88-49 blowout at GCU Arena marked the fourth-largest victory margin in the Lopes' Division I era.

The lopsided final was more eye-popping, considering the rout did not even begin until the game was seven minutes old. The Lopes' motors were slow to warm up, but they revved up to turn the Delta Devils into Dust Devils with a 36-8 stretch that lasted 16 minutes at GCU Arena.

GCU moved to 3-0 this season by winning points in the paint, 56-4, and holding a third consecutive opponent to less than 40% shooting. This one was even stingier with Mississippi Valley State hitting 28.8% of its shots and only 20% from inside the arc, surviving on 13 makes from 3-point range. That made for plenty of rebounds, giving GCU its greatest rebounding advantage of its Division I era at plus-30 (56-26).

"It's great to win," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "We never take a win for granted it's nice to be able to start out this way. We can get to a starting point and we can see what we need to work on and there is a lot of thing we need to improve on before our next game."

The early hot shooting gave Mississippi Valley State a 16-13 lead and was in the game seven minutes deep, trailing 19-18. That is when GCU senior power forward Alessandro Lever went to work with his inside-outside offensive game, scoring 11 of the next 18 Lopes points.

The Lopes opened a 55-26 lead three minutes into the second half with 18 unanswered points over seven minutes.

GCU again needed short work of its big men, the 6-foot-10 Lever and his new frontcourt partner, 7-foot Asbjørn Midtgaard. Lever scored 18 in the first half, his highest scoring half in two years, and finished with a game-high 20 on 9-of-15 shooting with six rebounds.

Midtgaard, shooting 74% on the season, became the only GCU Division I player besides Keonta Vernon to make eight shots without a miss in a game. The Wichita State transfer followed a career-high rebounding opener (15 rebounds) and Saturday's career-high scoring (20 points) with the first double-double of his career Wednesday. He posted 17 points and 13 rebounds in 24 minutes as Mississippi Valley State coach Lindsey Hunter, the former Phoenix Suns coach, tried to negate GCU's size with a small lineup.

"Ash has played a huge role in our wins," Lopes sophomore point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. said of Midtgaard. "You have to guard him down there. That only opens it up for the guards. When you go down there, they're double-teaming him so he can kick out. Guards have open, rhythm 3s. It's less pressure on Ale (Lever). He can play outside. He's a good shooter. He and Ale can go back-to-back in the post high-low."

Blacksher left Saturday's game for good after picking up his fourth foul in the second half's first minute. He re-established his game Wednesday, racking up 13 points, six rebounds and six assists with senior teammate Sean Miller-Moore whispering "Triple-double?" to him before he left with 12:24 remaining.

"I had an urge to get out there," Blacksher said. "Last game, I got in foul trouble so I wanted to get out there and get another good win with my team."

Drew said the coaches talked to Blacksher about avoiding foul trouble in recent days, adding, "We need him on the court. I thought at first he did a good job of playing with his feet and he does a really good job of getting the ball where he wants it to go."

Blacksher helped GCU hit the 20-assist mark for the second consecutive game after doing so five times last season. Lopes senior small forward Oscar Frayer matched his career high with five assists.

GCU gave the coaches plenty to discuss before its next game, which Drew said could be a replacement opponent for Saturday's previously scheduled home game against Prairie View A&M. Following that, the Lopes are scheduled to play host to Nevada and Arizona State on the Dec. 11-13 weekend.

"It never really felt like that huge run," Drew said. "I'm surprised by the final score because it didn't feel like that.

"It'll definitely get more challenging. We have a lot of things that we need to improve on before we get to those games. We're not going to correct everything but hopefully we can correct some things before then. We need to move the ball better. I still don't like how the ball doesn't get side-to-side like we practiced, we need to get carry over there. Eventually we're going to be playing bigger opponents that can matchup with Ale and Asbjorn so other guys are going to have to make more shots and make plays on the perimeter."

The Lopes went 4 for 13 on free throws (now 56.4% for the season) and made 7 of 26 3-pointers (28.6% on the season). GCU was slow to match up in transition defense early, allowing Mississippi Valley State to score 11 transition points.

"We definitely had some breakdowns," Drew said. "I thought we rotated a little bit better this game. This is all new for our bigs having to go out on the perimeter and defend and it's going to be a work in progress. We're seeing improvement, but is where we want to be? Absolutely not, but it's better and that is going to be really key for us when we enter WAC play."