Depth flexes for 51-point victory margin

Wednesday, November 9

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

2-0

101

San Diego Christian

1-0

San Diego Christian

Grand Canyon

101

11/9/2022 9:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

Lopes move to 2-0 with McGlothan's double-double

By: Paul Coro

The domination that turned Monday night's season opener into a thriller took any drama out of Wednesday night's follow-up.

Grand Canyon dispatched San Diego Christian in expected fashion, opening the throttle midway through the first half to roll to a 101-50 victory at GCU Arena. It tied for the Lopes' second-largest blowout of the Division I era and marked their first 100-point game since January 2021, also the last time GCU had five double-digit scorers until Wednesday night.

The Lopes (2-0) now pivot their attention to a Saturday game at Nevada (1-0) but needed to find their focus in the moment Wednesday night, when San Diego Christian stayed within three points (16-13) after almost 10 minutes of play.

GCU outscored its NAIA visitor 85-37 for the final 30:20 with junior point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. leading the team in scoring again with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting in 20 minutes.

Phoenix, AZ Nov. 9, 2022: Grand Canyon gets a 101-50 blowout win over San Diego Christian at GCU Arena.

Phoenix, AZ Nov. 9, 2022: Grand Canyon gets a 101-50 blowout win over San Diego Christian at GCU Arena.

"Jovan was spectacular," Drew said. "I thought his energy, especially on the defensive end, was really good. It was nice to get other guys minutes and let them feel comfortable out there."

Drew went again to his redshirt freshmen, Kobe Knox and Isaiah Shaw, for a lift as the rotation's 11th and 12th men. Instead of starting the second half with them, as he did Monday night, Drew went to Knox and Shaw during the first half and was rewarded by their energy again.

After Shaw made a 3-point shot to spark a comeback against Montana State on Monday, Knox took his turn by draining a 3 that prompted the Hawks to call time out when trailing 21-16 on Wednesday.

Phoenix, AZ Nov. 9, 2022: Grand Canyon gets a 101-50 blowout win over San Diego Christian at GCU Arena.

Knox, a 6-foot-5 guard from Tampa, Florida, kept making big plays throughout the game with a spectacular chase-down blocked shot and an open-court steal and layup that was part of his 5-for-5 shooting. He scored 11 points and added two steals in 16 minutes of his second college appearance.

"He gives us a nice element that we don't have with a lot of length," Drew said. "He can defend four different positions out on the court. When we can score, it makes him a really good player that's going to help us."

The moment revived the rest of the Lopes, who closed the first half on a 19-2 run with the final 12 points going unanswered.

McGlothan scored seven of those final 12 points, getting two follow scores and a 3-pointer to nearly wind up with a double-double by halftime (11 points, nine rebounds). He finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds in 21 minutes for his 10th career double-double.

"You can go down the bench and everyone has their own skills and works hard too," McGlothan said.

"It makes sure that we have our stuff together. If not, someone's coming in off the bench. If you're not doing your job, Coach is not afraid to put in somebody different. That's the accountability factor that we're trying to hold us to and make sure we don't slip. We're always growing."

Blacksher Jr. scored 11 in the first half on 4-of-5 shooting, but sophomore guard Chance McMillian played 13 first-half minutes off the bench because of his outstanding two-way play. McMillian got the offense going with a 77-second offensive splurge that included making a 3-pointer and an elbow jumper before assisting on Knox's 3.

Phoenix, AZ Nov. 9, 2022: Grand Canyon gets a 101-50 blowout win over San Diego Christian at GCU Arena.

"I'm really happy for Chance," Drew said. "He's been working hard, and he knows he didn't play as well as he would like in the last couple of games. He had a really nice stretch there and gave us some momentum. He's always a really good defender, but when he can make shots like that and make some nice passes, it takes his game to another level."

The reserves' play pulled the Lopes away with 46 of the team's 58 second-half points. Senior guard Walter Ellis knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers and came within a rebound of his career high to finish with 10 points and seven rebounds in 14 minutes.

Shaw, Drew's nephew and assistant coach Casey Shaw's son, added two more 3s on Wednesday while junior guard Josh Baker, the UNLV transfer from Phoenix, returned to his all-around exhibition form with 10 points, four assists and four rebounds to be plus-27 in 14 minutes.

Phoenix, AZ Nov. 9, 2022: Grand Canyon gets a 101-50 blowout win over San Diego Christian at GCU Arena.

With the Havocs chanting "One more point!", it took a Knox backcourt strip to grant the request. Shaw's ensuing assist to a cutting Logan Landers pushed GCU past the century mark on a last-minute layup by Landers, the 6-foot-9 sophomore transfer from Kansas State who scored eight points in 14 minutes.

The defense did not allow a fastbreak point in the game and kept the Hawks to 26.4% shooting from the field after holding Montana State to 22.2% second-half shooting in Monday's comeback win against Big Sky favorite Montana State.

"We're so hard on each other," Knox said before receiving a water-bottle shower from Blacksher. "At halftime of the first game, we told each other that we weren't playing as good as we can. We wanted to come out and show the crowd how we can really play and really set the tone for this game. We know we're a good team and we'll get wins along the way."