Grinder goes GCU's way in WAC road opener

Wednesday, November 29

Edinburg, Texas

5:30 p.m. (MST)

Grand Canyon

5-1,1-0WAC

UT Rio Grande Valley

2-6,0-1WAC

Grand Canyon

UTRGV

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

11/29/2023 8:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

Grant-Foster tallies 25 points, 11 rebounds in game with 54 fouls

By: Paul Coro

EDINBURG, Texas – Grand Canyon wanted to run off to a conference-opening win Wednesday night, but the flow of whistles was the only steady facet to the Lopes taking more of a trot to victory.

In a game with 54 fouls called, the Lopes led the entire second half without ever being able to hit full stride in a 79-69 victory at UT Rio Grande Valley.

GCU (5-1) held UTRGV to 33.9% shooting from the field while shooting 54.3%. That is normally an equation for a more lopsided outcome, but the Lopes never had more than five unanswered points as they could never hit cruise with their 19 turnovers and three players fouling out.

GCU senior guard Tyon Grant-Foster recorded his first career double-double (25 points, 11 rebounds) in his fourth game of at least 25 points in six contests. Grant-Foster, junior guard Ray Harrison and graduate power forward Gabe McGlothan each blocked three shots to quell the Vaqueros' comeback tries.
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"No rhythm, no flow," Lopes head coach Bryce Drew said of the third-most fouls called in a regulation-length game nationally this season. "Foul every time down the court. A lot of fouls maybe that weren't even called every time down the court. It was just really tough to get in a rhythm or flow.

"They fought through some adversity tonight. We kept slipping on the floor and throwing them the ball. They (the Vaqueros) made a lot of shots that they haven't shown that they've made early in the year. Edinburg, TX Nov. 29 , 2023: GCU takes a 79-69 win over UTRGV in their their WAC opener at UTRGV. Photo David Kadlubowski/GCU

Edinburg, TX Nov. 29 , 2023: GCU takes a 79-69 win over UTRGV in their their WAC opener at UTRGV. Photo David Kadlubowski/GCU

Any time you can go on the road in conference and you can win, you're happy and even happier to get back home."

The Lopes will take lessons into the second game of the earliest conference start in program history when UT Arlington, also a Wednesday night winner, visits GCU Arena on Saturday night.

GCU opened the lead to double digits repeatedly in the second half, but UTRGV (2-6) scored on fouls on three consecutive possessions, including an and-one play, to make one last push. The Vaqueros cut the lead to 70-66 with 2:23 to go in the game, but Drew called for a play that set up Grant-Foster for a corner 3 on the next trip.

Grant-Foster made the 3 while being fouled and senior power forward Sydney Curry contributed a string of defensive plays down the stretch to seal the win.

"Syd got his hands on a lot of balls there," Drew said of Curry having a steal, block and deflection in a four-possession stretch. "He is still adjusting to our system defensively. At the end, we went with zone to make it easier and he was active in it. Those deflections really helped us."

Grant-Foster scored in a variety of ways, going 10 of 17 from the field with the help of GCU rotating the ball to give him advantages for baseline drives.

"I don't really think anybody can stop me from getting to the basket when I want to," Grant-Foster said. "I just feel like going to the rim is what I'm good at, so I'll stick to it.

"We knew they were going to be aggressive, so we had to take their aggressiveness and put it into our game plan. We had to move the ball quick and attack their mistakes. We did a whole lot better job of moving the ball."

Edinburg, TX Nov. 29 , 2023: GCU takes a 79-69 win over UTRGV in their their WAC opener at UTRGV. Photo David Kadlubowski/GCU

The earliest Lopes conference start in 75 seasons looked like it would be a good one when GCU jumped to a 5-0 lead on junior guard Collin Moore's 3-pointer and Harrison's familiar fadeaway, but the game turned to turnovers and fouls for a sputtering pace.

Against the nation's 11th-ranked steals team, the Lopes committed 10 first-half turnovers and trailed at times as sophomore center Duke Brennan picked up three fouls in four minutes and three other Lopes had two fouls apiece.

On a Harrison turnover, Drew stepped onto the court to challenge an official's call and picked up a technical foul.

"That was the first time I've ever seen him really yell at guys outside of practice," Grant-Foster said. "He's fighting for us, so we've got to fight for him."

Much like Saturday's slow start that included a GCU 8-0 run to end the first half against North Dakota State, GCU ended Wednesday night's first half with an 11-5 run to take a 35-30 lead to halftime with 12 points from Harrison.

"We need another guard," Drew said. "It's obvious out there, especially when you play teams like this. As (Josh) Baker gets healthy and Jovan (Blacksher Jr.) gets back, you throw Jovan's speed out there and impacts the whole game tremendously. I felt Ray did a great job. Again, we're asking him to do too much, but we've got to weather the storm a little bit longer at the guard position until we can get Baker completely healthy and get Jovan back."

The Lopes' final 10-point margin looked more comfortable than it was in reality, but their defensive stamp on the game was encouraging outside of foul issues that disqualified Brennan, McGlothan and Harrison. But Harrison finished with 21 points and five assists and sank two 3-pointers after making one in the first five games. McGlothan only took two field goal attempts but made both and filled up a stat line of eight points, six rebounds and three steals.

Saturday visitor UT Arlington (4-3, 1-0 WAC) delivered an impressive WAC season debut Wednesday night with 57.4% shooting for an 86-71 home win against Abilene Christian.

"It's so nice to get the first win on the road and for a lot of our guys to be in this role that they now see people are coming to get them, and they're going to play their best to get them," said Drew, who is 4-0 in WAC openers. "It's always nice to learn when they win."