Renewal of GCU-ASU moves to Suns' arena

Thursday, Nov. 14 \| 7 p.m. \| Footprint Center \| Phoenix, Ariz.

	ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS (2-1)	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES (2-0)

WATCH: ESPN2 \| LISTEN: 1580 The Fanatic \| STATS: View \| TICKETS: Buy

In 2020, a Grand Canyon-Arizona State game was historic as the men's basketball programs' first meeting in four decades.

When the teams staged a 2021 rematch at ASU, it offered the Valley duel's first full-fledged crowd after COVID-19.

But with three more years of excitement and development about GCU basketball, the Lopes have their first chance to flex their strength as a program and in fan following with a GCU-ASU basketball doubleheader Thursday at Footprint Center.

The Hall of Fame Series starts with a 4:30 p.m. women's game before the GCU men play a 7 p.m. game on ESPN2 in pursuit of its first win against ASU in only the fourth-ever meeting.

"I think it's great for the city of Phoenix," Lopes head coach Bryce Drew said. "Basketball is so good in this city. To be able to be on national TV (ESPN2) and for everyone across the country to see all the energy around basketball in this city is going to be really neat."

No players remain from ASU's wins in 2020 (71-70) and 2021 (67-62), but there are plenty of program ties with GCU players Duke Brennan (day to day with an arm injury) and Malcolm Flaggs (injury redshirt) having transferred from ASU, freshman forward Sammie Yeanay decommitting from ASU to sign with GCU and Lopes assistant coach Jermaine Kimbrough switching benches after coaching three seasons with the Sun Devils.

Drew was an NBA rookie a year after ASU head coach Bobby Hurley played his final season, but the pair befriend each other for preseason scrimmages when Drew coached Valparaiso and Hurley led Buffalo.

"I'm happy for Bryce and what he's done with the program," Hurley told Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. "We've got a lot of ties to GCU. I've been watching them and what they're doing. It's been outstanding. I think it's great for basketball in the state of Arizona.

"It's great that I feel like I have something to gain. Maybe a few years ago, you go into a matchup with GCU and you think, 'I've just got everything to lose in this situation. What do I have to gain from it?' But with their metrics and how good of a year they had last year, this is like we're playing a NCAA tournament team. We have an opportunity to continue to build the resume."

Drew is hoping for an empty GCU campus Thursday with Lope Nation expected to show en masse for a nationally televised major matchup in the Lopes' most anticipated season. The Thursday intrigue increases with the return of WAC Player of the Year Tyon Grant-Foster, joining four teammates who have averaged double-digit scoring in GCU's 2-0 start.

Grant-Foster has not played a game since March 24, when the Lopes lost a NCAA tournament second-round game to Alabama despite his 29 points and eight rebounds.

"It's really hard," Drew said of the game layoff. "Other guys have four games (including two exhibitions) under their belts. His personal rhythm for not playing in a game in such a long time is definitely a concern."

ASU is also a concern, given its rapid development over the past week. The Sun Devils were routed in an exhibition at Duke and struggled offensively to win 55-48 in a Nov. 5 opener against Idaho State. Since then, they defeated projected NCAA tournament team Santa Clara 81-74 with 15 3-pointers in Las Vegas and were within two points of No. 6 Gonzaga in Spokane, Washington, before losing 88-80 on Sunday.

With six transfers and highly touted 17-year-old center Jayden Quaintance, ASU defends differently with less on-ball pressure and more rim protection.

"With every game they've played, they've looked better and better," Drew said of the Sun Devils.

"They have a lot of length and a lot of guys that score the basketball well. They were beating Gonzaga late in the game on the road, and a lot of teams haven't done that in the last two decades. It shows the talent and the capabilities of the team."

ASU also added 6-foot-6 senior BJ Freeman, an aggressive swingman who averaged a Horizon League-best 21.1 points last season for Milwaukee and added 6.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game.

Phoenix, AZ Nov 4, 2024 : Grand Canyon opened the season with a 89-79 home victory over Cal State Fullerton.

Phoenix, AZ Nov 4, 2024 : Grand Canyon opened the season with a 89-79 home victory over Cal State Fullerton.

GCU has not faced ASU in three years, but Lopes graduate forward Lök Wur saw the Sun Devils in his Oregon tenure and GCU senior forward JaKobe Coles played ASU the past two seasons. In 2023, Coles hit the game-winning shot that knocked the Sun Devils out of the NCAA tournament in a Denver Regional game that followed GCU-Gonzaga.

"They take a lot of shots and sometimes they take tough ones," Coles said. "Some are going to go in and some aren't, so you can't get defeated if they make a couple tough shots. As long as we stay poised and stay confident in our ability to defend and score the basketball, I think we'll be good."

The combination of playing the crosstown program in the Suns' and Mercury's arena hits different for the Valley players involved in the game. GCU freshman guard Styles Phipps played four years of prep ball 2 miles north of Footprint Center at St. Mary's High School.

"You can just feel the energy every day leading up to this," Phipps said. "We're playing ASU in the Suns arena, so all the fans are hype and we're hype. It's bragging rights, for sure."

Lope tracks

Lopes seniors JaKobe Coles and Collin Moore each recorded a career-first double-double in the first two games this season. Coles, an Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week, did so twice with career highs for points (26) and rebounds (13) against Cal State Fullerton before having a 16-point, 11-rebound game against Western Kentucky. Moore posted GCU career highs for points (23) and rebounds (10) against Western Kentucky.
GCU senior guard Ray Harrison ranks seventh for career points (2,020) and 10th for career scoring average (16.3) among all active Division I players. Harrison, Alabama's Mark Sears, Arizona's Caleb Love and North Carolina's RJ Davis are the only active D-I players with at least 1,500 career points and 400 career assists.
Thursday's game marks the seventh time in eight years that the Lopes will play at the Phoenix Suns' and Mercury's arena. Only the 2020-21 schedule did not include it because of COVID crowd restrictions.
ASU's top three scorers are first-year Sun Devils: senior guard BJ Freeman (13.7 points per game, Milwaukee transfer), senior guard Alson Mason (13.0, Missouri State transfer) and senior forward Basheer Jihad (9.0, Ball State transfer).
Play-by-play announcer Roxy Bernstein and analyst Sean Farnham will call the game for ESPN2.

Thursday, Nov. 14 | 7 p.m. | Footprint Center | Phoenix, Ariz.

Lope tracks

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Players Mentioned

Duke Brennan

JaKobe Coles

Malcolm Flaggs

Tyon Grant-Foster

Ray Harrison

Collin Moore

Styles Phipps

Lök Wur

Sammie Yeanay

Grand Canyon University Athletics