Good morning: Fast start, clutch end gets win

Tuesday, November 22

Kansas City, Mo. / T-Mobile Center

9:30 a.m. (MST)

Grand Canyon

4-2,0-0WAC

Northern Iowa

1-3,0-0MVC

UNI

Grand Canyon

11/22/2022 10:21:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

Lopes bounce back vs. Northern Iowa with early 16-0 run, board work

By: Paul Coro

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When Grand Canyon has been good this month, it has been great.

The version of the Lopes that stormed back against Montana State and blew out Grambling State arrived Tuesday morning at T-Mobile Center. GCU's early 16-0 barrage caught Northern Iowa hitting snooze after the 10:30 a.m. tip-off and served as enough of a cushion to cling to a 69-67 victory in the Hall of Fame Classic third-place game.

The ideal response to the offensive lows of Monday's loss to Wichita State was emerging with superior energy for a start that was 9:30 a.m. (Phoenix time) against the reigning Missouri Valley champions. The Lopes (4-2) were the aggressors on the boards and with penetration as guards Josh Baker, a junior, and Chance McMillian, a sophomore, combined for 24 first-half points.

GCU led by as much as 17 and never trailed again but needed every bit of junior power forward Gabe McGlothan's career-high 18 rebounds and the career-high scoring totals from McMillian (16) and Baker (13).

Baker scored all of his points in the first half, when he was 3 for 3 on 3-pointers and locked up Northern Iowa point guard Bowen Born. GCU led 37-20 on a McMillian 3 with 4:16 remaining in the first half and went into halftime ahead 41-27 with a 19-0 advantage in second-chance points.

"(Wichita State's) length and their athleticism hurt us," Drew said of Monday's 55-43 loss in the Hall of Fame Classic opener. "Today, some of our length and our bigs in the paint really helped us against Northern Iowa. Gabe was terrific. Yesterday in the second half, he had eight rebounds. And today he had 18. That's 26 rebounds in one game and a half. That's spectacular aggressiveness to go get the ball."

Northern Iowa gradually whittled away at the lead until it made it a one-possession game at 2:19 with GCU hollding a 63-61 edge.

On the next two Lopes possessions, McGlothan scored on a post-up and an alley-oop off junior point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr.'s splitting a Panthers trap on the dribble. Blacksher penetrated again to set up junior power forward Yvan Ouedraogo, who had his GCU scoring high of 11, for a free throw. After another one-free throw trip by McGlothan, the Lopes led 69-66 with 13.6 seconds to go.

Kansas City, MO. Nov. 22, 2022: Grand Canyon beats Northern Iowa 69-67 during the Hall of Fame Classic at the T-Mobile Center.

Kansas City, MO. Nov. 22, 2022: Grand Canyon beats Northern Iowa 69-67 during the Hall of Fame Classic at the T-Mobile Center.

"Last 10 minutes, we talked in the huddles," Drew said of Blacksher, who also made a key jumper and steal late in the game. "Quite frankly, Jovan wasn't playing like he's capable of playing. I know he's had a lot of things going on, and he's such a warrior. He loves GCU. He wants to win more than anyone else on that bench. Really proud of him. Really thought he came out the last nine minutes until he fouled out and just a great job forcing tempo. His jump shot on the wing was maybe the biggest offensive play of the night for us."

The Lopes nearly defended the Panthers into not taking a potential tying shot before a final-second foul, which forced Northern Iowa to try a failed game-ending intentional free throw miss and tip.

McGlothan finished his rebounding career high with the most important board of the game. No. 18 came on a Panthers 3-point attempt to take the lead with 13 seconds to go. He rebounded and was fouled to moved the GCU advantage to 69-66. His effort marked the best rebounding game by a Lopes player since February 2014, when Killian Larson grabbed 20 boards.

"This is all laying groundwork to really help us the rest of the season," Drew said of the tournament of top-100 opponents. "These are good teams. Wichita State was an at-large team two years ago. They've gone to Final Fours. Northern Iowa won the Missouri Valley last year. Their program has been in tact basically for decades, this coaching staff for 17 years. They knew who they are. They know what they do. They win a lot of games. This is great for us to come on a neutral site that is all within a few-hour drives of these schools."

Northern Iowa's only lead came at 2-0 before going scoreless for nearly six minutes. McMillian came off the bench during that GCU 16-0 run, which was closed with his driving 3-point play. He followed by making a pair of 3-pointers and getting a steal that turned into his fastbreak layup on the way to the Lopes' 37-20 bulge.

McMillian said he met with Drew on Monday after the loss about how he made a turnover upon entering the game against Wichita State.

"He said to make sure to swing the ball around, feel the ball, get your body going and then look to attack," McMillian said. "That's what I did today, and it ended up well for me.

"We set the tone early, and we emphasized coming out and hitting first. That's what we did, and we enjoyed it too while we were doing it."

Kansas City, MO. Nov. 22, 2022: Grand Canyon beats Northern Iowa 69-67 during the Hall of Fame Classic at the T-Mobile Center.

With the support of a traveling Lope Nation throng, GCU made the early start for national television feel natural once Drew reminded them that they normally practice at 10 a.m. in Phoenix.

Having to be quick studies on Northern Iowa's back cuts and back screens, the Lopes limited the Panthers in the first half by only allowing one offensive rebound and one free throw trip. GCU had allowed 12 offensive rebounds in the first half of Monday's loss.

"We were all mad from that game, so we made sure that we didn't make the same mistake that we did the day before," McMillian said.

Ouedraogo controlled the interior with McGlothan, and the brawny Frenchman helped give the Lopes four double-digit scorers with his 10 points and six rebounds.

"It is nice to be able to see him finish around the rim, go 4 for 7," Drew said of Ouedraogo. "Remember last year, at the beginning of the year, that might have been a 2 for 7 on those. He's put in a lot of time and he's gotten much better at it. His free throws, he still made some. He made a big one late for us."

The Lopes return home for the Thanksgiving holiday and play at GCU Arena on Saturday night against Pepperdine (4-1) and on Tuesday night against Alcorn State (2-1).