National rise gets shot at more in Arizona Tip-Off

Arizona Tip-Off semifinal \| Friday, Nov. 17 \| 7 p.m. \| Desert Diamond Arena \| Glendale, Ariz.

	SAN FRANCISCO DONS (2-1)	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES (2-0)

WATCH: CBS Sports Network \| LISTEN: 1580 The Fanatic \| STATS: View

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The ambition of Grand Canyon to grow its national basketball brand is bearing fruit. The Lopes hit their highest ranking in KenPom, a national rating based on a predictive formula, when it moved to No. 68 this week..

The chance to enhance GCU's status and ranking comes with events like this weekend's Arizona Tip-Off, where GCU heads west on Camelback Road to Desert Diamond Arena for a nationally televised four-team tournament that pits the Lopes against San Francisco on Friday night.

After starting the season with blowout wins against Southeast Missouri and Northern Arizona, GCU steps up its early-season tests with two top-100 opponents potentially in Glendale with CBS Sports Network broadcasting. The Dons (2-1) bring a No. 89 KenPom rating, and Sunday's second tournament game might be against South Carolina (3-0), which is at No. 60.

South Carolina faces DePaul in a 9:30 p.m. Friday nightcap, with the Friday games' winners and losers being matched up for Sunday's 2:30 p.m. third-place and 5 p.m. championship games.

GCU bused 8 miles to Desert Diamond Arena for a Thursday afternoon practice in what the Lopes hope will feel like a home away from home for the weekend.

Phoenix, AZ Nov. 6, , 2023: GCU beats Southeast Missouri 88-67 during their home opener at GCU Arena.

Phoenix, AZ Nov. 6, , 2023: GCU beats Southeast Missouri 88-67 during their home opener at GCU Arena.

"I love how it's going to be a great opportunity for the world to see us and what GCU is and what we're looking to be," said Lopes senior guard Tyon Grant-Foster, who is averaging a team-high 20.5 points after two wins. "It's a great tournament with a great environment. We've got three good teams that we have an opportunity to play and really show that we can play with the best of them."

Neither GCU or San Francisco has played since Sunday, when the Dons took their first loss against a defensively strong Boise State team that was picked second to national runner-up San Diego State in the Mountain West. San Francisco lost 63-58 in front of a Boise crowd of 10,520 fans.

The Dons only scored five points off the bench, but their starting lineup has returning guard Marcus Williams and four others who are 6 feet 7 or 6 feet 8. The star of the bunch has been junior forward Jonathan Mogbo, a dynamic Missouri State transfer who has made 21 of 23 shots this season and averaged 14.3 points and 7.3 rebounds in 22.3 minutes per game.

"When his motor is on and running, I think he's as good as any big guy in the country," San Francisco head coach Chris Gerlufsen said in Sunday's postgame interview. "He has the ability to affect the game on both sides of the ball for us.

"I think he can still can get better. That's the scary part with him. I think he's just figuring it out, and he needs to be a guy we can play through from the offensive end.":

Traditionally, San Francisco has been a team that spreads out defenses to shoot 3s and the formula has produced six 20-win seasons in the past seven years.

The Dons made more than 40% of their 3s in each of this month's wins against Bethesda and Saint Francis but went 4 for 19 from beyond the arc on Sunday at Boise State.

"We can score with the best of them, but can we defend?" Grant-Foster said. "That's where we're looking forward to getting to."

The Lopes have not struggled with much in putting together consecutive wins with 20-plus scoring margins for the first time since January 2022. But opponents have hit 41% of their 3s against GCU, which usually ranks highly in the nation for that category.

"It's a really tough game early in the season because they really execute their offense well," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "It has a lot of backdoor cuts. They do a lot of things that make you guard sometimes deep into possessions. It's really going to challenge our defensive principles."

Lopes junior guard Collin Moore has stood out as the team's best defensive player early in the season with his intense on-ball defense and seven steals in the first two games. But after spending extra time at home studying San Francisco, he said this is a game that will require more defensive discipline.

"We're all ready for the challenge," Moore said. "We just need to bring more energy and better energy throughout the game to win."

This Friday game falls six days since the last Lopes game, but the Friday-Sunday format of the Arizona Tip-Off falls in line more with the pace of conference play. The difference this week is that GCU leaves home without leaving the metro area.

"Even though the arena is this big, we expect it to be loud with a lot of purple," Drew said.

Lope tracks

The CBS Sports Network broadcast crew will be play-by-play announcer Jack Benjamin and analyst Matt McCall, a former head coach at Chattanooga and UMass.
GCU and San Francisco are meeting for the third time in four seasons, with each game coming on a neutral court. In December 2020, the Dons won 68-65 in Las Vegas. In December 2021, the Lopes won 49-48 in downtown Phoenix.
Lopes graduate point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr., who remains out as he finishes knee surgery rehabilitation, scored 23 in the teams' last meeting.
GCU graduate power forward Gabe McGlothan needs six rebounds to pass Keonta Vernon's Division I-era program record for career rebounds (631).
Lopes senior center Sydney Curry ranks 10th in the nation for field goal percentage at 78,6%, while Dons junior power forward Jonathan Mogbo leads the nation at 91.3%.
GCU junior guard Collin Moore ranks 13th in the nation for steals per game at 3.5.
San Francisco ranks fifth nationally with 56.8% shooting from the field.
Tickets start at $15 for a two-game session.

Arizona Tip-Off semifinal | Friday, Nov. 17 | 7 p.m. | Desert Diamond Arena | Glendale, Ariz.

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Players Mentioned

Jovan Blacksher Jr.

Sydney Curry

Tyon Grant-Foster

Gabe McGlothan

Collin Moore

Grand Canyon University Athletics