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Grand Canyon University Athletics
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WAC bracket pits GCU vs. UT Arlington on Tuesday
3/4/2023 10:05:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
5th-seeded Lopes would face Seattle U in quarterfinal with Vegas victory
Grand Canyon now knows its path to its championship goals.
The fifth-seeded Lopes will open the WAC Tournament on Tuesday against 12th-seeded UT Arlington at 3 p.m. (Phoenix time) in Michelob Ultra Arena, located at Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas. If GCU wins, it would face fourth-seeded Seattle U (20-11) in a quarterfinal at 3 p.m. (Phoenix time) in Orleans Arena.
GCU (20-11) enters the tournament on the strength of winning at Southern Utah 83-78 and at Utah Tech 71-61 this week. UT Arlington (11-20) is coming off a 78-59 loss at Utah Valley and an 80-56 loss at Seattle U this week.
"It's nice to have some momentum going into WAC Vegas," Lopes head coach Bryce Drew said after his second consecutive 20-win season.
UT Arlington fired head coach Greg Young on Feb. 11 with six games remaining in the regular season and has been missing a top player, Tolleson (Arizona) High graduate Shemar Wilson, for the past seven games because of a hip issue.
Under interim head coach Royce Johnson, the Mavericks won 75-70 at Stephen F. Austin on Feb. 18 and 71-69 in overtime against Utah Tech on Feb. 25 with junior guard Kyron Gibson stepping into the role of leading scorer.
"I think our guys will get their mind right over in Vegas and be ready to play," Johnson said of UT Arlington's first WAC Tournament. "We'll be playing with desperation. We'll be playing for the same thing. One through 12 is going to be playing for the Western Athletic Conference championship. In our minds, when we get over there, all we're focusing on is trying to win a game on Tuesday. I can promise you that I'll have that team and my staff will have team ready to go on Tuesday. We'll be ready to play."
Gibson is averaging a team-leading 11.0 points per game with 37% 3-point shooting while Wilson, a 6-foot-9 sophomore, was averaging 10.9 points and 7.8 rebounds with 55% shooting before his hip injury.
The Lopes defeated the Mavericks 80-48 on Jan. 12 at GCU Arena, turning a 30-23 deficit into a lopsided victory by holding UT Arlington to 32.7% shooting. With junior center Yvan Ouedraogo out hurt for eight games at the time, the Lopes put five scorers in double figures, led by graduate forward Noah Baumann's 19 points and sophomore guard Ray Harrison's 17 points.
"The most important is that first one," Drew said of the WAC Tournament, where GCU will need to win four games in five days for a title and NCAA tournament berth. "There's always a lot of nerves in that first game. Sometimes, that's one of the hardest to win. All our eyes will be on that first opponent. Then, we'll worry about recovery and everything after that. At some point, adrenalin kicks in."
For ticket information to GCU's first-round session at Michelob Ultra Arena, click here.
The fifth-seeded Lopes will open the WAC Tournament on Tuesday against 12th-seeded UT Arlington at 3 p.m. (Phoenix time) in Michelob Ultra Arena, located at Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas. If GCU wins, it would face fourth-seeded Seattle U (20-11) in a quarterfinal at 3 p.m. (Phoenix time) in Orleans Arena.
GCU (20-11) enters the tournament on the strength of winning at Southern Utah 83-78 and at Utah Tech 71-61 this week. UT Arlington (11-20) is coming off a 78-59 loss at Utah Valley and an 80-56 loss at Seattle U this week.
"It's nice to have some momentum going into WAC Vegas," Lopes head coach Bryce Drew said after his second consecutive 20-win season.UT Arlington fired head coach Greg Young on Feb. 11 with six games remaining in the regular season and has been missing a top player, Tolleson (Arizona) High graduate Shemar Wilson, for the past seven games because of a hip issue.
Under interim head coach Royce Johnson, the Mavericks won 75-70 at Stephen F. Austin on Feb. 18 and 71-69 in overtime against Utah Tech on Feb. 25 with junior guard Kyron Gibson stepping into the role of leading scorer.
"I think our guys will get their mind right over in Vegas and be ready to play," Johnson said of UT Arlington's first WAC Tournament. "We'll be playing with desperation. We'll be playing for the same thing. One through 12 is going to be playing for the Western Athletic Conference championship. In our minds, when we get over there, all we're focusing on is trying to win a game on Tuesday. I can promise you that I'll have that team and my staff will have team ready to go on Tuesday. We'll be ready to play."
Gibson is averaging a team-leading 11.0 points per game with 37% 3-point shooting while Wilson, a 6-foot-9 sophomore, was averaging 10.9 points and 7.8 rebounds with 55% shooting before his hip injury.
The Lopes defeated the Mavericks 80-48 on Jan. 12 at GCU Arena, turning a 30-23 deficit into a lopsided victory by holding UT Arlington to 32.7% shooting. With junior center Yvan Ouedraogo out hurt for eight games at the time, the Lopes put five scorers in double figures, led by graduate forward Noah Baumann's 19 points and sophomore guard Ray Harrison's 17 points.
"The most important is that first one," Drew said of the WAC Tournament, where GCU will need to win four games in five days for a title and NCAA tournament berth. "There's always a lot of nerves in that first game. Sometimes, that's one of the hardest to win. All our eyes will be on that first opponent. Then, we'll worry about recovery and everything after that. At some point, adrenalin kicks in."
For ticket information to GCU's first-round session at Michelob Ultra Arena, click here.
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