Hot play snowballs with Blacksher rounding to form

Saturday, Jan. 20 \| 78 p.m. (Phoenix time) \| Redhawk Center \| Seattle, Wash.

	GRAND CANYON LOPES (17-1, 7-0 WAC)	at	Seattle U REDHAWKS (10-8, 3-4 WAC)

WATCH: ESPN+ \| LISTEN: 1580 The Fanatic \| STATS: View

SEATTLE – If Grand Canyon was a NBA team, adding Jovan Blacksher Jr. to what it was already doing was like a top contender making a midseason acquisition that makes competitors cringe.

The Lopes already were rolling before Blacksher came aboard last month. And with him finding more of his All-WAC first-team form, GCU is capable of hitting another level that teams with the nation's best record (17-1) and a 14-game winning streak seldom still have to win.

Coming off his best performance of the season, Blacksher enhances a GCU lineup that starts a difficult stretch of three consecutive road games with a Saturday night stop at Seattle U. The Lopes' attempt to extend the nation's second-longest active winning streak to 15 will be streamed on ESPN+.

"Sometimes you'll see when he (Blacksher) is dribbling, his ability to just blow by a guy where he's done that in his past," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "Every game, it's getting better and better. We're just in the middle of January. We still have 50 some days until the conference tournament. If he keeps improving, getting back to who he is, that's a great thing for him and us."

Phoenix, AZ Jan. 18, 2024 Grand Canyon bumped its nation-leading record to 17-1 with their 78-65 win over Utah Valley at Global Credit Union Arena in Phoenix. David Kadlubowski/GCU

Phoenix, AZ Jan. 18, 2024 Grand Canyon bumped its nation-leading record to 17-1 with their 78-65 win over Utah Valley at Global Credit Union Arena in Phoenix. David Kadlubowski/GCU

For a player who started his first 97 games at GCU, returning from an 11-month absence for knee surgery and rehabilitation as a reserve was challenging enough. But he is doing so with mostly new teammates.

Yet, in Thursday night's win, Blacksher proved essential to the victory with 13 points, four steals and four rebounds in 20 minutes.

"I want to be the true PG (point guard), so getting my guys involved and also getting back my rhythm," Blacksher said. "I'm trying to get comfortable. Every game, I feel better, so it's a progression and a process."

Since entering GCU as a playmaker from Phoenix's Shadow Mountain High School in 2019, Blacksher evolved a well-rounded game with reliable perimeter shooting and pesky defense. He entered last season as the WAC Preseason Player of the Year but his season ended on Jan. 5, 2023, where his right knee's anterior cruiciate ligament tore on a dribble drive at Sam Houston.

With his resumption of play, Blacksher has moved within three points of eighth place on the all-time scoring list and within 11 assists of third on the all-time assists list.

"It's a huge honor," Blacksher said. "I'm blessed. I came here to leave a legacy, and hopefully that's what I'm doing."

Road work

Over 10 days, the Lopes will play consecutive road games at Seattle U, Stephen F. Austin and UT Arlington, who are three of GCU's top four contenders in WAC Resume Seeding System rankings (see below).

"I go back to all my years here, and I think this is the toughest stretch we've had since we've been here," Drew said. "To play three straight and to play a good Seattle team, a good SFA team and a good Arlington team three straight games on the road, that's really a brutal stretch."

Coach Brennan moves close

GCU sophomore center Duke Brennan comes from a football family, and that showed when he was a pass-rushing defensive end and punt blocker when he began high school at Perry in nearby Gilibert.

It is more obvious with his father's cousin, Brent Brennan, who was named Arizona football's head coach this week after a successful stint leading San Jose State. Brent has been like an uncle to Duke.

"It was a great day," Brennan said. "Him going down there to coach a great team that had a great season last year is amazing. It's going to be super cool next year. You'll see me down in Tucson a couple more times now. There'll be a ton of us going down. There'll be family members trying to stay at our house before games."

Brennan's father, Bill, played football at Cal State Fullerton and another late second cousin, Colt, finished third in 2007 Heisman Trophy voting as Hawaii's quarterback. Other family members played college football, but Duke and his cousin Dillon Wilhite, a 6-foot-9 Kansas power forward, outgrew the sport.

Lope tracks

GCU's 17-1 record is its best start to a season since 1995-96, when it went 19-1 in Division II play. Thursday's win set their best home start (10-0) of their Division I era.
The Lopes were No. 42 in Friday's update of the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings.
Lopes junior guard Ray Harrison ranks 11th nationally for career scoring average (16.8) among active Division I players.
McGlothan ranks 14th among active Division I players for career rebounds (934).
GCU's 14 consecutive wins mark its longest in-season winning streak since the 1978-79 Lopes won 17 in a row in Division II play.
The Lopes rank in the national top 25 for field goal percentage (18th, 49.2%), blocks per game (ninth, 5.7), free throws made per game (16th, 17.8) and rebound margin (22nd, plus-7.9 per game).
Lopes graduate point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. has 1,276 career points, putting him four points away from passing Kenny Archbold for eighth on the GCU all-time scoring list.
Seattle U leading scorer Cameron Tyson missed the past two games for an ankle injury. The 6-foot-3 guard began his career at Idaho in 2018-19, spent two years at Houston and is averaging 17.3 points per game in his third year with Seattle U. He makes 3.1 shots from 3-pointe range per game to rank 21st nationally.
The Redhawks rank 11th nationally for opponent 3-point percentage, allowing just 27.8% shooting from beyond the arc.

WAC Resume Seeding System (updated Jan. 19)
Rank	Team	Record (WAC only)	WAC points
1.	GCU	17-1 (7-0)	5.62
2.	Tarleton State	11-6 (4-2)	0.64
3.	Stephen F. Austin	12-6 (5-2)	0.28
4.	UT Arlington	9-9 (4-3)	-0.64
5.	Seattle U	10-8 (3-4)	-1.02
6.	Utah Valley	8-10 (3-4)	-1.48
7.	California Baptist	10-7 (3-3)	-1.65
8.	Utah Tech	7-10 (3-3)	-2.25
9.	Abilene Christian	6-11 (1-5)	-3.25
10.	Southern Utah	6-11 (1-5)	-4.02
11.	UT Rio Grande Valley	6-12 (2-5)	-4.77

The WAC Resume Seeding System will determine seeding for the eight-team WAC Tournament. The top two seeds will receive first- and second-round byes. The third and fourth seeds will receive first-round byes.

Saturday, Jan. 20 | 78 p.m. (Phoenix time) | Redhawk Center | Seattle, Wash.

Road work

Coach Brennan moves close

Lope tracks

WAC Resume Seeding System (updated Jan. 19)

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jovan Blacksher Jr.

Duke Brennan

Ray Harrison

Grand Canyon University Athletics