GCU rolls to WAC championship game

Friday, March 12

Las Vegas, Nev.

5 p.m. PT / 6 p.m. MT

Grand Canyon

16-6,9-3WAC

Seattle U

12-11,4-5WAC

Seattle U

Grand Canyon

3/12/2021 6:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score

Lopes wipe out 8-0 hole with 49-19 1st-half finish

By: Paul Coro

LAS VEGAS — Grand Canyon head coach Bryce Drew talked all season about wanting his Lopes to be at their best when it counted the most.

When the Lopes trailed 8-0 to start Friday night's WAC Tournament semifinal, they went to a level they had not reached all season and outscored Seattle U by 30 for the remainder of the half. Top-seeded GCU earned its third trip to the WAC Tournament championship game in three appearances at Orleans Arena by crushing the fifth-seeded Redhawks 81-47, the largest WAC Tournament semifinal margin of victory in 26 years.

GCU (16-6) will play defending champion New Mexico State (12-7) at 8 p.m. (Phoenix time) on ESPNU for the WAC Tournament championship and a NCAA tournament berth. The Lopes met the Aggies in their previous two WAC title game trips, but swept the regular-season series against New Mexico State for the first time this season.

The path there could not have gone much better for the Lopes, who outscored Seattle U 49-19 over the final 17 1/2 minutes of the first half and left nothing to doubt in polishing off one of its most complete games of the season. GCU shot 50% from the field while holding the Redhawks to 36 fewer points than they scored in their first-round win Thursday night.

Seattle U shot a season-worst 28%, a GCU season low for a Division I opponent even in a season in which the Lopes have ranked second nationally for opponent field goal percentage. It was easily GCU's largest WAC Tournament margin of victory after not having a double-digit tourney victory previously. No WAC Tournament semifinal had been as lopsided since 1995, when Utah routed New Mexico 86-50.

"It was better than we could've hoped or imagined," GCU first-year head coach Bryce Drew said.

"It was one of our better defensive games of the year and one of our better shooting games of the year so I'm really proud of the guys ... They came out really aggressive tonight and played hard for 40 minutes. We talked about the team that we are, we have to play extremely hard for 40 minutes and we have to be able to defend. I thought tonight our effort was sensational."

GCU center Asbjørn Midtgaard ended his team's string of three consecutive 3-point misses to open the game by grabbing the first of the Lopes' 14 offensive rebounds for a putback score. That sparked a 13-2 run that flipped the game food with more follow scores from sophomore power forward Gabe McGlothan and freshman guard Chance McMillian.

The GCU bench, also boosted by senior Sean Miller-Moore's defense, scored 37 points with McGlothan following up a 10-point season finale by posting a 14-point, 14-rebound effort while McMillian added a season-high 14 points.

McGlothan was a game changer in the first half, when he posted nine points and eight rebounds to help the Lopes outscore the Redhawks by 20 points during his nine minutes. He also made a pair of 3-pointers for his first time as a Lope.

Leading 30-20, GCU then blew the game open with a 16-2 onslaught that included senior Oscar Frayer's third 3-pointer in the first half and some of sophomore point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr.'s crafty mid-range shooting.

"They had a great mindset and focus all week in practice," Drew said. "It was long waiting for this game. They've been ready to play. Just getting them on the court and letting them run up and down and kind of release that energy was good from a coach's standpoint was good because they've been so excited to play."

Blacksher played one of the best games of his GCU career on both sides of the floor, racking up 15 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals with only one turnover in 24 minutes at the point. He also defended Seattle U's Nate Robinson, who had a career-high 27 points on Friday but went 2 for 12 on Saturday after missing his last 10 shots.

"I've been working on my mid-range a lot and my 3," Blacksher said. "Last couple games before this, I felt like I was forcing the 3-pointer too much so I kind of got back to home and got some mid-rangers to drop."

The Lopes' depth hurt the Redhawks, whose short rotation and early foul trouble showed the difference even more. GCU came in waves of effort to win the boards, 51-27, with the starting guards helping the big men by crashing down for 13 rebounds (six by Blacksher and a season-high seven by senior Mikey Dixon). A year after being last in the nation for blocked shots, the Lopes swatted seven shots with Midgaard's four swats (one off a career high) deterring the Redhawks from driving.

"Our key was to be the toughest team out there," Blacksher said.

Seattle only made 6 of 27 shots after halftime. GCU led by as much as 35, 72-37, on another McGlothan putback before clearing the bench with an eye toward Saturday's title game.

"Instead of letting them play one-on-one basketball, it was one against five," McGlothan said. "We just moved, filled the gaps and made them pass it."

For a stretch that last more than 14 mintues of the first half, WAC leading scorer Darrion Trammell was the only Seattle player who scored, getting all 12 of his points during that time. It was his third-lowest scoring game of the season on 5-for-15 shooting.

Friday's win marked the ninth time that the Lopes have held an opponent to 35.6% shooting or worse this season. All were wins. GCU is also 8-1 when shooting at least 50%.

"We started the game with an 8-0 run and got their attention and they came back with force and our guys got rattled, which is a weird team to say about your team in the last game," Seattle U head coach Jim Hayford said. "It was more about our opponent being really good and us being really bad, but both things happened."