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Grand Canyon University Athletics
GCU unveils program’s toughest schedule
8/31/2022 2:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
Lopes face up to 4 NCAA tourney teams, host 17 regular-season games
Grand Canyon constructed a schedule to build toward this season's WAC championship and NCAA tournament goals while serving Lope Nation with 17 regular-season home games.
The schedule continues the renowned environment at GCU Arena, where the Lopes are 25-5 under third-year head coach Bryce Drew, while pitting the Lopes against as many as four of last season's NCAA
tournament qualifiers, three more 2021 Big Dance participants and nine teams that won at least 20 games last season.
Since the Lopes joined Division I in 2013, this season's schedule will be their most difficult, based on opponents' NCAA Evaluation Tool rankings from last season.
"Statistically, this is the most difficult schedule GCU has ever played," Drew said. "The difficult nonconference schedule is great for our team to prepare for the conference season. It's great for our fans to be able to get to see a lot of quality teams in our special environment."
GCU returns with a Nov. 7 regular-season opener against Montana State at GCU Arena, where the Lopes will return with three of last season's top five scorers – All-WAC first-team point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr., power forward Gabe McGlothan and guard Chance McMillian – in addition to Division I transfers who cumulatively averaged 30 points last season. Most of that scoring comes from new Lopes guard Ray Harrison, a 17-point scorer and All-Big South second-team honoree last season for Presbyterian.
That offensive punch pairs with a GCU defense that finished in the top five nationally in each of Drew's seasons in Phoenix.
Following an Oct. 28 home exhibition against Eastern New Mexico, the Nov. 7 home opener against Montana State is an indicative starting point of the nonconference challenges.
The Bobcats won the Big Sky Conference regular-season and tournament championships last season and finished 27-8, their most wins in a season since 1947. Since former Montana State player Danny Sprinkle became head coach, the Bobcats have posted three consecutive winning seasons after not having one since 2010 and not posting consecutive ones since 2002.
After a Nov. 9 home game against San Diego Christian, the Lopes will make up last year's canceled game at Nevada by visiting Reno on Nov. 12 for a rematch of a 2018 Jerry Colangelo Classic game. The Wolf Pack, then ranked sixth nationally, hung on for a 74-66 win amid a run of three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances (2017-19).
Nevada fourth-year head coach Steve Alford, with a 635-338 career coaching record, has reloaded with transfers Hunter McIntosh, who averaged 13.2 points over three Elon seasons, and Jarod Lucas, who averaged 10.3 points over three Oregon State seasons.
GCU plays a Nov. 18 home game against Grambling before heading to the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, where Wichita State travels 200 miles to open the four-team tournament at T-Mobile Center.
The Shockers are one year removed from a NCAA tournament season and the Lopes could face another team coming off a NCAA tournament season in their second game there. San Francisco, which was 24-10 last season, faces Northern Iowa, which was 20-12, in the other game with first-game winners and losers meeting a night later.
San Francisco punched a Big Dance ticket for the first time in 24 years last season, when GCU handed them their first loss in December at the Jerry Colangelo Classic.
The Lopes end nonconference play with six of seven games in Phoenix, including a GCU Arena visit from defending Southwest Athletic Conference champion Alcorn State on Nov. 29 and the Dec. 10 Jerry Colangelo Classic game against defending Conference USA champion North Texas at the Phoenix Suns' Footprint Center.
North Texas finished 55th in last year's NET rankings and has averaged 21 wins over the past five seasons under head coach Grant McCasland after a 62-95 five-year stretch. The Mean Green won an NCAA tournament matchup against Purdue two years ago and an NIT matchup against Texas State last year.
Amid that stretch, GCU will play Dec. 3 at Wyoming, which has gone 39-20 under coach Jeff Linder after being 17-48 in the previous two seasons. The Cowboys reached No. 22 nationally last season and added UCLA transfer Jake Kyman and USC transfers Max Agbongpolo and Ethan Anderson.
"They return key players and add a really solid recruiting class," Drew said. "They definitely will be an at-large NCAA tournament this year."
Conference play in the upgraded WAC starts Dec. 29 at GCU Arena, when California Baptist visits with five transfers from Georgetown, Loyola Marymount, New Hampshire, South Dakota and Utah.
The WAC schedule pits each team against each other for at least one game, with six of the 12 series being home-and-away sets. For GCU, those opponents are Abilene Christian, California Baptist, New Mexico State, Seattle U, Stephen F. Austin and Utah Tech.
"This is definitely the toughest conference schedule we've had since we've been here," said Drew, entering his third Lopes season. "The league's better. There are just better teams with more quality players throughout the league. We're playing some really good teams twice, so that makes it more challenging."
The conference home slate features consecutive games against last season's conference co-champion, Stephen F. Austin, on Feb. 4 and WAC Tournament champion, New Mexico State with new head coach Greg Heiar, on Feb. 9.
The home slate will conclude Feb. 24 against Seattle U, the other 2021 regular-season co-champion. The Redhawks are led by junior guard Cameron Tyson, the only returning All-WAC first-team honoree besides Blacksher.
The Lopes have home-only meetings with conference newcomer UT Arlington, UT Rio Grande Valley and Utah Valley and road-only matchups with Sam Houston, Southern Utah and Tarleton.
The 18-game conference trek will end with a March 1-3 trip to Southern Utah and Utah Tech before the Lopes head to Las Vegas for the WAC Tournament on March 6-11.
The schedule continues the renowned environment at GCU Arena, where the Lopes are 25-5 under third-year head coach Bryce Drew, while pitting the Lopes against as many as four of last season's NCAA
tournament qualifiers, three more 2021 Big Dance participants and nine teams that won at least 20 games last season.Since the Lopes joined Division I in 2013, this season's schedule will be their most difficult, based on opponents' NCAA Evaluation Tool rankings from last season.
"Statistically, this is the most difficult schedule GCU has ever played," Drew said. "The difficult nonconference schedule is great for our team to prepare for the conference season. It's great for our fans to be able to get to see a lot of quality teams in our special environment."
GCU returns with a Nov. 7 regular-season opener against Montana State at GCU Arena, where the Lopes will return with three of last season's top five scorers – All-WAC first-team point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr., power forward Gabe McGlothan and guard Chance McMillian – in addition to Division I transfers who cumulatively averaged 30 points last season. Most of that scoring comes from new Lopes guard Ray Harrison, a 17-point scorer and All-Big South second-team honoree last season for Presbyterian.That offensive punch pairs with a GCU defense that finished in the top five nationally in each of Drew's seasons in Phoenix.
Following an Oct. 28 home exhibition against Eastern New Mexico, the Nov. 7 home opener against Montana State is an indicative starting point of the nonconference challenges.
The Bobcats won the Big Sky Conference regular-season and tournament championships last season and finished 27-8, their most wins in a season since 1947. Since former Montana State player Danny Sprinkle became head coach, the Bobcats have posted three consecutive winning seasons after not having one since 2010 and not posting consecutive ones since 2002.
After a Nov. 9 home game against San Diego Christian, the Lopes will make up last year's canceled game at Nevada by visiting Reno on Nov. 12 for a rematch of a 2018 Jerry Colangelo Classic game. The Wolf Pack, then ranked sixth nationally, hung on for a 74-66 win amid a run of three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances (2017-19).
Nevada fourth-year head coach Steve Alford, with a 635-338 career coaching record, has reloaded with transfers Hunter McIntosh, who averaged 13.2 points over three Elon seasons, and Jarod Lucas, who averaged 10.3 points over three Oregon State seasons.
GCU plays a Nov. 18 home game against Grambling before heading to the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, where Wichita State travels 200 miles to open the four-team tournament at T-Mobile Center.The Shockers are one year removed from a NCAA tournament season and the Lopes could face another team coming off a NCAA tournament season in their second game there. San Francisco, which was 24-10 last season, faces Northern Iowa, which was 20-12, in the other game with first-game winners and losers meeting a night later.
San Francisco punched a Big Dance ticket for the first time in 24 years last season, when GCU handed them their first loss in December at the Jerry Colangelo Classic.
The Lopes end nonconference play with six of seven games in Phoenix, including a GCU Arena visit from defending Southwest Athletic Conference champion Alcorn State on Nov. 29 and the Dec. 10 Jerry Colangelo Classic game against defending Conference USA champion North Texas at the Phoenix Suns' Footprint Center.
North Texas finished 55th in last year's NET rankings and has averaged 21 wins over the past five seasons under head coach Grant McCasland after a 62-95 five-year stretch. The Mean Green won an NCAA tournament matchup against Purdue two years ago and an NIT matchup against Texas State last year.
Amid that stretch, GCU will play Dec. 3 at Wyoming, which has gone 39-20 under coach Jeff Linder after being 17-48 in the previous two seasons. The Cowboys reached No. 22 nationally last season and added UCLA transfer Jake Kyman and USC transfers Max Agbongpolo and Ethan Anderson.
"They return key players and add a really solid recruiting class," Drew said. "They definitely will be an at-large NCAA tournament this year."
Conference play in the upgraded WAC starts Dec. 29 at GCU Arena, when California Baptist visits with five transfers from Georgetown, Loyola Marymount, New Hampshire, South Dakota and Utah.The WAC schedule pits each team against each other for at least one game, with six of the 12 series being home-and-away sets. For GCU, those opponents are Abilene Christian, California Baptist, New Mexico State, Seattle U, Stephen F. Austin and Utah Tech.
"This is definitely the toughest conference schedule we've had since we've been here," said Drew, entering his third Lopes season. "The league's better. There are just better teams with more quality players throughout the league. We're playing some really good teams twice, so that makes it more challenging."
The conference home slate features consecutive games against last season's conference co-champion, Stephen F. Austin, on Feb. 4 and WAC Tournament champion, New Mexico State with new head coach Greg Heiar, on Feb. 9.
The home slate will conclude Feb. 24 against Seattle U, the other 2021 regular-season co-champion. The Redhawks are led by junior guard Cameron Tyson, the only returning All-WAC first-team honoree besides Blacksher.
The Lopes have home-only meetings with conference newcomer UT Arlington, UT Rio Grande Valley and Utah Valley and road-only matchups with Sam Houston, Southern Utah and Tarleton.
The 18-game conference trek will end with a March 1-3 trip to Southern Utah and Utah Tech before the Lopes head to Las Vegas for the WAC Tournament on March 6-11.
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