Cooling CBU shooters can reheat GCU streak

Feb. 19-20 \| 7 p.m. \| GCU Arena

	CALIFORNIA BAPTIST LANCERS (10-7, 4-4 WAC)	at	GRAND CANYON LOPES (12-3, 6-0 WAC)

WATCH: FOX 10 Xtra (Ch. 45/Cable 9), ESPN3, YouTube \| LISTEN: 1580 The Fanatic \| STATS: View

Grand Canyon has held opponents to a lower shooting percentage than every team in the nation except Houston this season.

GCU has shot better than every team in the nation except Gonzaga and Stephen F. Austin this season.

Thriving at both ends gave the Lopes the seventh-longest active winning streak (eight) in the nation, but they will need their defensive identity to hold form more than anything. The Lopes (12-3, 6-0 WAC) are departing a 20-day layoff to face WAC scoring leader California Baptist for critical conference games on Friday and Saturday nights at GCU Arena.

GCU has dealt with seven-, 10- and 17-day layoffs during this unique season, but playing CBU (10-7, 4-4 WAC) and its 82-point scoring average hits different with the regular season ending March 6.

"It feels like it's the end of nonconference play right now and you're getting ready for conference," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said of the program's longest in-season layoff since 2000. "Everyone is experiencing it. It's just a different feeling. When you say six games left, it's kind of like we have six until we really get into the heart of our schedule. But it's six games left in the season, which just doesn't seem right because of the amount of games we've been able to play this year."

The Lopes have made the most of their conference play so far, going 6-0 in WAC games and 8-0 in January by dropping their opponent shooting percentage to 37.2% on the season.

The Lancers have grabbed that GCU defense's attention with a lineup that has each starter averaging double-digit scoring. Only Baylor has shot better from 3-point range than CBU, which hits 40.7% of 3s as a team with leading scorers Reed Nottage and Ty Rowell taking 47.9% and 41.7% clips on 3s, respectively, against a Lopes defense that has limited opponents to 29.5% 3-point shooting.

Nottage, a 6-foot-6 sophomore guard, went from averaging 3.1 points last season to 15.2 this season.

Rowell, a 6-foot-2 junior guard and brother of GCU women's basketball player Tavia Rowell, missed last season for injury but is leading the WAC with 5.8 assists per game this season while averaging a team-high 15.7 points.

"They're fantastic offensively," Drew said. "Really skilled, shoot the ball, run really good actions. They have experience. They have three grad transfers that give them a lot of instant experience. You can see, as they play more games, the grad seniors and the returners are really blending well and playing well together."

The Lancers' graduate transfers include former Pacific swingman Elijah Thomas, a Peoria (Ariz.) Sunrise Mountain High School graduate, and former Florida 6-foot-11, 235-pound center Gorjok Gak, who is averaging 12.9 points and 10.5 rebounds.

"I always liked him there (at Florida) and he's really come into his own," Drew said. "Offensively, he really fits well with what they're doing with his ability to roll, finish and post."

Gak has yet to be matched up with a center like GCU's Asbjørn Midtgaard, who is bigger at 7 feet and 270 pounds and efficient offensively with the nation's best field goal percentage (74.5%) for a team-high 14.8 points per game.

Midtgaard, who also ranks 25th nationally with 9.7 rebounds per game, believes GCU is better prepared for coming out of the layoff this time.

"We did way better," Midtgaard said. "This week of practice has been really, really good. We've been working hard and are locked in on the scout. We know that these next three weekends are going to be very important.

"There's nothing better than when we are in charge of our own destiny. We've just got to go out and win and then we don't have to rely on anyone else to get to our goals."

Lope tracks

CBU's bench staff will sport a familiar face in former GCU player Gerard Martin, the Lancers' graduate manager. His Lope player photo is among the cutouts in GCU Arena seats. "He's going to see himself in the stands so it's going to be weird for him, not for me," former GCU teammate Alessandro Lever said. "He was always the leader of our team. He was basically our brother."
According to CBU research, the Lancers lead the nation in scoring from international players at 59.5 points per game with the Lopes in fourth at 37.9 points per game. CBU's roster includes seven international players.
Lancers head coach Rick Croy, a former St. Mary's assistant, is 170-55 in eight seasons at CBU, including a 47-32 mark in three Division I seasons.
GCU is one of 25 teams in the nation with a winning percentage of .800 or better and one of eight teams that remain undefeated in conference play.
The Lopes rank fourth nationally in rebound margin at plus-10.4 per game.
GCU split last season's series with CBU, which has 11 new players this season and three who sat out last season with the Lancers.
Lever is one of 46 active players in the nation with at least 1,500 career points.

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.

Feb. 19-20 | 7 p.m. | GCU Arena

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Alessandro Lever

Gerard Martin

Grand Canyon University Athletics