Last season's title contenders meet again

Thursday, Feb. 10 \| 6 p.m. (Phoenix time) \| UCCU Center \| Provo, Utah

	UTAH VALLEY WOLVERINES (15-7, 6-4 WAC)	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES (16-5, 7-3 WAC)

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There is a pair of Grand Canyon three-game road losing streaks to erase Thursday night, but GCU has a case and a team to wipe away both.

The Lopes shook off a three-game road losing streak by climbing back into the WAC race last week with home wins against then-WAC leader Seattle U and California Baptist. They also have a three-game losing streak at Utah Valley, where they return Thursday night for the first time since 2020 with WAC championship titles in their luggage.

GCU (16-5, 7-3 WAC) shared last season's regular-season title with Utah Valley and will play beneath a green 2021 WAC regular-season championship banner instead of the purple one at home.

"We definitely have to play much better on the road," Lopes head coach Bryce Drew said. "Hopefully, some of the guys learn from the last road trip about how difficult it is to win on the road. How prepared you have to be and how focused you have to be.

"We want to play how we are capable of playing. During that span away from home with COVID, sicknesses and injuries, we weren't ourselves. We were out of rhythm. Hopefully, we can find that rhythm on the road like we had earlier in the year in nonconference."

Utah Valley (15-7, 6-4 WAC) is 8-1 at home this season, including an upset of then-No. 12 BYU. The Wolverines helped out the Lopes last week by winning at Sam Houston (14-11, 9-3 WAC), pulling GCU even with the Bearkats in the loss column and within one game of second-place Seattle U (17-6, 8-2 WAC).

Conference teams covet the top two WAC Tournament seeds, which receive byes into the semifinals.

"We had a lot going on the last road trip," said Lopes graduate guard Holland Woods II, who is averaging 13.3 points and 3.1 assists this season. "It was good for us to come home, get two big wins to put us back in the race a little bit. We're going back on the road with the same mentality before when we won big games on the road. It's not foreign to us. We just have to set the tone."

GCU and Utah Valley open up a two-game WAC series to close out the regular season.

GCU and Utah Valley open up a two-game WAC series to close out the regular season.

GCU also has to handle Wolverines sophomore Fardaws Aimaq, who won WAC Player of the Year last season but transformed his game with a fitter physique and more diverse offensive skill set.

The 6-foot-11, 245-pound center leads the nation in double-doubles (19) and ranks second in rebounds per game (13.2) after winning the national rebounding title last season. Aimaq is averaging 19.0 points, a five-point increase with an improved shooting touch that shows most in his free throw percentage jump from 61.8% to 71.8%.

"I don't think anybody has shut him down," Drew said. "He's got a great touch around the rim and very skilled. You just don't want him to have a career night. There are not a lot of true centers in the country who can score the ball from the inside and outside, but he's one of the ones who can."

Both teams rank in the national top 20 for 3-point defense and rebound margin, but the Lopes' defensive consistency gives them a shot to win each game.

"At Portland State, I'm not going to lie, I didn't play a lot of defense," Woods said of his first three college seasons. "I got a lot of steals but didn't play a lot of defense. At Arizona State last year, I was asked to guard the best guy a lot and a lot of those guys are really good players, even NBA players. I brought the same mentality here and we harp on so many things on the defensive end that it was easy for me to carry over."

Drew has tweaked the offense to put more players in position to thrive, especially with defenses keying more on the backcourt of sophomore Jovan Blacksher Jr. and Woods. But the difference-makers can be sophomore Gabe McGlothan and junior Taeshon Cherry, GCU's power forwards with perimeter shooting ability. On the guards' off-night Saturday, their combined 20 points with 4-for-6 3-point shooting lifted the Lopes over the Lancers.

When the offense needs a jolt, Drew utlilizes a three-guard lineup with McGlothan and Cherry.

"We're still waiting for the day when all of our guards make shots and our bigs make shots," Drew said. "That'll be a really fun game, hopefully."

Lope tracks

GCU is 14-0 when shooting at least 40% from the field, 13-0 when shooting at least 34% on 3-pointers and 13-0 when scoring at least 65 points.
Blacksher's streak of consecutive double-digit scoring games is at 25, seven shy of DeWayne Russell's Lopes record for the Division I era.
Blacksher is 32 points away from joining the 1,000-point club for career scoring in his third season.
Woods ranks eighth in the nation for career assists (627).
GCU ranks second nationally for opponent 3-point shooting (26.0%). Fifteen of 21 opponents have made six or fewer 3s.
The Lopes blanket national rebounding rankings, including offensive rebounds per game (11th, 13.5), rebounds per game (13th, 40.7) and rebound margin (19th, plus-7.1).
GCU's scoring defense ranks 15th nationally, allowing 60.5 points per game. Only four opponents have reached 70.
Five Lopes opponents have posted one of their three worst shooting games of the season against GCU.

Thursday, Feb. 10 | 6 p.m. (Phoenix time) | UCCU Center | Provo, Utah

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Players Mentioned

Jovan Blacksher Jr.

Taeshon Cherry

Gabe McGlothan

Holland Woods II

Grand Canyon University Athletics