Conference favorites meet for home opener

Monday, Nov. 7 \| 7 p.m. \| GCU Arena \| Phoenix, Ariz.

	MONTANA STATE BOBCATS	at	GRAND CANYON LOPES

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Opening night includes 200 games featuring Division I men's basketball teams.

Only 31 of those Monday night games involve a team that is considered its conference's majority favorite.

And just three of those pit conference poll frontrunners against each other, including WAC pick Grand Canyon vs. Big Sky choice Montana State at 7 p.m. Monday in GCU Arena.

The Bobcats bring a formidable test for the Lopes opener as the defending Big Sky champions, who are picked to repeat with the returning Big Sky Most Valuable Player.

"Things are getting started right away," Lopes head coach Bryce Drew said at the outset of his third GCU season. "There's no warm-up game. This is a postseason team that's a winning program and that is really good."

But GCU also is quite promising with its own preseason conference player of the year in junior point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr., who is joined in the first five by returning starters Yvan Ouedraogo and Gabe McGlothan in the frontcourt and established transfers Ray Harrison and Noah Baumann on the wings.

Phoenix, AZ Oct. 28,, 2022: GCU tops Eastern New Mexico 71-43 at GCU Arena.

Phoenix, AZ Oct. 28,, 2022: GCU tops Eastern New Mexico 71-43 at GCU Arena.

Harrison, a 6-foot-4 sophomore, led Presbyterian with 17 points per game last season but enters this season with higher team expectations and internal confidence.

"I was a little more anxious in the past because I didn't feel as prepared," Harrison said. "I feel ready for whatever. I'm ready to go out and dominate at this point."

The Lopes have been tabbed as a resounding conference favorite despite the WAC being deeper this season. GCU has established a defensive reputation under Drew after ranking second nationally in 2020-21 and fifth in 2021-22 for field goal percentage defense. Only Houston also ranked in the top five both seasons.

The defense will need to be ready for Montana State, which went 27-8 last season by shooting 47.3% from the field (31st best nationally) and by scoring the seventh-most free throw points in the nation.

"We're not going to sneak up on anybody any more," said Montana State head coach Danny Sprinkle, a former Bobcats player who has improved the team's record in each of his three seasons. "We do have that target."

Much of that is because of 6-foot-9, 240-pound Jubrile Belo, a senior power forward who won Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year in addition to conference MVP. The Englishman averaged 12.8 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks last season with 58% shooting from the field.

"I want to do it all again," Belo said. "Have a perfect season. Win some games, win the tournament. I just want to make it again to March Madness because that experience was eye-opening for me and I could see we still have a ways to go."

Yvan Ouedraogo

Ouedraogo, at 6-9 and 250, will be among the Lopes big men going head to head with Belo, who lost three key fellow starters off last season's Bobcats team. Montana State held Montana State-Billings to 31% shooting with 20 turnovers in a 56-49 exhibition win but only made 33% of its shots.

"He's a great player from what I'm seeing," Ouedraogo said of Belo. "I'm always excited to play against great players. It forces me to raise my level up, so I'm excited for this game. All the work we put in this summer, we've got to show it now. We get to be back in front of the Havocs and play for the GCU jersey."

Few conference favorites are even starting the season with a test. Five of them are opening against Division II teams, although there are two other matchups of conference poll favorites with the Ohio Valley's Morehead State at the Big Ten's Indiana and the Ivy's Penn at the Metro Atlantic's Iona.

The Lopes will test their lofty predictions this week with three games, including another home game Wednesday against San Diego Christian before another stiff test at Nevada on Saturday.

"It drives this team, but it doesn't pressure us," Harrison said. "We don't shy away from it. We embrace it, which is a good thing. Come Monday night, we're going to act on it.

"This is a great opportunity for us to start the year on a good note. It's easy to play someone you can beat by 30, but that's not going to help us long-term."

GCU hopes the first-game jitters were calmed by its exhibition last week, when the Lopes committed 21 turnovers and went only 7 for 27 (26%) on 3-pointers in front of a sold-out arena.

"We were happy with our defense," Drew said. "Offensively, we did not shoot the ball well. We've been a good shooting team all preseason. Hopefully, we can settle in and shoot the ball better than we did. Across the board, we have more guys who can make shots than what we've had in previous years."

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GCU redshirt freshman forward Kobe Knox, unavailable for the exhibition game, is cleared to play after rehabilitating from September knee surgery. Knox was the team's most-improved player this summer.
Blacksher's 3-point shooting percentage has gone from 26.7% in 2019-20 to 32.3% in 2020-21 to 39.4% last season. McGlothan's free throw percentage has gone from 60.5% in 2018-19 to 66.7% in 2020-21 to 73.1% last season.
Harrison averaged 17.1 points over the past two seasons at Presbyterian with 83% free throw shooting.
Ouedraogo ranked 17th in the nation last season for offensive rebounding percentage, grabbing 14.8% of GCU's missed shots.
Baumann, a 6-foot-6 Phoenix native, is one of the nation's top career 3-point shooters at 43.2% over the previous four seasons.
Montana State assistant coach Johnny Hill spent three years (2017-20) on the GCU staff.

Monday, Nov. 7 | 7 p.m. | GCU Arena | Phoenix, Ariz.

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