Hype awakes for high stakes of Lopes-Aggies

Wednesday, Feb. 8 \| 7 p.m. \| GCU Arena \| Phoenix, Ariz.

	NEW MEXICO STATE AGGIES (9-14, 2-9 WAC)	at	GRAND CANYON LOPES (15-8, 6-4 WAC)

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Every WAC game matters. But this one really does.

Every GCU Arena game is lit. But this one is electric.

GCU suffers a 82-66 loss against New Mexico State at GCU Arena.

GCU suffers a 82-66 loss against New Mexico State at GCU Arena.

The Havocs heighten hubbub and Lope Nation unites like no other night when New Mexico State visits Grand Canyon, but an always highly anticipated matchup hits harder Wednesday night when it is the final Aggie-Lopes conference matchup at GCU Arena.

With New Mexico State's move to Conference USA next year, the teams that ended each other's past two seasons at the WAC Tournament play a 7 p.m. game with both teams building momentum. The restocked Lopes are making a standings charge while the Aggies are gaining traction to climb out of last place.

New Mexico State (9-14, 2-9 WAC) looks nothing like the team that ousted GCU from the WAC Tournament last March. No current Aggies player was part of that game and that team's head coach, Chris Jans, left for Mississippi State and was replaced by junior college national champion coach Greg Heiar.

GCU (15-8, 6-4 WAC) returns three starters and six players from the teams' last meeting, which ended an NMSU 3-0 season sweep after the Lopes swept the Aggies 3-0 a year earlier. But with junior point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr.'s season-ending injury, featured GCU players such as sophomore guard Ray Harrison, freshman Kobe Knox, junior Josh Baker and graduate Noah Baumann are stepping up and into their first dose of Lopes-Aggies.

Phoenix, AZ Feb. 4, 2023: GCU beats Stephen F. Austin 86-83 at GCU Arena.

Phoenix, AZ Feb. 4, 2023: GCU beats Stephen F. Austin 86-83 at GCU Arena.

"Normally, I'm never one to feed into the hype of rivalries and I just go into the game with a clear mind, but just hearing about how my teammates talk about it and how the coaches talk about it, I feel like I've inherited this beef with New Mexico State ... and I'm all for it," said Harrison, the WAC's leading scorer in conference games at 21.1 points per game. "I'm just as hype to play the game as my teammates who have played against them and went through the losses and the wins."

The game carries postseason ramifications, as the Aggies try to move out of the last-place position that does not qualify for the 12-team WAC Tournament and the Lopes aim for one of the top four spots that earn WAC Tournament first-round byes. GCU is fifth in the WAC Resume Seeding System, a metric for seeding, but has played one fewer game than the top four teams and would be on track for the third spot with wins.

The Lopes are catching the Aggies amid a turn of fate. NMSU nearly pulled off an upset win at Utah Valley and took that momentum into its first two conference wins last week – at home against top-six teams Stephen F. Austin (73-67) and Seattle U (82-75).

The Aggies shortened their rotation to seven players, and sophomore 6-foot-5 guard Anthony Roy earned a starting job by averaging 17 points in the past four games. The left-hander with deep shooting range is among 17 newcomers who Heiar brought to New Mexico State after 12 players graduated or transferred.

"Them being the power that they've been the last few years and leaving this year, it's a good statement for us to really cement that this is our WAC now," Baumann said. "This is a big-time rivalry. I've always seen GCU and New Mexico State since I was a senior in high school (at Desert Vista in Phoenix). I always watched rivalry games because this is a big game for the WAC. I'm excited, and I know everyone is going to be really motivated and on their A game."

The Lopes players grasped the history of the program and the GCU-NMSU series more Tuesday evening when former GCU greats Jerome Garrison and Joshua Braun spoke to the team.

Phoenix, AZ Feb. 4, 2023: GCU beats Stephen F. Austin 86-83 at GCU Arena.

"Everyone knows the tradition of how good that program has been," Lopes head coach Bryce Drew said. "Our players are excited for every game, especially in front of our home crowd, but they beat us last year so I know our returners are excited about this opportunity."

The Lopes are looking for their first winning streak of the season since conference play began with two victories that continued a run of four consecutive wins.

Saturday's 86-83 win against Stephen F. Austin marked the first time that Baker and junior starting center Yvan Ouedraogo had been back in the lineup together since Dec. 17. Nearly three weeks after that, GCU lost Blacksher for the season to a knee injury.

"The practice time has really helped last week," Drew said. "I really felt we got better as a team. It helps having Yvan and Bake in there. This has been a great group to work with. Hopefully, these good, hard practice days will pay off in the game."

Two years ago, the Lopes beat the Aggies twice in front of a limited GCU Arena audience during the COVID pandemic. The Lopes have not treated the Havocs and a capacity Lope Nation crowd to a home win against the Aggies since Feb. 11, 2017.

By responding to a road loss, the Saturday home win against Stephen F. Austin put GCU in a better position to also flip a three-game losing streak in its series with NMSU.

"It put us in a good place," Harrison said. "I like where we are, and I'm excited to see where we're going to end up."

Lope tracks

GCU is 11-2 this season at home, where it plays three of the next four games.
New Mexico State swept three meetings with GCU last season after the Lopes swept three games against the Aggies in the previous season..
At 9-14, New Mexico State has its most losses in a season since going 16-17 in 2010-11. Its 2-9 conference record marks its most WAC defeats in its 18 years as a member.
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 17 consecutive games.
Harrison has made 115 free throws this season, ranking 18th in the nation.
McGlothan's season average of 8.0 rebounds per game ranks second in the WAC.
After going 29 for 58 (50%) on 3-pointers in the past 16 games, GCU graduate forward Noah Baumann ranks 17th nationally among active players for career 3-point shooting percentage at 42.5%. He is one of five active players with 200 made 3s and 42% accuracy.
GCU ranks No. 50 nationally for opponent field goal percentage (41.0%) and 61st for opponent points per game (65.6).

WAC Resume Seeding System (updated Feb. 7)
Rank	Team	Record (WAC only)	WAC points
1.	Utah Valley	18-6 (9-2)	4.71
2.	Sam Houston	17-6 (7-4)	3.97
3.	Southern Utah	16-8 (8-3)	2.61
4.	Seattle U	16-8 (7-4)	2.42
5.	GCU	15-8 (6-4)	2.18
6.	Stephen F. Austin	15-8 (7-4)	1.04
7.	Tarleton	12-11 (5-5)	-0.18
8.	Abilene Christian	13-11 (5-6)	-1.64
9.	California Baptist	13-11 (5-6)	-1.88
10.	Utah Tech	11-13 (3-8)	-1.99
11.	UT Rio Grande Valley	12-12 (3-8)	-2.18
12.	New Mexico State	9-14 (2-9)	-2.80
13.	UT Arlington	8-15 (3-7)	-5.26

The WAC Resume Seeding System will determine WAC Tournament seeding.

Wednesday, Feb. 8 | 7 p.m. | GCU Arena | Phoenix, Ariz.

Lope tracks

WAC Resume Seeding System (updated Feb. 7)

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Players Mentioned

Josh Baker

Noah Baumann

Jovan Blacksher Jr.

Ray Harrison

Kobe Knox

Gabe McGlothan

Yvan Ouedraogo

Grand Canyon University Athletics