Home tilt offers chance to reclaim winning ways

Wednesday, Nov. 24 \| 6 p.m. (Phoenix time) \| GCU Arena

	LIFE PACIFIC WARRIORS (2-4)	at	GRAND CANYON LOPES (3-1)

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This Grand Canyon stretch of four games in eight days was going to be challenging enough with two road games on the back end of it.

The Lopes face an extra element of recapturing victorious energy on Wednesday night, when their two-game Los Angeles trip is preceded by a 6 p.m. GCU Arena visit from NAIA program Life Pacific.

GCU (3-1) took its first loss of the season to Wyoming (4-0) on Monday, when the Lopes went 8 for 41 from the field before making a comeback and losing a lead late in the game.

"We've just got to get better," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "There's no other way to say it. Our bigs have got to be able to score when they get the ball down low and our guards have got to be able to make open shots and make good decisions. It's a learning process early in the season. If it's February and we're playing like that, then obviously we're going to be upset. Right now, we've just got to get better in practice so we can play better in games."

The Lopes expect to be a team that wins with defense and rebounding and did dominate boards on Monday, even against Wyoming's size. GCU nearly grabbed as many of its misses as the visitors with 22 offensive rebounds to the Cowboys' 26 defensive rebounds. Each starter had two more or more offensive boards.

But defensively, the Lopes slipped against the Cowboys' paint presence. After holding each opponent to 40% or lower shooting in three wins, GCU allowed 48% shooting by Wyoming on Monday. The Lopes did limit power forward Graham Ike to 6-of-13 shooting and 13 points, which is 10 below his nationa top-10 average.

Even as they rallied without ill-stricken Holland Woods II, the Lopes could not reverse Wyoming's efficiency with 48% shooting in each half by the Cowboys. Wyoming made 6 of 9 shots in the final four minutes after GCU took a 57-54 lead.

"Keep fighting, that's all we can really learn," Lopes graduate forward Sean Miller-Moore said. "Instead of taking an L, we try to learn from it. We're going to mentally prepare for Wednesday and hopefully bounce back."

Life Pacific comes to GCU after a 98-95 home loss to William Jessup on Saturday. In the Warriors' most recent Division I competition, Life Pacific was tied at CSU Bakersfield midway through the first half before losing 85-60.

"We've got to play much better," Drew said. "We've got to move the ball. The bigs have to finish better. The guards have to space the floor better and shoot it better than we did (Monday). Hopefully on Wednesday, we'll come back out and re-establish ourselves much better."

Lope tracks

Junior power forward Gabe McGlothan carries the Lopes' best plus/minus rating through four games. He is plus-65, meaning GCU has outscored opponents by 65 in his 111 minutes on the floor. The next-best rate belongs to Woods (plus-44 in 87 minutes).
The Lopes ranks eighth in the nation with 8.0 offensive rebounds per game with junior power forward Yvan Ouedraogo pulling down 3.0 offensive rebounds per game.
GCU junior guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. made his 91st career steal on Monday, tying him for fourth with Joshua Braun on the Lopes' Division I-era leaderboard. He could pass leader DeWayne Russell this season with 29 more steals.
Life Pacific's leading scorer is 6-foot-5 freshman forward Austin Cook, who has averaged 15.8 points in five appearances. Life Pacific starts two freshmen, two sophomores and a junior at 6 feet 7 and under.

Wednesday, Nov. 24 | 6 p.m. (Phoenix time) | GCU Arena

Lope tracks

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Players Mentioned

Jovan Blacksher Jr.

Gabe McGlothan

Sean Miller-Moore

Yvan Ouedraogo

Holland Woods II

Grand Canyon University Athletics