Colorado gives respect to GCU's grind

Tuesday, December 22

Las Vegas, Nev. / T-Mobile Arena

9 p.m.

Grand Canyon

4-3,0-0WAC

Colorado

6-1,0-0Pac-12

Colorado

Grand Canyon

12/23/2020 12:45:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

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Lopes fall after trailing 6-1 Buffaloes by 1 with 5:17 to go

By: Paul Coro

LAS VEGAS — Grand Canyon was not leaving Las Vegas with a win, but the Lopes still did not leave empty-handed.

GCU gained respect Tuesday night for pushing Colorado, a team on the verge of the national top 25, for 35 minutes and leaving the Buffaloes relieved that their final run was not answered like all of the previous ones.

Colorado (6-1) won the Far West Classic game 74-64 at empty T-Mobile Arena, but GCU left a stamp by becoming the first team to beat the Buffaloes on the boards, by a dominating 33-20 margin, and the first team to shoot 50% against them this season.

"This team was very efficient," Colorado head coach Tad Boyle said. "That's not our kind of numbers that we like to say, but a lot of that credit goes to Grand Canyon. They outrebounded us. They outtoughed us. They were the tougher, more physical team in the first half without a doubt."

The Buffaloes had won their previous three games by an average of 34 points by scoring 88 points per game. GCU put in the grind for a 27-27 first-half tie Tuesday by sticking to Lopes head coach Bryce Drew's game plan to control the pace.

GCU's final frenzy came in the form of an 11-3 run that included seven consecutive points from sophomore point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr., who scored a team-high 17 points. Once Lopes senior small forward Sean Miller-Moore scored their first fastbreak points off a diving steal by freshman guard Jayden Stone, GCU was trailing 60-59 with 5:17 to go.

Colorado senior McKinley Wright IV, who Boyle calls the best point guard in the country, scored 10 of his team's final 10 points and led the 10-0 run that answered GCU's threat for good.

"GCU is a really good team," Wright said. "I think they're going to win that league easily, in my opinion. They've got two really good bigs (seniors Asbjørn Midtgaard and Alessandro Lever) down there that caused us some problems on the glass. They've got a good point guard in Blacksher. They're a good, deep team, a versatile team."

The Lopes (4-3) have lost three games in a row, but it was part of a four-game gauntlet that started with an impressive win against Nevada and continued with a one-point loss to Arizona State and a three-point loss to San Francisco. This will go down as a less competitive game by the final score, but the Pac-12 Network audience saw something different.

As it has done often this season, GCU repeatedly answered Colorado runs with its own to never trail by double digits until the late, decisive 10-0 Buffaloes run.

Midtgaard followed a 9-for-11 shooting game against San Francisco with an 8-for-9 game for 16 points and nine rebounds against Colorado, which pitted 7-foot Dallas Walton against him.

"This is maybe the most physical team and maybe one of the most experienced teams in the Pac-12 and we outrebounded them by 13 so that's a tremendous effort," Drew said. "Great effort and toughness for our guys to go get the basketball."

GCU picked up major contributions from Miller-Moore, the Oregon State transfer who played well against a Pac-12 opponent as he did against Arizona State.

Miller-Moore was pressed into an expanded role when starter Oscar Frayer suffered a first-half injury and then was benched after a quick 5-0 Colorado run to open the second half.

Drew wanted Frayer and Miller-Moore to cover Wright, the two-time honoree on the All-Pac-12 first team. Miller-Moore not only did more of that but he proved to be another playmaker too, racking up career highs for points (12) and assists (five) while also grabbing four rebounds.

Miller-Moore delivered a no-look, wraparound gem and made a 3-point shot for the first time in his career.

"Sean played really well," Drew said. "By far, it was his best game in a GCU uniform. He took the challenge defensively. You really have to credit Wright. He made some tough shots. Those are tough shots with a guy on your hip and then you've got a 7-foot, 270 pound guy (Midtgaard) in front of you with his hands up."

Colorado, ranked No. 25 by KenPom.com, had only lost this season to No. 8 Tennessee in a road game, but could not get rid of GCU.

The Lopes played their sloppiest game thus far with 17 turnovers but still put up more shots than the Buffaloes because of 11 offensive rebounds. GCU also continued to struggle from the 3-point line (5 for 20) and was outscored 18-5 on free throws.

Colorado pushed the pace and capitalized in transition more in the second half, when it scored 47 points on 61.5% shooting with only two turnovers. The Lopes offense kept up until they went 2 for 7 with three turnovers in the final five minutes.

"We played 33 minutes of really good basketball," Drew said. "Our challenge now is, hey, can we play 40 minutes of really good basketball?"

Asbjorn Midtgaard

After scrapping to the 27-27 halftime tie despite missing the front end of two bonus situations, Drew had to burn through time outs early in the second half to withstand Colorado's renewed energy. The Buffaloes took leads of 37-31, 48-41 and 57-48 with GCU rallying each time.

"This is part of building a winning culture and a winning team," Drew said. "The first four minutes of second halves is winning teams come out and wining programs that are established take control of the game. We told our team coming out that these are the four most important minutes of the game and unfortunately, they (the Buffaloes) came out with more energy."

Even on a night when GCU's starting wings were scoreless, the Lopes gave Colorado a rare challenge two nights after the Buffaloes had led Washington 88-52 at T-Mobile Arena. And it was a Lopes play, a monster Frayer blocked shot on Wright, that made the SportsCenter Top 10 at No. 8.

"They played tough," Colorado junior power forward Evan Battey said of GCU. "They're big as hell. They have a certain toughness about them that comes from their head coach. I think they're going to win their conference maybe and be a tournament team."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.