Misses, fouls mar shot to end woes at NMSU

Saturday, January 29

Las Cruces, N.M.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

14-5,4-3WAC

New Mexico State

17-3,6-1WAC

Grand Canyon

New Mexico St.

1/29/2022 11:36:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

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Lopes couple season-worst shooting with heavy disparity

By: Paul Coro

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Grand Canyon's trips to New Mexico State continue to be memorable for all the wrong reasons.

There was no half-court buzzer shot, blowout or a star Lope fouling out with a 13-point lead and 16 minutes left, but gloom and doom struck GCU again Saturday night in a 71-61 loss at New Mexico State.

The big-picture numbers are numbing. The Lopes are 0-9 in Las Cruces. The Aggies have won 29 consecutive home games.

But the numbers in focus Saturday night were GCU's 29.5% shooting and a 34-18 foul disparity, the season's third-most lopsided one in more than 3,300 Division I games.

GCU (14-5, 5-3 WAC) persevered to take a six-point lead midway through the second half with a 14-1 run, but NMSU (17-3, 7-1 WAC) responded with a 15-3 run.

The Lopes' third consecutive loss drops them to a fourth-place tie in the conference while the Aggies jumped into second place by ending a three-game series losing streak.

Holland Woods II

New Mexico State staged its annual "Pack the Pan Am" promotion on a GCU night for the third time in its last four home campaigns. Each game has drawn more than 12,000 fans with Saturday's crowd totaling 12,307, including a section of Havocs who came from Phoenix on five busses Saturday.

"We were playing against a lot of opponents out there," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "That's why I'm proud of our guys. Nobody lost their cool. They played in a tough environment and they played under control. Even when adversity was up against them, they stayed in control and together."

A 16-foul disparity for teams has only been outdone twice in Division I games this season. Nearly just as rare, only four teams have won without shooting at least 30%. The Lopes have gone from shooting 58.2% in the three wins preceding the losing streak to shooting 33.5% during this skid.

On Saturday, GCU took more 3-pointers than 2-pointers and shot 15.6% from beyond the arc (5 for 32).

"Our 4s (power forwards) got to make 3s," Drew said. "They're doubling Jovan (Blacksher Jr.) off ball screens. Taeshon (Cherry) is wide open. Gabe (McGlothan) is wide open. They've got to make shots so that Jovan and Holland (Woods II) can have more space on the floor."

Woods scored 19 of his team-high 23 points in the second half, including eight consecutive GCU points to cap a 14-1 run that put the Lopes ahead 49-43 with 10:24 remaining. The final five points iof that run came on two Woods free throws for New Mexico State head coach Chris Jans' technical foul on Woods drawing a 3-point shot foul.

"Oh, my God, I'm going to be the MVP of the game for them," Jans said he thought at the time.

Taeshon Cherry

The Aggies immediately responded when junior guard Sir'Jabari Rice hit sixth-year senior Johnny McCants on an alleyoop. That sparked a 22-6 stretch in which New Mexico State scored on 10 consecutive possessions to lead 65-55 and reignite the Aggies' best attendance since the Lopes last came in 2020.

"Our fans were a little bit more into it than I've seen in a while," Rice said. "They haven't seen that game in two years so they were prepared for the game. It was more rowdy than the (New Mexico) game.

"Free throw line, you can hear them (GCU fans). Especially when they dunk, who's cheering? Pregame, they turn around. It's always fun, especially to go there (to GCU) too. We know the atmosphere is going to be crazy there too."

Unfortunately for the Lopes, easy shots at the rim were a rarity. GCU opened the game with a 2-0 lead on a jumper by Blacksher, who went 2 for 14 after that, and did not lead again until 10:23 remained in the game.

"We've got to find a way to get to the free throw line," Drew said. "That's something that, as a coach, we'll have to go back and watch film and figure it out. But we've got to get to the free throw line as much as opponents are getting there. If we have to drive the ball harder, if we have to be more aggressive, obviously there's a problem with how we're playing. If this is that big of a difference, we've got to more aggressive to be able to be fouled."

New Mexico State's 41 free throw attempts set a GCU Division I-era opponent record and tied for the 17th highest total of the DI season. The Lopes put the Aggies in the bonus with 13 minutes remaining and had four foul out, limiting McGlothan to 23 minutes.

The Aggies nearly shot better from the field than the line because of high-percentage shots. New Mexico State outscored GCU 34-20 in the paint and won the boards 43-28.

Rice and junior Teddy Allen are guards who each grabbed 12 rebounds for double-double games. Rice busted out of a slump to score 18 while Allen made 8 of 11 shots and all 12 free throws for 28 points while playing all 40 minutes.

The Lopes grabbed a season-low seven offensive rebounds despite having a season-high 43 missed field goal attempts.

"Our guys are tired of hearing about that," Jans said of his reminders that GCU was a top-five offensive rebounding team nationally. "That was the biggest key to the game for us."

The Lopes now have to regroup for a Thursday visit from first-place Seattle U (17-4, 8-0 WAC), which won its ninth consecutive game Saturday. GCU is 10-1 at home this season.

"It's almost unheard of to go 18 days in conference and not have a home game," Drew said. "I've never seen that in my life anywhere across the country. It's going to be extremely nice to get home after two straight weeks on the road. Hopefully, we can shoot our free throws as well as what we did tonight (20 for 24) at home and hopefully we'll get fouled more as we get more aggressive."