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
Saturday, March 11
Las Vegas, Nev.
9:30 p.m. MT / 8:30 p.m. PT
Grand Canyon
vs
Southern Utah
Photo by: David Kadlubowski
WAC title game puts GCU 1 win from NCAAs
3/11/2023 11:30:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
Lopes face Southern Utah after beating Thunderbirds on road last week
WAC Tournament championship
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GRAND CANYON
LOPES (23-11)
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vs. | SOUTHERN UTAH THUNDERBIRDS (22-11) |
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| WATCH: ESPN2, ESPN+ | LISTEN: 1580 The Fanatic | STATS: View | ||||
LAS VEGAS – On Opening Night more than four months ago, Grand Canyon foretold the story of its season.
The Lopes rallied from a 19-point hole to beat eventual Big Sky champion Montana State and embody a developing down-but-never-out mentality that carried GCU through a season-ending injury to leader Jovan Blacksher Jr., injuries to two more starters, the seven-week hospitalization of teammate Derrick Michael Xzavierro and seven excruciating losses by five points or fewer.
Yet, here the Lopes stand, with their intent to play their best basketball in March in tact and the goal of winning the WAC Tournament within a game's reach.
GCU (23-11) plays Southern Utah (22-11) in the WAC Tournament championship game on Saturday at 9:30 p.m. (Phoenix time) in Orleans Arena. The Lopes can secure their second NCAA tournament berth in three years if they stretch their winning streak to six games by capturing the title match, which will show an ESPN2 audience how Las Vegas has become a second home to Lope Nation.
"I can't say enough about the crowd and how much they help us, when we're down, when we're making runs," said GCU head coach Bryce Drew, who is 6-1 in three WAC Tournaments.The Lopes started this winning streak and the month by defeating the Thunderbirds in the teams' only meeting of the season. GCU won 83-78 at Southern Utah, where the Thunderbirds were 13-1 otherwise this season.
Despite digging a 14-point hole in Cedar City, the Lopes stormed back on the strength of a 29-point performance by sophomore guard Ray Harrison.
Harrison, the WAC's leading scorer in conference play at 21.1 points per game, has not needed to carry the load in the Lopes' last two tournament wins. With those 12-point and seven-point games, the 6-foot-3 guard stands five points away from breaking DeWayne Russell's single-season scoring record (593 points) for the program's Division I era.
GCU has shot 50% or better from the field in each game of the winning streak, enjoying a career-high 35-point game from junior power forward Gabe McGlothan in Thursday's quarterfinal win against Seattle U and a career-high 21-point game from redshirt freshman Kobe Knox in Friday's semifinal win against Sam Houston.
"Momentum is crazy right now," said Lopes graduate forward Noah Baumann, who scored 17 on Friday night and made the go-ahead 3-pointer in the final minute. "I'm so happy we're all coming together. You always see those teams that have so much potential, but down the road, everybody's splitting apart. But we're so close right now. Nothing's gonna tear us apart."Southern Utah needed a wild comeback to reach Saturday night's championship game. The Thunderbirds trailed WAC regular-season champion Utah Valley by 23 points with 15:42 remaining and by 15 points with 8:27 to go.
"When that court starts getting tilted a little bit, it goes in a hurry," Southern Utah head coach Todd Simon said.
The Thunderbirds' press contributed to nine second-half turnovers by the Wolverines, whose lead dwindled to three when Le'Tre Darthard tried to take a foul before Southern Utah All-WAC player Tevian Jones shot. Darthard grabbed Jones, a former Chandler High School standout, by the hips from behind as he fired a 3 and Jones' converted 4-point play put the Thunderbirds ahead 89-88.
Given four seconds, Utah Valley still got a fortuitous kick to give a layup to Justin Harmon, but he missed it at the buzzer. The Thunderbirds' 53-29 finish to the game fulfilled what Simon called their "irrational confidence."
"We believed from Day 1," Simon said. "We were picked ninth and we took that very personal. We've been there before and we've strung a few good years together. This group has a tremendous amount of belief in itself and each other."
After defeating the fourth-best scoring defense in the nation, the Lopes are charged with beating the fifth-best scoring offense a night later. Southern Utah averages 83.0 points per game.GCU can counter with the No. 29 defense for opponent field goal percentage (40.7%) but have adjusted to whatever was needed during the five-game winning streak, drawing lessons instead of lament over the close games that got away this season.
"When you get to March, you're able to look back on that stuff and execute what we need to do," GCU graduate guard Walter Ellis said. "Focus on the play at hand. Not make the moment too big but enjoy it."
The last time GCU was getting ready to play Southern Utah, the Lopes were coming off a disappointing home loss to Seattle U with few college basketball outsiders seeing the path to the championship he still envisioned.
"If you play great in March, people forget about February real quick," Drew said at the time.
What February?
Lope tracks
- The ESPN2 announcing crew will be Dave Feldman (play-by-play) and MIke O'Donnell (analyst).
- Sophomore guard Ray Harrison has made 170 free throws this season, ranking 10th in the nation.
- Graduate forward Noah Baumann, the Phoenix Desert Vista High School graduate, ranks 18th nationally among active players for career 3-point shooting percentage at 42.3%. He is the only active Division I player besides Pacific's Luke Avdalovic to have at least 250 made 3s and 42% accuracy.
- Sophomore guard Chance McMillian is averaging 13.4 points in his 19 starts since replacing Blacksher, the WAC Preseason Player of the Year who underwent season-ending knee surgery in January.
- Senior guard Walter Ellis is averaging 25.4 minutes in the past eight games and shooting 45.5% from 3-point range for the season.
- Junior power forward McGlothan, a Chandler Basha High School graduate, ranks second in the WAC with 7.9 rebounds per game. He is averaging 17.7 points with 59.4% shooting from the field and 48.6% from 3-point range in the past nine games.
- Harrison (38 points vs. Utah Tech), McGlothan (18 rebounds vs. Northern Iowa) and injured junior Jovan Blacksher Jr. (seven steals vs. Grambling) hold the WAC season highs for each category.
- The Lopes are 12-1 when making 10 or more 3-pointers in a game and 18-3 when making eight or more 3s.
- GCU is 15-0 when scoring 78 or more points and is also 15-0 when shooting 48% or better.
- The Lopes rank No. 29 nationally for opponent field goal percentage (40.7%).
- GCU ranks No. 24 nationally for 3-point percentage (37.7%) and averages a WAC-best 8.9 made 3-pointers per game.
- The WAC is ranked as the 11th-strongest conference among 32 nationally by KenPom.com.
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