Let's dance: GCU heads to NCAA tourney

Saturday, March 13

Las Vegas, Nev.

7 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. MT

Grand Canyon

17-6,9-3WAC

New Mexico State

12-8,7-6WAC

New Mexico St.

Grand Canyon

3/14/2021 12:30:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

Lopes capture 1st WAC Tournament title with 3rd win vs. New Mexico State

By: Paul Coro

LAS VEGAS – For Grand Canyon, there's no madness about this March. Just joy.

That joy was revealed in the way a new GCU roster and coaching staff bonded during a pandemic and kept beaming until the Lopes showed their moves Saturday night – before and after knocking out the WAC heavy, New Mexico State, to head to the Big Dance.

The Lopes dominated the defending champions 74-56 to punch the program's first Division I NCAA tournament ticket in only its third try.

GCU (17-6) was at its best when it needed its best, recording 34-point and 18-point WAC Tournament weekend wallops that had first-year head coach Bryce Drew cutting the last strand of championship net for the second time in eight days.

March 13 already was a day of infamy for Drew, who made "The Shot" for Valparaiso to stun 10th-ranked Mississippi 23 years ago. Now, it's a day for GCU lore because Drew guided the Lopes to their first NCAA tournament bid. Their seeding and opponent for the Indianapolis tournament bubble will be announced at 3 p.m. Sunday on CBS.

"To make it even crazier, 23 years ago that happens and then to be able to celebrate with these guys out there and do something that Grand Canyon has never done before, I don't get sentimental very much but this one is really special," said Drew, who has guided three programs to four NCAA tournament bids since 2013.

The GCU defense lived up to its No. 2 national ranking for opponent field goal percentage, locking down the Aggies to 36% shooting. Lopes sophomore point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. played his best set of games to become WAC Tournament MVP with 34 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and one turnover in 54 minutes. The Lopes' season-long scoring leaders, senior big men Asbjørn Midtgaard and Alessandro Lever, did not even need to star because team play was the standout.

And that's how GCU celebrated once the final horn sounded. Freshman Chance McMillian threw the ball to the rafters as the Lopes stormed the court, except for Midtgaard taking it in from the corner with an incredulous smile and his arms up high until Drew embraced him.

"It's such a good feeling because it was a team win," Midtgaard said. "There was not one guy who had to carry the whole team. It was all of us. Just being able to celebrate this with the team and the first time for Grand Canyon and being part of that is incredible. It's unbelievable."

The game ball made its way to GCU President Brian Mueller in the stands, where the 250 allotted fans per team were filled with Havocs giving a national television audience a taste of the purple passion. The nets came down and the trophy went up, way Lopes Up with how far 7-foot Midtgaard can hoist hardware.

Once Drew slapped the GCU logo on the "Ticket Punched" sign, the revelry moved to the locker room, where Dima Zdor and Ethan Spry were waiting with two ice water coolers to shower Drew like he was when GCU beat New Mexico State twice at home and when the Lopes earned their first WAC title as regular season co-champions a week earlier.

Coming off a loss to Utah Valley, that 74-64 response win against the Wolverines brought about a focus that locked for the week. When it came time to respond to the Aggies team that had won eight of the past nine WAC Tournaments, the Lopes remained resilient to a New Mexico State 9-7 start and answered by rattling off 12 unanswered points.

GCU never allowed a serious challenge from the Aggies (12-8), keeping a double-digit lead for the entire second half.

"Third time's a charm," said Lever, who is the only Lope besides senior Oscar Frayer to play in the 2018 and 2019 lopsided losses to the Aggies in WAC Tournament championship games. "It feels great. It's amazing. We finally made it. After four years, Oscar five, we finally made it. We played together. We played tough. We played as a team and competed as hard as we could."

After a season-high 14-point game in the semifinal, McMillian made three 3-pointers in the first half and Blacksher coolly delivered his best shooting stretch of the season with a mix of mid-range shots and three 3-pointers. When Blacksher closed the first half on a jumper and a 3, the Lopes led 41-26 against a New Mexico State team that was favored despite GCU's top seeding.

"They're having a tremendous season," Aggies head coach Chris Jans said. "They outplayed us. They were better than us tonight. They did a good job of preparing. They did a good job of executing and playing. Their kids played really, really hard. I think they can do well in the tournament. They have a lot of the qualities that are required. I felt that way when we played them the first time that they were really, really good. The played awfully well."

Asbjorn Midtgaard

Midtgaard scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half and grabbed eight rebounds, leading a lopsided 39-25 advantage on the boards for a team that ranks fifth nationally for rebound margin.

Midtgaard scored 3-point plays twice, with the latter coming on a slam off Blacksher's offensive rebound. When Midtgaard scored on another follow the next trip, GCU led 63-44 with 7:11 to go and New Mexico State's fight was fading.

"The bounce back that came on Saturday, we were a different team," Drew said of last week's regular-season finale win. "We had a different focus and a different mentality. All week in practice, we had that same focus and same mentality. We were loose, but very focused. These are the best eight days of our season. By far our best three games. It's a credit to our upperclassmen for setting a tone and our younger guys really growing up."

Coming off a 13-17 season, the Lopes broke through in their eighth season of Division I play to add to the program history of three NAIA national championships.

It was a moment of glory to share, so Mueller pulled his best Blacksher and passed the game ball to the Havocs for them to share the title momentarily.

The joyride has only begun with a NCAA tournament game against an unknown power coming as GCU basketball's national brand forms.

"This is what I came here for, so I was expecting it, but it hasn't set in yet to where 'We're really here,' " Blacksher said.