McGlothan brings balance to GCU's force

Tuesday, Dec. 19 \| 6 p.m. \| GCU Arena \| Phoenix, Ariz.

	IDAHO STATE BENGALS (3-9)	at	GRAND CANYON LOPES (8-4)

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With so much talent at guard, Grand Canyon could be a team that seeks balance.

Instead, Lopes junior power forward Gabe McGlothan could be the player that creates balance.

GCU closes out nonconference play Tuesday night against Idaho State at GCU Arena with a chance at growing the premise of McGlothan being that consistent interior threat to complement a three-headed backcourt.

McGlothan took an authoritative step toward establishing that Saturday, when he posted a GCU career scoring high of 20 points and added 13 rebounds in the Lopes' victory against Pepperdine.

The Chandler Basha High School graduate made more free throws (12 for 14) on Saturday than he had in the season's previous 11 games combined (9 for 16). He was drawing fouls by beating the Waves to a teammate's free throw miss or having dribble blow-bys from the 3-point line.

That is the vigor of McGlothan's versatility, a mix of power, skill and athleticism that showed with square-up drives or creating post-ups out of rolling off a screen or backing down a defender from the wing.

"I'm relying on the guys," McGlothan said. "They trust me down low. That's a big thing, just having their trust and being able to go to work. A lot of these looks are because of them. I'm playing for them and they're helping me out."

GCU junior power forward Yvan Ouedraogo, playing through a hand injury, combined with McGlothan for 33 points, 21 rebounds, 50% field-goal shooting and 85% free-throw shooting in the win against Pepperdine. When GCU went 11 ½ minutes without making a field goal on Saturday, McGlothan only had two scoring chances – a free throw trip for the only GCU points in that stretch and a missed 3-point shot.

"Being able to come back, rally, fight through that adversity and win, it speaks a lot to our team and gets us going into conference with a little bit of momentum," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said.

Harrison's here

The offensive emergence of sophomore guard Ray Harrison has been right on time for GCU, especially with Lopes junior point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. missing two games for a sprained ankle and then leaving Saturday's game when he aggravated it.

Harrison is averaging 18.3 points on 43% shooting in the past six games after averaging 8.3 points on 28% shooting in the first six games. The South Carolina native is going for his seventh consecutive double-digit scoring game on Tuesday night.

"Getting much more comfortable on the court," Drew said of Harrison, a transfer from Presbyterian. "Finding his spots within the offense much better. We saw him do this for the summer and the fall. He started out the season not scoring and shooting as well, but now he's back into the rhythm and the guy who we saw all summer and preseason. Once we can get Jovan healthy and hopefully get them clicking together on the same nights, that's going to be a fun backcourt to watch."

Lope tracks

Drew on going 3-2 against what he called the toughest five-game stretch in GCU history: "It's been good for us. We're playing a lot of close games. These are games that we need to learn how to win so, when we get to conference, hopefully the lessons learned will help us be able to get wins."
The Lopes are 7-0 when they score more than 65 points.
The GCU defense ranks 14th nationally for opponent field goal percentage (37.1%) and 19th for opponent points per game (59.8).
Lopes graduate forward Noah Baumann ranks 25th nationally for career 3-point percentage (41.7%).
GCU ranks third in the new WAC Resume Seeding System, which will decide WAC Tournament seeding with consideration to nonconference play.
Idaho State lost four consecutive games by a total of eight points this season and threatened BYU in a 60-56 road loss.
Bengals coach Ryan Looney was the head coach for Point Loma's 2018-19 Division II national runner-up season. In four Idaho State seasons, he is 31-65.
Idaho State senior guard Brock McKenzie ranks 21st nationally with 46.4% 3-point shooting.
Bengals senior forward Jared Rodriguez, averaging 11.2 points and 6.5 rebounds, is a Glendale Mountain Ridge High School graduate.

Tuesday, Dec. 19 | 6 p.m. | GCU Arena | Phoenix, Ariz.

Harrison's here

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Players Mentioned

Noah Baumann

Jovan Blacksher Jr.

Ray Harrison

Gabe McGlothan

Yvan Ouedraogo

Grand Canyon University Athletics