Completed Event: Men's Basketball at Baylor on October 10, 2025 , Loss , 74, to, 79
M Basketball
at Baylor
L 74-79
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Grand Canyon University Athletics
Friday, March 10
Las Vegas, Nev.
7 p.m. MT / 6 p.m. PT
Grand Canyon
78
vs
75
Sam Houston
Photo by: David Kadlubowski
Lopes burn top seed for WAC title game spot
3/10/2023 11:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
GCU shoots 54.3%, Knox goes 6 for 6 on 3s vs. Sam Houston's 4th-ranked defense
LAS VEGAS – Resilient as a rubber band snapping back when it is tugged every which way, Grand Canyon was faced with all the ingredients to a season extinction on Friday night.
The Lopes' All-WAC players, Ray Harrison and Gabe McGlothan, were saddled with foul trouble and each scored in single digits, but GCU has evolved into a team of brothers who bonded boldly and brilliantly to knock off WAC Tournament No. 1 seed Sam Houston 78-75 at GCU Arena North – aka Orleans Arena.
The power of the purple was felt on the court and in the stands as the Lopes shot 54.3% against the nation's fourth-ranked defense. Scorching 16-for-30 3-point shooting, including redshirt freshman Kobe Knox's 6-for-6 night for a career-high 21 points, sent the Lopes to their second WAC Tournament championship game in three seasons.
GCU (23-11) will play Southern Utah (22-11) for an NCAA tournament berth in a title game at 9:30 p.m. (Phoenix time) on ESPN2.
"I'm just thinking of all the times throughout the season where we've let one go," said graduate forward Noah Baumann, who scored 17 with 4-for-7 3-point shooting. "Those lessons helped us in the end. Man, everybody was so on their game. When we all come together like that, we're a scary team."
The Lopes have been frightening the WAC for the past two weeks, winning a season-best five games in a row all away from Phoenix.
But the Friday formula was an unlikely one with Harrison picking up his third foul with nine minutes left in the first half and fouling out on a bizarre double-foul call with 1:17 remaining and the game tied.
"It's a player-driven team right now," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "Players are taking care of each other. Chance (McMillian) grabbed the whole group and got everyone together and got them to focus. That's just great maturity."
The Lopes turned over some of the last-minute work to the overwhelmingly GCU crowd, with Sam Houston missing four crunch-time free throws.
With 50 seconds to go and the game still tied, Drew called for a play in which Baumann said he has made the angle-left 3 with 80% accuracy this season.
Bauman, the 20th-best active career 3-point shooter in the nation, drained the angle-left 3 on graduate guard Walter Ellis' fifth assist for a 76-73 lead with 51 seconds remaining.
After Sam Houston's WAC Player of the Year Qua Grant made two free throws on his 24-point night, the Lopes missed to give Sam Houston a chance to take the lead. A second-chance opportunity led to Bearkats center Kaosi Ezeagu drawing a foul with 8.5 seconds to go.
The 47.6% free throw shooter missed both with McGlothan rebounding and passing to Ellis, the Lopes' best free throw shooter at 92.6%. He made both for a 78-75 lead with 5.4 seconds remaining.
After a timeout, Grant dribbled up the sideline with McGlothan sliding alongside him and McMillian closing as his shot to tie went off the side of the backboard.
"If we would've talked this morning and said, 'Hey, Gabe is going to score nine and Ray's going to score seven and you guys are going to win,' that'd be a really low-scoring game," Drew said. "Kobe Knox, I can't say enough words how good he was tonight. Chance McMillian, Noah Baumann, sensational. Walter Ellis. We had so many guys step up tonight with Ray and Gabe struggling from the field."
With Sam Houston's stunting, aggressive defense, GCU identified that corner 3-pointers could be open and converted 9 of their first 13 shots from beyond the arc for a 33-29 lead that began with a 12-4 start. Knox made five 3s in the first half and had his career high by halftime with 18.
"Coach Drew told me to stay ready and be ready to shoot and my teammates, they're really confident in me knocking down the shot," Knox said. "After I hit a couple, they said keep shooting it and stay hot."
However, Sam Houston used seven straight free throws to take the lead, going to the half with a 42-36 edge when Donte Powers made a 3 from the edge of the midcourt logo.
Having Harrison and McGlothan back after each played fewer than 10 minutes in the first half did not instantly change second-half momentum. Drew cycled through lineups before going to the small-ball lineup he used out of necessity when center Yvan Ouedraogo was out seven games for a hand fracture.
At one point, six different Lopes hit a shot consecutively as GCU regained the lead and went up 66-59 on a McMillian 3 off his offensive rebound.
"It felt like a home game," McMillian said of the decibel level.
When Sam Houston went on a 10-0 run to wipe away the lead, it was McMillian again hitting a 3 for the first of three basket exchanges that kept the game tied.
Only one team (Southern Utah) had shot better than 45% against Sam Houston this season. The Lopes shot 54.3%, giving them their three best non-home shooting games of the season in this tournament run. GCU committed nine turnovers, 16 fewer than when it won at Sam Houston on Jan. 5.
Bearkats head coach Jason Hooten said GCU junior center Yvan Ouedraogo is "the best screener in the country" and that the Bearkats lost because Ouedraogo, who had none of the Lopes' 78 points.
"How they're playing out there together is really fun to be a part of," Drew said.
The Lopes trailed for the final time entering the final two minutes, but Baumann and Ellis do not have to leave a college basketball for the final time.
"It crept in our minds, but we weren't going out today, I promise you that," Baumann said.
In their only meeting with the Thunderbirds this season, the Lopes just won at Southern Utah 83-78 last week to start this five-game winning streak.
"It's onto the next," Drew said. "We enjoyed that in the locker room – the celebration, but we're going to get back and start preparing for the next one."
The Lopes' All-WAC players, Ray Harrison and Gabe McGlothan, were saddled with foul trouble and each scored in single digits, but GCU has evolved into a team of brothers who bonded boldly and brilliantly to knock off WAC Tournament No. 1 seed Sam Houston 78-75 at GCU Arena North – aka Orleans Arena.
The power of the purple was felt on the court and in the stands as the Lopes shot 54.3% against the nation's fourth-ranked defense. Scorching 16-for-30 3-point shooting, including redshirt freshman Kobe Knox's 6-for-6 night for a career-high 21 points, sent the Lopes to their second WAC Tournament championship game in three seasons.
GCU (23-11) will play Southern Utah (22-11) for an NCAA tournament berth in a title game at 9:30 p.m. (Phoenix time) on ESPN2."I'm just thinking of all the times throughout the season where we've let one go," said graduate forward Noah Baumann, who scored 17 with 4-for-7 3-point shooting. "Those lessons helped us in the end. Man, everybody was so on their game. When we all come together like that, we're a scary team."
The Lopes have been frightening the WAC for the past two weeks, winning a season-best five games in a row all away from Phoenix.
But the Friday formula was an unlikely one with Harrison picking up his third foul with nine minutes left in the first half and fouling out on a bizarre double-foul call with 1:17 remaining and the game tied.
"It's a player-driven team right now," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "Players are taking care of each other. Chance (McMillian) grabbed the whole group and got everyone together and got them to focus. That's just great maturity."
The Lopes turned over some of the last-minute work to the overwhelmingly GCU crowd, with Sam Houston missing four crunch-time free throws.
With 50 seconds to go and the game still tied, Drew called for a play in which Baumann said he has made the angle-left 3 with 80% accuracy this season.Bauman, the 20th-best active career 3-point shooter in the nation, drained the angle-left 3 on graduate guard Walter Ellis' fifth assist for a 76-73 lead with 51 seconds remaining.
After Sam Houston's WAC Player of the Year Qua Grant made two free throws on his 24-point night, the Lopes missed to give Sam Houston a chance to take the lead. A second-chance opportunity led to Bearkats center Kaosi Ezeagu drawing a foul with 8.5 seconds to go.
The 47.6% free throw shooter missed both with McGlothan rebounding and passing to Ellis, the Lopes' best free throw shooter at 92.6%. He made both for a 78-75 lead with 5.4 seconds remaining.After a timeout, Grant dribbled up the sideline with McGlothan sliding alongside him and McMillian closing as his shot to tie went off the side of the backboard.
"If we would've talked this morning and said, 'Hey, Gabe is going to score nine and Ray's going to score seven and you guys are going to win,' that'd be a really low-scoring game," Drew said. "Kobe Knox, I can't say enough words how good he was tonight. Chance McMillian, Noah Baumann, sensational. Walter Ellis. We had so many guys step up tonight with Ray and Gabe struggling from the field."
With Sam Houston's stunting, aggressive defense, GCU identified that corner 3-pointers could be open and converted 9 of their first 13 shots from beyond the arc for a 33-29 lead that began with a 12-4 start. Knox made five 3s in the first half and had his career high by halftime with 18.
"Coach Drew told me to stay ready and be ready to shoot and my teammates, they're really confident in me knocking down the shot," Knox said. "After I hit a couple, they said keep shooting it and stay hot."
However, Sam Houston used seven straight free throws to take the lead, going to the half with a 42-36 edge when Donte Powers made a 3 from the edge of the midcourt logo.
Having Harrison and McGlothan back after each played fewer than 10 minutes in the first half did not instantly change second-half momentum. Drew cycled through lineups before going to the small-ball lineup he used out of necessity when center Yvan Ouedraogo was out seven games for a hand fracture.
At one point, six different Lopes hit a shot consecutively as GCU regained the lead and went up 66-59 on a McMillian 3 off his offensive rebound.
"It felt like a home game," McMillian said of the decibel level.
When Sam Houston went on a 10-0 run to wipe away the lead, it was McMillian again hitting a 3 for the first of three basket exchanges that kept the game tied.Only one team (Southern Utah) had shot better than 45% against Sam Houston this season. The Lopes shot 54.3%, giving them their three best non-home shooting games of the season in this tournament run. GCU committed nine turnovers, 16 fewer than when it won at Sam Houston on Jan. 5.
Bearkats head coach Jason Hooten said GCU junior center Yvan Ouedraogo is "the best screener in the country" and that the Bearkats lost because Ouedraogo, who had none of the Lopes' 78 points.
"How they're playing out there together is really fun to be a part of," Drew said.
The Lopes trailed for the final time entering the final two minutes, but Baumann and Ellis do not have to leave a college basketball for the final time.
"It crept in our minds, but we weren't going out today, I promise you that," Baumann said.
In their only meeting with the Thunderbirds this season, the Lopes just won at Southern Utah 83-78 last week to start this five-game winning streak.
"It's onto the next," Drew said. "We enjoyed that in the locker room – the celebration, but we're going to get back and start preparing for the next one."
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Basketball
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