WAC opener finds form of last win, last year

Thursday, December 30

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

11-2, 1-0WAC

Chicago State

4-10, 0-1WAC

Chicago St.

Grand Canyon

12/30/2021 10:19:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Postgame - Drew Postgame - McMillian Postgame - Ellis

Blacksher's 3s, GCU 2nd-half defense sparks conference-opening victory

By: Paul Coro

It had been 300 days since they clinched a share of the WAC regular-season title at GCU Arena and 12 days since they had last played game.

Still, the Grand Canyon Lopes still managed to look like both versions Thursday night to open conference play with an 80-63 home victory against Chicago State.

The Lopes (11-2) kept the Cougars to 37.9% and no 3-pointers in the second half, busted out their 3-point shooting to score 17 points on seven game-changing, first-half possessions and rode on the wings of the Jovan Blacksher Jr. plane that keeps ascending.

"Hopefully, this game really will catapult us," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "In that second half, we were really good. Hopefully, we can carry that momentum."

Ever since Blacksher's brilliant WAC Tournament Most Valuable Player performance, the junior point guard has been on another level and he lifted his top shelf Thursday night when the Lopes needed it. With backcourt mate Holland Woods II out for health and safety protocols, Blacksher rose up for his best career 3-point shooting performance (5 for 7) in a 24-point game with one turnover in 37 minutes.

Sophomore guard Chance McMillian supplemented that by stepping into Woods' role, leading the effort to keep Chicago State leading scorer Brandon Betson to 2-for-11 shooting and seven points. GCU had lost the first game that Woods missed against Wyoming last month, when McMillian was admittedly nervous.

"When I start playing defense, I get going and that gives the team energy and we're all in the flow," McMillian said.

This time, GCU outscored Chicago State 80-46 with McMillian on the floor and got outscored 17-0 in the 5:29 that he rested.

"That's a huge number," Lopes head coach Bryce Drew said. "As he was running by, I told him, 'That's the reason you played so much. You were just playing terrific defensively.' "

GCU matched its best 13-game start of its Division I era despite falling behind 27-25 with 4:05 remaining in the first half. The Lopes were stunned by the Cougars debut of Swedish freshman Ali Abdou Dibba, who arrived in Chicago two weeks ago and dropped 15 points in his first collegiate half.

The Lopes recovered by finding their perimeter shot. They built an early 17-8 lead by feeding the post, taking a 17-8 lead on two high-low assists from senior forward Taeshon Cherry to senior power forward Dima Zdor. But Dibba sparked the Cougars as GCU missed nine of its first 10 shots from 3-point range.

Blacksher, who is 17 for 34 on 3s in the past six games, and graduate guard Walter Ellis took turns for four consecutive 3-point shots that gave GCU a 15-3 run over 2 1/2 minutes late in the first half.

"It's just a product of that we just stay with our mantra to just take good shots," Ellis said. "I don't think we were forcing a lot, which is a good sign. It just seemed like we couldn't buy one to jump-start a run that we needed.

"My job when I go out there is to try to make everybody else's lives easier. We had established a post presence early. Dima, Gabe and Yvan got off to a real good start, finishing in the post, especially with the high-lows. I hit two and Nuna (Blacksher) hit two so that stretched it back out and we were able to get back into the middle later in the game."

A 42-34 halftime edge rolled into GCU taking over in the second half, when Chicago State's foul troubles worsened and Blacksher's 3 and assist to a trailing Zdor put the Lopes ahead 55-38.

"It's nice to have a bench that we can bring in," Drew said. "We can bring some scoring punch off the bench and give us some nice burst."

Aside from Ellis' shooting and Zdor's GCU career-best line of 10 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots in 16 minutes, Cherry resurfaced in the second half for seven points on three consecutive trips for a 64-44 GCU lead.

Chicago State (4-10) was the nation's No. 26 offensive rebounding team, but GCU held an 18-8 advantage in offensive rebounds Thursday night with Zdor and junior power forward Yvan Ouedrago each getting four.

Junior power forward Gabe McGlothan led the Lopes frontline with 17 points, matching his GCU career high, that were highlighted by a follow slam that squashed the Cougars' last flicker of second-half hope.

January puts GCU on the road for five of the next seven games, starting with next week's conference trip to UT Rio Grande Valley on Thursday and Lamar on Saturday. Between Dibba's 21 points and Chicago State's 52% first-half shooting, the Lopes learned Thursday night about what it may be like for a WAC tour as defending champions.

"Teams are coming after us so we have to prepare for their best game toward us because they're going to prepare their best game for us," McMillian said.