Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus USC on October 25, 2025 , Loss , 61, to, 67
M Basketball
vs USC
L 61-67
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Grand Canyon University Athletics
Saturday, January 6
St. George, Utah
7 p.m.
Grand Canyon
14-1,4-0WAC
75
at
65
Utah Tech
6-9,2-2WAC
1
2
F
Grand Canyon
27
48
75
Utah Tech
37
28
65
Photo by: David Kadlubowski
Lopes lap Trailblazers for 11th consecutive win
1/6/2024 11:51:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
GCU shakes off 16-point hole to win by 10 with McGlothan's 9-for-12 shooting
ST. GEORGE, Utah – Trust is the gas in the Grand Canyon vehicle. Without it, the Lopes can't get where they want to go.
Before Saturday night's game at Utah Tech, GCU assistant coach Jake Lindsey talked to the players about trust during the team chapel. Then the Lopes displayed trust when they fell behind by 16 points on the road, only to make a 26-point turnaround to snag their 11th consecutive win with a 75-65 final at Burns Arena.
GCU trusted the process, and Lopes head coach Bryce Drew entrusted his leaders and his bench to outscore Utah Tech 54-28 over the final 21 1/2 minutes. GCU is now tied for the nation's second-best record at 14-1 with the nation's fourth-longest active winning streak.
"When we were going down, it was meeting with each other and being like, 'This is a trust game. Trust what we do, trust what Coach says, trust in each other and trust that we have a big God,' " Lopes graduate power forward Gabe McGlothan said.
GCU had a list of clutch performers with junior guard Ray Harrison defending into exhaustion, Tyon Grant-Foster pulling 20 points out of thin air at times and graduates Jovan Blacksher Jr. and Lök Wur having their most important impacts of the season. But McGlothan was essentially exceptional.
When the Lopes struggled in the first half to the point of trailing by 16 points, McGlothan kept GCU afloat by playing with two fouls for 10 first-half minutes and seven second-half minutes before drawing his third foul.
The Lopes fell behind 30-14 before playing the Trailblazers more evenly with offensive patience and a first-half close of six unanswered points, which were capped by a McGlothan 3-pointer to trail 37-27 at halftime.
He stayed on the court for much of GCU's second-half rally and then re-entered late and immediately hit a pivot hook shot with 3:40 to go and two free throws just as Utah Tech had pulled within a possession at 62-59.
McGlothan made 9 of 12 shots, including the sizzle of a vicious and-one poster dunk in which he launched from outside the lane. With an inside-outside array, he has made 28 of 34 shots in away games this season for the highest road shooting percentage (82.3%) of any player in the nation who has at least 25 attempts.
"He's been incredible," Drew said of McGlothan. "The stretch of basketball that he's on right now is as good as anyone in the country with how efficient he is, the type of plays he's making and when he's making them. I'm really happy for him because he stuck with GCU all these years. He works extremely hard, and he's exactly what you want for a GCU student-athlete."
GCU went 3 for 15 from the field with four turnovers to open the game. Utah Tech pounced for a 21-7 lead and built multiple leads of 16 with four first-half 3-pointers by junior guard Noa Gonsalves.
With Harrison defending him, Gonsalves did not make a second-half 3.
"That's why I used timeouts to be able to rest Ray because he was so tired from playing defense like that," Drew said. "That's the sacrifice he made on offense to give his energy on defense. Ray's a winner."
Harrison still drew fouls repeatedly with his aggressive drives, scoring nine of his 16 points on free throws while expending a defensive effort that resulted in a career-high tying four steals.
When the Lopes enjoyed a 28-9 stretch over the middle 10 minutes of the second half, the bench efforts of Blacksher and Wur were major cogs in it.
Blacksher, in his sixth game since returning from knee surgery rehabilitation, played his best defense and gave GCU one of its biggest momentum plays with a backdoor layup off Harrison's assist.
"It's hard for him because of the injury, coming back not starting and coming back into getting minutes, but he's huge for us," said McGlothan, Blacksher's longest-tenure teammate. "Even in practice, he's pushing us. He's being a leader and getting us better. To see him have a huge impact out here and get his flowers was really nice."
Wur, the 6-foot-9 Oregon transfer, had a solid stat line with six points, two rebounds and two steals, but his story was told in his plus/minus – a plus-19 in 16 minutes.
Wur gave the lineup length and versatility on defense and another transition player when the defense sprung fastbreaks.
"Lök was tremendous," Drew said. "Lök works too hard. Good things are going to happen for him. He was really good on defense and had some great finishes around the basket. He was a huge part."
With Tarleton State (3-0 in WAC) idle Saturday, GCU took sole possession of first place in the WAC at 4-0 Saturday night while extending the nation's sixth-longest active winning streak to 11 games.
Grant-Foster scored 14 of his 20 in the second half to help get the Lopes there, getting all of those points at the rim with his driving ability and fastbreak finishes.
"That's why they're the No. 1 team in our league," Utah Tech head coach Jon Judkins said."They're a really good team. We knew they weren't going to die down when we built a lead."
"To me, the whole change in the game was they got into us and they got physical."
When the Trailblazers were rolling, they were dominating the boards for a 25-9 first-half advantage that only allowed one offensive rebound to GCU, which entered the game ranked 13th nationally for offensive rebounding percentage.
The Lopes grabbed six offensive rebounds in the second half and scored off four of them, including a pair of key baskets during the stretch that washed away Utah Tech's last lead.
No GCU team has been 14-1 since 1995-96, when the Lopes went 19-1 in Division II.
"It was a big gut-check game," McGlothan said. "Everyone is going to give us their best in this conference. We have a target on our back, and it's clear to see. That's what we want, but with that comes people's best. We have to make sure that, when people give us their first punch, we can handle it and we can punch back."
The Lopes play their next three games at Global Credit Union Arena in Phoenix, starting with a Thursday night visit from Abilene Christian before Tarleton State enters on Saturday night.
Before Saturday night's game at Utah Tech, GCU assistant coach Jake Lindsey talked to the players about trust during the team chapel. Then the Lopes displayed trust when they fell behind by 16 points on the road, only to make a 26-point turnaround to snag their 11th consecutive win with a 75-65 final at Burns Arena.
GCU trusted the process, and Lopes head coach Bryce Drew entrusted his leaders and his bench to outscore Utah Tech 54-28 over the final 21 1/2 minutes. GCU is now tied for the nation's second-best record at 14-1 with the nation's fourth-longest active winning streak.
"When we were going down, it was meeting with each other and being like, 'This is a trust game. Trust what we do, trust what Coach says, trust in each other and trust that we have a big God,' " Lopes graduate power forward Gabe McGlothan said.
GCU had a list of clutch performers with junior guard Ray Harrison defending into exhaustion, Tyon Grant-Foster pulling 20 points out of thin air at times and graduates Jovan Blacksher Jr. and Lök Wur having their most important impacts of the season. But McGlothan was essentially exceptional.When the Lopes struggled in the first half to the point of trailing by 16 points, McGlothan kept GCU afloat by playing with two fouls for 10 first-half minutes and seven second-half minutes before drawing his third foul.
The Lopes fell behind 30-14 before playing the Trailblazers more evenly with offensive patience and a first-half close of six unanswered points, which were capped by a McGlothan 3-pointer to trail 37-27 at halftime.
He stayed on the court for much of GCU's second-half rally and then re-entered late and immediately hit a pivot hook shot with 3:40 to go and two free throws just as Utah Tech had pulled within a possession at 62-59.
McGlothan made 9 of 12 shots, including the sizzle of a vicious and-one poster dunk in which he launched from outside the lane. With an inside-outside array, he has made 28 of 34 shots in away games this season for the highest road shooting percentage (82.3%) of any player in the nation who has at least 25 attempts.
"He's been incredible," Drew said of McGlothan. "The stretch of basketball that he's on right now is as good as anyone in the country with how efficient he is, the type of plays he's making and when he's making them. I'm really happy for him because he stuck with GCU all these years. He works extremely hard, and he's exactly what you want for a GCU student-athlete."
GCU went 3 for 15 from the field with four turnovers to open the game. Utah Tech pounced for a 21-7 lead and built multiple leads of 16 with four first-half 3-pointers by junior guard Noa Gonsalves.
With Harrison defending him, Gonsalves did not make a second-half 3."That's why I used timeouts to be able to rest Ray because he was so tired from playing defense like that," Drew said. "That's the sacrifice he made on offense to give his energy on defense. Ray's a winner."
Harrison still drew fouls repeatedly with his aggressive drives, scoring nine of his 16 points on free throws while expending a defensive effort that resulted in a career-high tying four steals.
When the Lopes enjoyed a 28-9 stretch over the middle 10 minutes of the second half, the bench efforts of Blacksher and Wur were major cogs in it.
Blacksher, in his sixth game since returning from knee surgery rehabilitation, played his best defense and gave GCU one of its biggest momentum plays with a backdoor layup off Harrison's assist.
"It's hard for him because of the injury, coming back not starting and coming back into getting minutes, but he's huge for us," said McGlothan, Blacksher's longest-tenure teammate. "Even in practice, he's pushing us. He's being a leader and getting us better. To see him have a huge impact out here and get his flowers was really nice."
Wur, the 6-foot-9 Oregon transfer, had a solid stat line with six points, two rebounds and two steals, but his story was told in his plus/minus – a plus-19 in 16 minutes.Wur gave the lineup length and versatility on defense and another transition player when the defense sprung fastbreaks.
"Lök was tremendous," Drew said. "Lök works too hard. Good things are going to happen for him. He was really good on defense and had some great finishes around the basket. He was a huge part."
With Tarleton State (3-0 in WAC) idle Saturday, GCU took sole possession of first place in the WAC at 4-0 Saturday night while extending the nation's sixth-longest active winning streak to 11 games.
Grant-Foster scored 14 of his 20 in the second half to help get the Lopes there, getting all of those points at the rim with his driving ability and fastbreak finishes.
"That's why they're the No. 1 team in our league," Utah Tech head coach Jon Judkins said."They're a really good team. We knew they weren't going to die down when we built a lead."
"To me, the whole change in the game was they got into us and they got physical."
When the Trailblazers were rolling, they were dominating the boards for a 25-9 first-half advantage that only allowed one offensive rebound to GCU, which entered the game ranked 13th nationally for offensive rebounding percentage.
The Lopes grabbed six offensive rebounds in the second half and scored off four of them, including a pair of key baskets during the stretch that washed away Utah Tech's last lead.
No GCU team has been 14-1 since 1995-96, when the Lopes went 19-1 in Division II.
"It was a big gut-check game," McGlothan said. "Everyone is going to give us their best in this conference. We have a target on our back, and it's clear to see. That's what we want, but with that comes people's best. We have to make sure that, when people give us their first punch, we can handle it and we can punch back."
The Lopes play their next three games at Global Credit Union Arena in Phoenix, starting with a Thursday night visit from Abilene Christian before Tarleton State enters on Saturday night.
Team Stats
GCU
UTTECH
FG%
.491
.451
3FG%
.200
.300
FT%
.667
.619
RB
27
39
TO
10
21
STL
11
4
Game Leaders
Pts
23
FGM
9
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
20
FGM
8
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
16
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
9
Players Mentioned
G
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