Difficult duel revisits last year's rough spot

Thursday, Jan. 5 \| 5:30 p.m. (Phoenix time) \| Johnson Coliseum \| Huntsville, Texas

	SAM HOUSTON BEARKATS (11-3, 1-1 WAC)	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES (10-4, 1-0 WAC)

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The numbers coming out of Grand Canyon's next destination, Sam Houston, are enough to warrant the attention of everyone in the purple traveling party.

The Bearkats are ranked 27th nationally by the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) with two Power 5 road wins, the nation's top-scoring bench and the No. 5 scoring defense with only 55.3 points allowed per game.

But the GCU returnees do not need any more warning for Thursday night than what the Lopes experienced last year in their first East Texas trip. After a 5-0 start in WAC play, GCU was smashed at Stephen F. Austin with COVID-19 keeping its head coach home before Bryce Drew cleared protocol to arrive an hour before the 58-56 loss at Sam Houston.

"They earned respect last year," Lopes junior power forward Gabe McGlothan said. "We came in knowing this is our league last year and they were like, 'We have something to prove. We're new to this league, and we're not going to be the little brother that gets beat up.' They earned respect, and we've got to go take it back."

Sam Houston (11-3, 1-1 WAC) and GCU (10-4, 1-0 WAC) rank first and third, respectively, in the WAC Resume Seeding System. A Lopes win could close the gap on the Bearkats, whose season-opening win at Oklahoma and Nov. 17 victory at Utah made them valuable in the conference algorithm that will determine WAC Tournament seeding.

Just as GCU mustered 56 points with point guard Jovan Blacksher making 6 of 17 shots in Huntsville last year, the Lopes again face a speedy, stingy defense that is forcing 19.6 turnovers per game (fifth nationally) with 10.3 of those coming on steals.

"They really pressure the ball," Drew said. "It'll be a different challenge than our first conference game (a 73-59 win against California Baptist) with the aspect that they're going to be contending every pass.

"They're physical. They're tough. They're experienced. It'll be a huge challenge, especially on their home court."

The Bearkats are 79-11 at Johnson Coliseum over the past seven seasons, but GCU will be their first Division I visitor in five home games this season. Sam Houston opened conference play with a 80-64 loss at Utah Valley before bouncing back with a 62-55 win at New Mexico State on Saturday.

GCU nearly won at Sam Houston last season, when Holland Woods II's potential game-tying shot missed at the buzzer. But the Lopes avenged it with a 67-41 home rout, including Blacksher's 18, and a 71-66 WAC Tournament quarterfinal, including Woods' 24.

Three Sam Houston starters returned to that team, but junior guard Jaden Ray now comes off a bench that averages 38.7 points per game. Blacksher and McGlothan are the only returning GCU starters with junior power forward Yvan Ouedraogo out for a left hand fracture.

"We were getting introduced to how their fans are, how they play and what their home environment is," McGlothan said of last January's Huntsville visit. "It'll be pretty good knowing what to expect."

Lope tracks

GCU sophomore guard Ray Harrison has scored at least 16 points in seven consecutive games for the first time in his career. Harrison, who joined the 1,000-point club last month, played the previous two seasons at Presbyterian but remains a sophomore in eligibility because of the NCAA COVID-19 waiver.
The Lopes are 8-0 when shooting better than 41% from the field.
GCU is 5-0 in McGlothan's five double-digit rebounding games this season.
The Lopes have made more free throws than their opponents in 11 consecutive games.
With 1,229 career points, Blacksher is six behind Ben Lindsey (1959-62) for 11th and is 20 behind DeWayne Russell (2014-17) for 10th on the program's career scoring leaderboard.
Like Sam Houston, GCU ranks highly in the nation for opponent field goal percentage (37.7%, 13th) and points allowed per game (60.2, 18th).
This is the Lopes' final conference trip to Huntsville, Texas, because Sam Houston is moving to Conference USA next season with New Mexico State.
Senior 6-foot-1 guard Qua Grant, a Wichita State transfer, leads the Bearkats with 13.2 points and 4.1 assists per game in only 24.4 minutes per game. Sam Houston starter minutes are low with an average scoring margin of plus-23.6 per game.

WAC Resume Seeding System (updated Jan. 1)
Rank	Team	Record (WAC only)	WAC points
1.	Sam Houston	11-3 (1-1)	3.03
2.	Utah Valley	11-4 (2-0)	2.52
3t.	GCU	10-4 (1-0)	1.46
3t.	Seattle U	10-4 (1-0)	1.46
5.	Southern Utah	10-5 (2-0)	0.65
6.	Utah Tech	9-6 (1-1)	0.08
7.	Stephen F. Austin	10-5 (2-0)	-0.24
8.	New Mexico State	7-7 (0-2)	-0.41
9.	Tarleton	7-7 (1-1)	-0.75
10.	UT Rio Grande Valley	8-6 (0-2)	-1.12
11.	Abilene Christian	9-6 (1-1)	-1.32
12.	California Baptist	8-7 (0-2)	-1.39
13.	UT Arlington	5-10 (0-2)	-3.57

Thursday, Jan. 5 | 5:30 p.m. (Phoenix time) | Johnson Coliseum | Huntsville, Texas

Lope tracks

WAC Resume Seeding System (updated Jan. 1)

Players Mentioned

Ray Harrison

Gabe McGlothan

Yvan Ouedraogo

Holland Woods II

Grand Canyon University Athletics