Defense delivers San Francisco's 1st loss

Saturday, December 18

Phoenix, Ariz.

5:30 p.m.

Grand Canyon

10-2,0-0WAC

San Francisco

10-1,0-0WCC

San Francisco

Grand Canyon

12/18/2021 10:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Postgame - Ouedraogo Postgame - Drew Photo Gallery

Lopes hold Dons to season-low offensive numbers at Phoenix Suns' arena

By: Paul Coro

San Francisco's worst overall shooting game had come against Nevada. The Dons had made their least 3-pointers against Davidson and had converted their lowest percentage of 3s against Fresno State. UAB had held San Francisco to its lowest scoring game.

And the Dons remained undefeated through each one of those games, until Grand Canyon's defense outperformed all of those numbers on Saturday night.

GCU became the first team to beat San Francisco by continuing the Bryce Drew-era Lopes brand of dynamic defense in a 49-48 Jerry Colangelo Classic win at Footprint Center. GCU (10-2) kept San Francisco (10-1) nearly 30 points below its scoring average, allowed seven fewer made 3-pointers than the Dons' average and held the nation's No. 22 scorer, Jamaree Bouyea, to 13 below his scoring average (20.0).

"We played with a ton of heart tonight," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "We played with a lot of toughness."

Yvan Ouedraogo

The Lopes did not save their best defense for the Phoenix Suns' floor. This is what they have been doing since last season, when GCU made its first NCAA Division I tournament.

Last season's Lopes held opponents to 38.3% shooting to rank second nationally and this GCU team has dropped that stat to 37.0%, grinding out a No. 13 national ranking in the category.

"I give all credit to the coaches," said Lopes junior power forward Yvan Ouedraogo, who had his career's second-best rebounding game with 16 boards. "We had a really good game prep. We knew that we had to be physical and deny them. I think we got them tired. I don't think they've played against a team that pushed them like we did. After that, I would just say our heart. A lot of players on this team have a lot of heart."

Jovan Blacksher Jr. and Jerry Colangelo

GCU picked up its first win with fewer than 50 points since 2009 but did get 23 points, four assists and four steals from junior point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. He won the game's Most Valuable Player after playing the entire second half, when he scored 14 on 6-of-9 shooting with one turnover.

"Jovan was just sensational," Drew said. "We were trying to manufacture points for most of the night. He did a great job."

The Lopes shot 28% in the first half but worked their way to the lead by shutting out the Dons for more than 4 ½ minutes late in the half.

GCU took a 22-19 lead to halftime with Bouyea missing five consecutive shots against the defense of GCU graduate guard Holland Woods II primarily.

"Holland usually shoots much better, but he was so exhausted from playing defense," Drew said of Woods, who went 1 for 11 on Saturday. "He did a tremendous job of making it tough for Bouyea to get clean looks at it."

The defensive work allowed the Lopes to build a lead when they shot better in the second half, starting with early 3-pointers by junior power forward Gabe McGlothan and Blacksher for a 28-21 lead. Blacksher and Woods made consecutive 3s for a 34-26 lead, but San Francisco's 9-0 rally led Drew to a small-ball lineup for the game's final 9:15.

GCU used three guards with Blacksher, Woods and sophomore Chance McMillian and two mobile big men, Ouedraogo and McGlothan, to execute the defensive game plan of denying clean 3-point tries. San Francisco went 3 for 17 from beyond the arc, but there were also shot-clock violations created by Ouedraogo and McGlothan switching capably onto guards on the perimeter.

"Gabe and Yvan can really move their feet," Drew said. "Usually, guards' faces light up when they get a big man on them. Yvan is as good of a perimeter defender as we have with moving his feet."

One of Ouedraogo's seven offensive rebounds set up Blacksher to bank in a pull-up jumper for a 48-45 lead with 1:17 to go. Ouedraogo joined only 18 other players to have 16 rebounds in fewer than 30 minutes of action this season.

After Dons senior guard Khalil Shabazz missed a 3-pointer, Ouedraogo made a free throw for a 49-45 lead and tied up a Don to retain possession on the second missed free throw.

The Lopes drained more clock with another Ouedraogo offensive rebound but a turnover gave San Francisco a chance to make its third 3-pointer, cutting the GCU lead to 49-48 with 34.1 seconds to go. Blacksher missed the front end on a bonus situation, but the Lopes had fouls to give to leave San Francisco 1.6 seconds for a potential game-winning play.

Dons junior guard Gabe Stefanini ended a 2-for-10 game with a 3-point miss at the buzzer, securing GCU its first one-point winning margin since Feb. 24, 2018, vs. Utah Valley.

Gabe McGlothan

"It speaks for our team just being able to be tough and follow the game plan that the coaches made out," McGlothan said. "They put a tough one in front of us and we executed and followed the things we needed to do. It just speaks to March Madness, the future games and just the maturity of this team is growing."

Saturday's defensive struggle marked only the seventh time this season that a team won with fewer than 50 points. It also made the Lopes 3-0 against West Coast Conference teams this season after never previously beating a WCC team.

"They did a good job covering us up," San Francisco head coach Todd Golden told KNBR-AM. "I didn't think we got a ton of clean looks. We just had no rhythm."

The victory marked GCU's first win at the Suns arena, a neutral site that saw its south end taken over by Lope Nation in witness of the program's first Jerry Colangelo Classic win.

"He's a really big part of our program," Drew said of Colangelo. "He does a lot for GCU. It's his Classic. He participates in a lot of things in the basketball area, especially in college for us to be able to get games and opportunities like this. For these guys to be able to play so hard down the stretch and come away with the victory, it's nice that we can maybe give him back something for all he does for us."

Blacksher was the only Lopes player who had previously played a GCU game at the arena, which hosted the five-game event over Friday and Saturday. The Lopes practiced on the Suns floor on Friday morning before recording the program's most important win of the season on Saturday.

"That's always been my dream to play in an NBA arena," Ouedraogo said. "That was my first time. I used to play outside when I was younger in Africa, so it was unbelievable. Everybody on the team was amazed by playing here and it gave us great energy."