Completed Event: Men's Basketball at UNLV on February 7, 2026 , Loss , 78, to, 80
M Basketball
at UNLV
L 78-80
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Quite the pairing, NCAA pits GCU with Iowa
3/14/2021 7:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
Lopes open Big Dance as West's 15th seed vs. 2nd-seeded Hawkeyes
Reaching the NCAA tournament for the first time was hard work for Grand Canyon, but it only gets harder now.
GCU will face the best team it has seen all season when it takes its first steps in the Big Dance against Iowa. The 21-8 Hawkeyes are sixth nationally in the NCAA NET Ranking after losing 82-71 to Illinois in Saturday's Big Ten Tournament semifinals and feature senior center Luka Garza, the first two-time Sporting News Player of the Year since Michael Jordan.
The Saturday game will be played at Farmers Coliseum at 3:25 p.m. (Phoenix time) on TBS with the broadcast crew of Brad Nessler, Steve Lavin and Evan Washburn.
The Lopes landed in Indianapolis on Sunday before the March Madness Selection Show, which had them leaping out of their hotel conference room chairs when host Greg Gumbel announced their matchup. At the same time, about 500 GCU students were already out of their seats at a GCU Arena celebration and roared underneath streamers as they watched on the arena big screen.
"Any time you hear your name called, if it's happened to you before, it's still special," said GCU head coach Bryce Drew, who has led a team to the NCAA tournament in his first year for the third time. "And if it's your first time, I think it's extra special. I think that's what makes this year so special for our team, for our program, for our school. The first time that we've had Grand Canyon called for March Madness, I think our celebration was the best. I think our team was the most excited of all to be in this field."
That excitement turns to a need for execution against the Hawkeyes, the national leader in assists per game (19.1) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.01 to 1). Iowa also makes 38.6% of their 3-pointers to help the sixth-highest scoring average (83.8 points per game).
Iowa is more than Garza, although the 6-foot-11, 265-pounder will be a handful for GCU 7-foot, 270-pound center Asbjørn Midtgaard and company. Garza's versatility, toughness and ambidextrous finishes have made him No. 3 in the nation for active career points (2,246) and points per game this season (23.7) while facing Big Ten schemes.
"You're going to have to score points against them because they're just so potent offensively," Drew said. "You're not just going to shut them down."
The Hawkeyes also have 6-6 junior Joe Wieskamp averaging 14.7 points with 47% 3-point shooting, 6-1 senior Jordan Bohannon averaging 10.9 point sand 4.5 assists with 39% 3-point shooting and an improved defense for 11th-year head coach Fran mccaffery's best season.
After landing in Indianapolis on Sunday evening, Drew was late to a Zoom press conference because Iowa game video was being loaded on his computer for his quarantine viewing.
"We get to watch Garza and the second-best offense in the country for the next 24 hours," Drew said.
GCU is coming off its best three consecutive performances of the season. The Lopes clinched a share of the WAC regular-season championship with a 74-64 victory against Utah Valley eight days ago. On Friday and Saturday, the Lopes routed Seattle 81-47 and moved to 3-0 this season against perennial conference power New Mexico State with a 74-56 WAC Tournament championship game victory on Saturday in Las Vegas.
The Lopes received a No. 15 seed despite finishing ahead of two No. 14 seeds, Eastern Washington (No. 114) and Morehead State (No. 121), in the NCAA NET Rankings. GCU was No. 107 in the computerized formula that factors into tournament seeding. A No. 15 seed has beaten a No. 2 seed eight times, but the No. 2 seeds are 23-1 since 2014 with the only upset being Middle Tennessee State over Michigan State in 2016.
"As soon as we heard their name called, we all went straight to our phones, kind of looking them up, seeing what they've done this year," Garza said about GCU on Fox Sports. "Obviously, they got here by winning the regular season and the postseason tournament in the WAC, which is a great conference. They've beaten some great teams along the way, pushed Arizona State early on and they beat Nevada so they're a really accomplished group. Obviously, I looked at some of their players and it seems like they've got some really good big guys so I'm excited for the matchup. It's going to be fun."
The fun already had begun at GCU Arena, where the campus threw a March Madness Selection Show party for about 500 students. The Purple Pregame Party carried on as the final Big Ten Tournament championship game went into overtime and then the show was play. The wait was not long, with GCU's West Region being unveiled first.
Mueller addressed the students about the WAC Tournament championship game ball that WAC Commissioner Jeff Hurd delivered to him during Saturday night's postgame celebration in Las Vegas.
"It's going to be encased in front of the arena," Mueller said. "This is the property of the greatest student body in America. This is your ball. Congratulations
GCU will face the best team it has seen all season when it takes its first steps in the Big Dance against Iowa. The 21-8 Hawkeyes are sixth nationally in the NCAA NET Ranking after losing 82-71 to Illinois in Saturday's Big Ten Tournament semifinals and feature senior center Luka Garza, the first two-time Sporting News Player of the Year since Michael Jordan.
The Saturday game will be played at Farmers Coliseum at 3:25 p.m. (Phoenix time) on TBS with the broadcast crew of Brad Nessler, Steve Lavin and Evan Washburn.
The Lopes landed in Indianapolis on Sunday before the March Madness Selection Show, which had them leaping out of their hotel conference room chairs when host Greg Gumbel announced their matchup. At the same time, about 500 GCU students were already out of their seats at a GCU Arena celebration and roared underneath streamers as they watched on the arena big screen.
"Any time you hear your name called, if it's happened to you before, it's still special," said GCU head coach Bryce Drew, who has led a team to the NCAA tournament in his first year for the third time. "And if it's your first time, I think it's extra special. I think that's what makes this year so special for our team, for our program, for our school. The first time that we've had Grand Canyon called for March Madness, I think our celebration was the best. I think our team was the most excited of all to be in this field."
That excitement turns to a need for execution against the Hawkeyes, the national leader in assists per game (19.1) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.01 to 1). Iowa also makes 38.6% of their 3-pointers to help the sixth-highest scoring average (83.8 points per game).
Iowa is more than Garza, although the 6-foot-11, 265-pounder will be a handful for GCU 7-foot, 270-pound center Asbjørn Midtgaard and company. Garza's versatility, toughness and ambidextrous finishes have made him No. 3 in the nation for active career points (2,246) and points per game this season (23.7) while facing Big Ten schemes.
"You're going to have to score points against them because they're just so potent offensively," Drew said. "You're not just going to shut them down."
The Hawkeyes also have 6-6 junior Joe Wieskamp averaging 14.7 points with 47% 3-point shooting, 6-1 senior Jordan Bohannon averaging 10.9 point sand 4.5 assists with 39% 3-point shooting and an improved defense for 11th-year head coach Fran mccaffery's best season.
After landing in Indianapolis on Sunday evening, Drew was late to a Zoom press conference because Iowa game video was being loaded on his computer for his quarantine viewing.
"We get to watch Garza and the second-best offense in the country for the next 24 hours," Drew said.
GCU is coming off its best three consecutive performances of the season. The Lopes clinched a share of the WAC regular-season championship with a 74-64 victory against Utah Valley eight days ago. On Friday and Saturday, the Lopes routed Seattle 81-47 and moved to 3-0 this season against perennial conference power New Mexico State with a 74-56 WAC Tournament championship game victory on Saturday in Las Vegas.
The Lopes received a No. 15 seed despite finishing ahead of two No. 14 seeds, Eastern Washington (No. 114) and Morehead State (No. 121), in the NCAA NET Rankings. GCU was No. 107 in the computerized formula that factors into tournament seeding. A No. 15 seed has beaten a No. 2 seed eight times, but the No. 2 seeds are 23-1 since 2014 with the only upset being Middle Tennessee State over Michigan State in 2016.
"As soon as we heard their name called, we all went straight to our phones, kind of looking them up, seeing what they've done this year," Garza said about GCU on Fox Sports. "Obviously, they got here by winning the regular season and the postseason tournament in the WAC, which is a great conference. They've beaten some great teams along the way, pushed Arizona State early on and they beat Nevada so they're a really accomplished group. Obviously, I looked at some of their players and it seems like they've got some really good big guys so I'm excited for the matchup. It's going to be fun."
The fun already had begun at GCU Arena, where the campus threw a March Madness Selection Show party for about 500 students. The Purple Pregame Party carried on as the final Big Ten Tournament championship game went into overtime and then the show was play. The wait was not long, with GCU's West Region being unveiled first.
Mueller addressed the students about the WAC Tournament championship game ball that WAC Commissioner Jeff Hurd delivered to him during Saturday night's postgame celebration in Las Vegas.
"It's going to be encased in front of the arena," Mueller said. "This is the property of the greatest student body in America. This is your ball. Congratulations
Players Mentioned
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