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
Insider: New, old blend in summer workouts
6/25/2021 11:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro, Lopes Insider Blog
GCU holds first week of offseason court work with 8 newcomers joining
For the first time, Grand Canyon took to the court this week as defending WAC champions.
For many of the players, it was their first time on the court as Lopes in a program with new standards.
GCU boasts a team of nine returnees and eight newcomers, but the group's quickly composed camaraderie allowed head coach Bryce Drew and staff to get to work on the goal of a NCAA tournament repeat feat.
Summer workouts began a month ahead of last year, when Lopes coaches were in masks and face shields, players were undergoing temperature checks and workouts were split into two groups amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
This week, the players are back to gathering with arms around each other before and after workouts, rotating through skill stations for group work and eating meals as a unit.
"I love it," said Walter Ellis, a 6-foot-5 senior guard who transferred to GCU from Bucknell. "After last year, I think we really established a culture of work. Especially in the first week, everybody has been pushing ourselves in the weight room. On the court, we're moving through practices at a really high pace and guys are getting after it.
"We've only been here for a week together as a team, but I already feel super close to everybody on the team. The blend seems really easy so far."
Ellis is among a group of five incoming transfers, which also includes power forward Taeshon Cherry and guard Holland Woods II from Arizona State, power forward Aidan Igiehon from Louisville and power forward Yvan Ouedraogo from Nebraska. Freshmen round out the newcomers with guard Jalen Blackmon from Indiana, Kobe Knox from Florida and Isaiah Shaw, the son of GCU assistant coach Casey Shaw.
"We have a lot of new guys learning a new system," Drew said at the outset of the first workout with his right arm around Blackmon in the team circle. "So we want to be ready to go earlier in the season than we were last year with COVID and all the layoffs. Just be ready for stuff to progress really quick."
Sophomore guard Chance McMillian was in their shoes last summer as a slender newcomer trying adapt to the speed and power of the game. By conference play, he was a more polished rotation player who became a critical part of the WAC Tournament championship with 23 points in two games despite a hip injury.
"The new guys are just trying to get used to the system and the pace of how Coach Drew wants it to be," McMillian said. "He wants game speed every rep. For the people who were already here, we're used to that and know what Coach Drew wants.
"The talent here is really good. GCU is on the rise. We're in good hands for the next couple years."
As graduated All-WAC first-team Asbjørn Midtgaard watches workouts while pondering professional options, All-WAC second-teamer Jovan Blacksher Jr. is one of the veterans guiding the new players. He goes through skill stations with Blackmon, who led all Indiana high school players last season with 33.5 points per game.
Blacksher and Blackmon will be joined in the backcourt by Holland Woods, a Glendale Apollo High School and Arizona State graduate who chose to finish his collegiate career with the Lopes. The combo guard knows the spectrum of college basketball after making All-Big Sky first team for Portland State and starting last season at ASU.
"It's special," Woods said of GCU. "It definitely has a everything that the high-major schools have. For me going from mid-major Portland State to Power 5 ASU and to a mid-major again, coming here you can see there's not a missing beat from the new locker room being built to the new weight room being built. Everything we do here is high level. The arena and the fans speak for themselves. That's a high-level environment."
For many of the players, it was their first time on the court as Lopes in a program with new standards.
GCU boasts a team of nine returnees and eight newcomers, but the group's quickly composed camaraderie allowed head coach Bryce Drew and staff to get to work on the goal of a NCAA tournament repeat feat.
Summer workouts began a month ahead of last year, when Lopes coaches were in masks and face shields, players were undergoing temperature checks and workouts were split into two groups amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
This week, the players are back to gathering with arms around each other before and after workouts, rotating through skill stations for group work and eating meals as a unit.
"I love it," said Walter Ellis, a 6-foot-5 senior guard who transferred to GCU from Bucknell. "After last year, I think we really established a culture of work. Especially in the first week, everybody has been pushing ourselves in the weight room. On the court, we're moving through practices at a really high pace and guys are getting after it."We've only been here for a week together as a team, but I already feel super close to everybody on the team. The blend seems really easy so far."
Ellis is among a group of five incoming transfers, which also includes power forward Taeshon Cherry and guard Holland Woods II from Arizona State, power forward Aidan Igiehon from Louisville and power forward Yvan Ouedraogo from Nebraska. Freshmen round out the newcomers with guard Jalen Blackmon from Indiana, Kobe Knox from Florida and Isaiah Shaw, the son of GCU assistant coach Casey Shaw.
"We have a lot of new guys learning a new system," Drew said at the outset of the first workout with his right arm around Blackmon in the team circle. "So we want to be ready to go earlier in the season than we were last year with COVID and all the layoffs. Just be ready for stuff to progress really quick."
Sophomore guard Chance McMillian was in their shoes last summer as a slender newcomer trying adapt to the speed and power of the game. By conference play, he was a more polished rotation player who became a critical part of the WAC Tournament championship with 23 points in two games despite a hip injury."The new guys are just trying to get used to the system and the pace of how Coach Drew wants it to be," McMillian said. "He wants game speed every rep. For the people who were already here, we're used to that and know what Coach Drew wants.
"The talent here is really good. GCU is on the rise. We're in good hands for the next couple years."
As graduated All-WAC first-team Asbjørn Midtgaard watches workouts while pondering professional options, All-WAC second-teamer Jovan Blacksher Jr. is one of the veterans guiding the new players. He goes through skill stations with Blackmon, who led all Indiana high school players last season with 33.5 points per game.
Blacksher and Blackmon will be joined in the backcourt by Holland Woods, a Glendale Apollo High School and Arizona State graduate who chose to finish his collegiate career with the Lopes. The combo guard knows the spectrum of college basketball after making All-Big Sky first team for Portland State and starting last season at ASU.
"It's special," Woods said of GCU. "It definitely has a everything that the high-major schools have. For me going from mid-major Portland State to Power 5 ASU and to a mid-major again, coming here you can see there's not a missing beat from the new locker room being built to the new weight room being built. Everything we do here is high level. The arena and the fans speak for themselves. That's a high-level environment."
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