WAC co-champions climb to cut nets

Saturday, March 6

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

15-6, 9-3

Utah Valley

11-10, 9-4

Utah Valley

Grand Canyon

3/6/2021 11:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

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GCU claims share of conference title by beating co-champ Utah Valley

By: Paul Coro

Each Grand Canyon player's climb up the ladder at GCU Arena's northern rim was emblematic of a GCU basketball program that stepped up to Division I eight years ago and ascended Saturday night to the rung that cuts down nets.

In a shower of purple streamers and confetti, the Lopes stepped up the ladder just as they escalated their play to claim the program's first WAC championship. GCU claimed the conference title of regular season co-champions with Utah Valley by defeating the Wolverines 74-64, a victory that sent first-year Lopes head coach Bryce Drew up the ladder to snip the final strand and wave the net to the student-only crowd.

"For these players to feel the success that they had during the regular season hopefully will ignite even more of a passion for basketball and more of a passion for winning," Drew said. "We want to be able to build something special here and that takes time. It takes steps and I'm really proud of these guys for what they've accomplished so far this year."

So far.

Bryce Drew

GCU is headed to the WAC Tournament in Las Vegas as the No. 1 seed, by tiebreaker, with a two-win path to the NCAA tournament. Drew has time to dry after two water coolers were dumped on him in Saturday night's locker room celebration because the Lopes (15-6, 9-3 WAC) earned a first-round bye.

The Lopes will play a semifinal game at Orleans Arena against the Thursday winner of California Baptist (13-9) vs. Seattle U (11-10) on Friday night at 6 p.m. (Phoenix time). The winner of the Saturday night championship, televised by ESPNU, will advance to the NCAA tournament in Indianapolis.

"I don't even have any words to describe it," GCU senior power forward Alessandro Lever said after posting 16 points and nine rebounds in his 111th start as a Lope. "It just feels amazing. We finally did it. We made history."

The Lopes did it by reversing the elements that lost Friday night, going from a season-low scoring output to a 50% shooting game and its usual dominance on the boards in 24 hours.

The Lopes outrebounded the Wolverines 37-27, in line with GCU's rebound margin average for the season, and outscored Utah Valley 14-0 on second-chance points. Wolverines center Fardaws Aimaq, the national rebounding leader at 15.1 per game, was kept to nine boards.

GCU flipped the big-man dominance with senior center Asbjørn Midtgaard recording 15 points and 11 rebounds, making him one of 19 players in the nation with 11 double-doubles.

"Yesterday, they kicked our butts, literally and figuratively, so all the bigs had to step up," Lever said.

That included the GCU bench, where small forward Sean Miller-Moore shook off Friday's deep thigh bruise to ignite the transition game and power forward Gabe McGlothan raised the intensity level. The Lopes outscored the Wolverines by 13 in McGlothan's 15 minutes, in which he scored 10 points.

"I see my role on this team as an energy guy, someone who comes off the bench and really just tries to at least maintain or increase the level we're playing at from the first group," McGlothan said after the title-clinching, regular-season finale.

"It's kind of surreal, but it's not over. It's a great moment that we have, but at the end of the day, we want to win the tournament as well and go to March Madness. That's the goal."

Alessandro Lever and Jovan Blacksher

GCU trailed 15-5 before Miller-Moore sparked a 17-2 run that included McGlothan's second 3-pointer of the season and a 3-point play, along with Midtgaard post-ups that were hard to come by Friday. Midtgaard went 6 for 11 from the field, keeping his national field goal percentage lead at 71.5%.

The Lopes were the aggressors, grabbing the 50-50 balls and drawing fouls. Utah Valley shot better Saturday than Friday, but it was unable to string together shots for a rally against a more urgent GCU effort.

When the Lopes led 45-41 early in the second half, GCU used a 12-5 run with sophomore point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. controlling the pace, breaking the press and scoring five of that rally's points on his way to a 14-point, five-assist, two-steal night.

By the time Lever posted up Friday star Evan Cole for a score that put the Lopes ahead 69-55 with 3:41 to go, the celebration was building.

"This was a character game," Drew said to his team in the postgame locker room. "This was all about your character and can you bounce back from something emotional that doesn't go your way within 24 hours. You guys had the strong will to come and compete for 40 minutes and win for 40 minutes."

The Lopes won the points in the paint, 34-26, and the increased aggression showed in 23 free throws attempts, 20 more than they shot Friday night. Five GCU players reached double figures as the Lopes shot 50% for the eighth time this season and committed 10 turnovers, with ony five coming after the game's first 6 ½ minutes when GCU trailed 15-5.

The Lopes finished a half-game ahead of Utah Valley (11-10, 9-4) in the standings, but the uneven amount of conference games played in a COVID-19-affected season led the WAC to judge the regular-season title and tournament seeding by a formula multiplying winning percentage by conference games played percentage.

"We showed what kind of team we are and what kind of team we can be," Lever said. "We've just got to play the same way."