Key road test requires retention of home roll

Saturday, February 11

Seattle, Wash. / Redhawk Center

8 p.m. (MST)

Grand Canyon

Seattle U

Abilene,, TX Jan 26, 2023: GCU during their 75-73 win over Abilene Christian in Abilene, Texas.

2/10/2023 10:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

GCU Notes Seattle Notes

GCU gets chances to pass Seattle U in conference race on Saturday night

By: Paul Coro

Saturday, Feb. 11 \| 8 p.m. (Phoenix time) \| Redhawk Center \| Seattle, Wash.

	GRAND CANYON LOPES (16-8, 7-4 WAC)	at	SEATTLE U REDHAWKS (17-8, 8-4 WAC)

WATCH: ESPN+ \| LISTEN: 1580 The Fanatic \| STATS: View

SEATTLE – The top seven teams in the WAC standings have gone 34-5 in home games this season.

The top team in the conference is going to be decided by how it plays away from home, whether it be the remaining road games over the final four weeks of the regular season or the WAC Tournament in Las Vegas.

Grand Canyon's push in the second half of conference play continues Saturday night at Seattle U, where the Lopes will go for a third consecutive victory that would catapult the Lopes past the Redhawks.
Nacogdoches, TX. Jan 7, 2023: Grand Canyon head coach Bryce Drew during their 73-68 loss to Stephen F. Austin at the William R. Johnson Coliseum in Nacogdoches, TX.

Nacogdoches, TX. Jan 7, 2023: Grand Canyon head coach Bryce Drew during their 73-68 loss to Stephen F. Austin at the William R. Johnson Coliseum in Nacogdoches, TX.

To do so, GCU (16-8, 7-4 WAC) want to bottle up the performances of home wins against Stephen F. Austin and New Mexico State now that the Lopes are at their best health since mid-December.

"In all of sports, when you have an emotional game, a rivalry game, that next game is really difficult just from an emotional standpoint," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "We have to make sure when we get to Seattle, none of the emotion carries over, that we're focused and ready for that game. It's tough to win on the road, especially tough against a good team on the road."

The Lopes are 12-2 at home this season and 4-6 away from GCU Arena, including a 2-3 conference road record.

The difference has been on offense, where GCU's home shooting percentage of 47.8% drops to 40.7% away from campus. That has made for a 17-point differential in scoring from the 80.6 home scoring average.

Abilene,, TX Jan 26, 2023: GCU during their 75-73 win over Abilene Christian in Abilene, Texas.

"We've got to keep what we've got going on with two good wins," said redshirt freshman Kobe Knox, who has started the past four game after moving into the regular rotation on Jan. 5 when Jovan Blacksher Jr. suffered a season-ending knee injury. "Our energy has been good, and we've really been moving the ball and getting good shots. We can take that on the road in an environment where nobody's rooting for us.

"We're definitely a different team. We've had a lot of good practices and really fixed the problems we had the last road game at Tarleton. We're ready to go show people we can win on the road."

The Lopes are in fifth place in the WAC Resume Seeding System, which determines WAC Tournament seeding and the top four teams that will get a first-round bye next month in Las Vegas. GCU is in a position to move into third place when the number of games played evens out, but it can get to fourth immediately with a win at Seattle U.

The Redhawks (17-8, 8-4 WAC) are 10-1 at home, although that is split between the Seattle Kraken home, Climate Pledge Arena, and a cozy campus venue, Redhawk Center. The Lopes play at the 999-seat venue Saturday for the game at 8 p.m. (Phoenix time).

In its Saturday's win against New Mexico State, GCU resumed the high-level defense that defined its first two seasons under Drew and the first two months of this season. The Lopes held the Aggies to 40% shooting from the field after giving up 49% shooting over the previous six games amid player returns and lineup shuffling.

"We've been hit with a lot of adversity," GCU junior power forward Gabe McGlothan said. "We've been dealing with injury after injury. It's really coming together, and it's building at the right time. There's a purpose to all of it. This team's learning and growing. We've got to just keep building on that and keep getting better."

Lope tracks

GCU won the past three meetings in the series, including an 81-71 win at Seattle U in its last Redhawk Center visit two years ago. The Lopes have won 16 of 20 meetings with 19 of those games occurring since 2014.
Sophomore guard Ray Harrison (38 points vs. Utah Tech), junior power forward Gabe McGlothan (18 rebounds vs. Northern Iowa) and injured junior Jovan Blacksher Jr. (seven steals vs. Grambling) hold the WAC season highs for each category.
Harrison has scored in double figures for 18 consecutive games and is the WAC scoring leader in conference games at 20.8 points per game.
Harrison has made 118 free throws this season, ranking 20th in the nation.
McGlothan's season average of 8.1 rebounds per game ranks second in the WAC.
After going 32 for 64 (50%) on 3-pointers in the past 17 games, GCU graduate forward Noah Baumann ranks 17th nationally among active players for career 3-point shooting percentage at 42.6%. He is one of five active players with 240 made 3s and 42% accuracy.
The Lopes are 10-0 when they score 75 points or more and 8-0 when they shoot 48% or better.
GCU ranks No. 45 nationally for opponent field goal percentage (40.9%) and 66th for opponent points per game (65.7).
Seattle U ranks seventh nationally for 3-point attempts per game (28.6) but ranks 278th for 3-point percentage (32.2%).

WAC Resume Seeding System (updated Feb. 10)
Rank	Team	Record (WAC only)	WAC points
1.	Utah Valley	19-6 (10-2)	5.10
2.	Sam Houston	17-6 (7-4)	3.94
3.	Southern Utah	17-8 (9-3)	2.86
4.	Seattle U	17-8 (8-4)	2.77
5.	GCU	16-8 (7-4)	2.49
6.	Stephen F. Austin	15-9 (7-4)	1.10
7.	Tarleton	13-12 (6-6)	-0.44
8.	Abilene Christian	13-11 (5-6)	-1.54
9.	California Baptist	13-12 (5-7)	-2.06
10.	Utah Tech	11-14 (3-9)	-2.32
11.	UT Rio Grande Valley	12-13 (3-9)	-3.03
12.	New Mexico State	9-15 (2-10)	-3.13
13.	UT Arlington	9-16 (4-8)	-4.89