Blacksher's steady hand guides 1st road trip

Saturday, Nov. 27 \| 4 p.m. (Phoenix time) \| Malibu, Calif. \| Firestone Fieldhouse

	PEPPERDINE WAVES (2-5)	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES (4-1)

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Grand Canyon goes into its first road trip, a Los Angeles visit to Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount, after a win that was never in doubt.

Ball care was rarely in doubt either with junior guard Jovan Blacksher Jr., who has made one turnover in 64 minutes of playing time this week. Even as he shares point guard duties with backcourt partner Holland Woods II, Blacksher has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.17 to 1 for a 4-1 GCU team that plays at Pepperdine on Saturday and at LMU on Monday.

Blacksher Jr., Jovan

"I give credit to my teammates being in the right spots, helping me knock down shots and not turn over the ball," Blacksher said.

Blacksher opened Wednesday night's win by snapping a pass from midcourt to graduate forward Sean Miller-Moore in the far baseline corner, setting him up for a driving slam.

Moments later, Blacksher grabbed a defensive rebound and navigated five defenders to the opposite baseline before whipping a pass for a Woods 3-pointer in six seconds.

"I really love how Jovan played," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "Last game, with Holland out, there was a lot more on his shoulders. Some of our guards didn't shoot the ball well, so he tried to really carry us himself. It was great to see him back with Holland on the court and Chance (McMillian) playing well. He just looked in a much better flow. His shots were good. His decision-making was really good."

Blacksher has started for GCU since his 2019 debut, but he hit a higher level of play at the end of last season. The Phoenix Shadow Mountain High School product led the Lopes to the NCAA tournament with his WAC Tournament Most Valuable Player performance and he only returned better this season.

Dating back to the close of last season, Blacksher has a career-best streak of nine consecutive double-digit scoring games. He is averaging team bests for points per game (15.2) and steals per game (2.0). After making 29.7% of his 3-pointers over his first two seasons, he is shooting at a 43.8% clip from beyond the arc this season.

"What we appreciate about Jovan is he wants to win," Drew said. "He's competitive and he's been the leader of our team all summer. Those are the traits we want first. Whether he scores one point or 20 points, he's valuable to us."

Like Blacksher, Pepperdine freshman point guard Mike Mitchell Jr. is coming off an eight-assist game, part of his season-best performance against TCU. The Lopes follow Saturday's game in Malibu with a Monday stop down the coast at Loyola Marymount.

"I want us to prepare well and go in there playing Lopes basketball and go in there confident to come out and get wins," Blacksher said.

Lope tracks

Pepperdine is on a three-game losing streak to UC Irvine (82-48), Fresno State (70-63) and TCU (73-64). The Waves are 2-1 at home with the only loss coming in overtime to WAC member Utah Valley (86-74).
The Waves are led in scoring by 6-foot-5 freshman guard Houston Mallette (12.9 points per game, 44.7% 3-point shooting) and 6-foot-9 junior forward Jan Zidek (12.6 points per game, 39.5% field-goal shooting).
Pepperdine assistant coach Gerald Brown is a former Phoenix Suns player (1998-99) and hails from an Arizona high school (Carl Hayden), like Waves players Majok Deng (Tucson Salpointe Catholic) and Carson Basham and Maxwell Lewis (AZ Compass Prep).
GCU is blanketing the national rebounding rankings, highlighted by being fourth nationally for rebound margin (plus-16.4 per game). The Lopes are fifth for offensive rebounds per game (16.8), 18th for rebounds per game (44.0).
The Lopes also rank 15th in the nation for 3-point field goal percentage at 41.5%.

Saturday, Nov. 27 | 4 p.m. (Phoenix time) | Malibu, Calif. | Firestone Fieldhouse

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Players Mentioned

Jovan Blacksher Jr.

Sean Miller-Moore

Holland Woods II

Grand Canyon University Athletics