Regular-season finale can build tourney momentum

Friday, March 3 \| 7 p.m. (Phoenix time) \| Burns Arena \| St. George, Utah

	GRAND CANYON LOPES (19-11, 10-7 WAC)	at	UTAH TECH TRAILBLAZERS (13-17, 5-12 WAC)

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ST. GEORGE, Utah — Grand Canyon is undefeated in March. If it can still stay that at the end of next week, the Lopes will be dancing.

That is why the carryover from Wednesday's month-opening victory at Southern Utah to a win Friday night at Utah Tech is more paramount to the Lopes' hopes than any seeding scenario outside their control.

GCU (19-11, 10-7 WAC) is going for a second consecutive 20-win season in its regular-season finale at Utah Tech, but that victory coupled with a loss by either Seattle U or Southern Utah on Friday night would gift the Lopes a first-round bye in next week's WAC Tournament.

Cedar City, UT - March, 1. GCU tops Southern Utah 83-78 at the America First Event Center in Cedar City, Utah. (Photo by: David Kadlubowski/GCU)

Cedar City, UT - March, 1. GCU tops Southern Utah 83-78 at the America First Event Center in Cedar City, Utah. (Photo by: David Kadlubowski/GCU)

Southern Utah (19-11, 11-6 WAC) plays at home against California Baptist (16-14, 8-9 WAC). Seattle U also is at home against UT Arlington (11-19, 6-11 WAC).

The Lopes are more interested in playing their best basketball entering the tournament. Wednesday was a quality start, giving Southern Utah its first home loss since November, but they need to show a new consistency that will be needed for either three wins in three days or four wins in five days at the WAC Tournament, depending on their seed. GCU has split every two-game conference week this season.

"We've got to keep going with the strides that me made and stay on the right track," said Lopes junior center Yvan Ouedraogo, who was out injured when GCU beat Utah Tech 89-85 on Jan. 18 with Trailblazers leading scorer Cameron Gooden also out. "We're going to have a lot of games to play next week, so we're going to have to be able to carry over a win to the next game and learn from it."

GCU could be playing as early as Tuesday afternoon in Las Vegas if it is in a first-round tournament game.

"The tournament matters," Lopes head coach Bryce Drew said. "We want to be able to fresh, be healthy and be ready to go in that tournament. Yes, we're going to give all we can to win this last game, but also that tournament is very quick for that tournament."

Utah Tech has GCU's attention after playing its best game of the season Wednesday to trounce Seattle U 93-56. The Trailblazers shot a season-best 61% from the field, made 10 of 18 shots from 3-point range and led 35-18 after nine minutes.

The Lopes also lost 61-60 at Utah Tech last season when it had a chance to pull within a game of first place.

Cedar City, UT - March, 1. GCU tops Southern Utah 83-78 at the America First Event Center in Cedar City, Utah. (Photo by: David Kadlubowski/GCU)

"It's always good to see that the guys responded," Ouedraogo said of Wednesday's win. "We're still locked in at the end of the season to do great things in March. It was really good enough for all of us mentally and for WAC Vegas."

After GCU's practice in St. George, the team watched "Creed 3" on Thursday night in St. George. The Lopes hope to draw the cinematic inspiration in that, just as they did after a players-only meeting they held the night before winning Wednesday at Southern Utah.

"It really helped us as far as what we're playing for and to come closer as brothers," said GCU sophomore guard Ray Harrison, who scored 29 points at Southern Utah. "The main thing we talked about was just how we want to finish the season. We know things haven't gone our way or how we expected them to coming into the season. All that matters at this point is just how we finish.

"If anybody can do it, I know we can. Everything that's already happened up to this point, it doesn't matter. We just want to finish out strong going into the tournament with some momentum and shake the room."

Lope tracks

GCU won its last two games against Utah Tech, including an 89-85 home win this season, but lost 61-60 in last season's visit to Burns Arena. The Lopes are 8-13 in the overall series but 4-1 in the Division I era.
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 made 147 free throws this season, ranking 22nd in the nation. He is the WAC's leading scorer in conference games at 20.3 points per game.
After going 40 for 87 (46%) on 3-pointers since Nov. 29, 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 13.7 points in his 15 starts since replacing WAC Preseason Player of the Year Jovan Blacksher Jr., who underwent season-ending knee surgery.
Senior guard Walter Ellis played 61 minutes in the previous two games. That is 21 more than his highest GCU two-game total before it.
McGlothan's season average of 7.9 rebounds per game ranks second in the WAC.
The Lopes are 10-1 when making 10 or more 3-pointers in a game.
The Lopes are 12-0 when scoring 78 ot more points. They are 11-0 when they shoot 48% or better.
GCU ranks No. 19 nationally for opponent field goal percentage (40.2%).
The Lopes rank 40th for 3-point percentage (37.1%) with a WAC-best 8.7 made 3-pointers per game.
The WAC is ranked as the 11th-strongest conference among 32 nationally by KenPom.com.

WAC Resume Seeding System (updated March 2)
Rank	Team	Record (WAC only)	WAC points
1.	Sam Houston	22-7 (13-3)	6.29
2.	Utah Valley	22-6 (12-4)	6.12
3.	Southern Utah	19-10 (11-5)	3.30
4.	Seattle U	19-10 (10-6)	3.25
5.	GCU	19-10 (11-5)	1.74
6.	Stephen F. Austin	18-11 (9-7)	1.51
7.	Tarleton	15-15 (9-9)	-0.08
8.	California Baptist	15-14 (7-9)	-1.85
9.	Abilene Christian	13-15 (7-10)	-2.35
10.	UT Rio Grande Valley	15-15 (6-11)	-2.68
11.	Utah Tech	12-17 (4-11)	-3.37
12.	UT Arlington	11-18 (6-10)	-4.49
13.	New Mexico State	Disqualified

The WAC Resume Seeding System will determine seeding for the 12-team WAC Tournament. The top four seeds will receive first-round byes.

Friday, March 3 | 7 p.m. (Phoenix time) | Burns Arena | St. George, Utah

Lope tracks

WAC Resume Seeding System (updated March 2)

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jovan Blacksher Jr.

Walter Ellis

Ray Harrison

Gabe McGlothan

Chance McMillian

Yvan Ouedraogo

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