Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball at Baylor on October 10, 2025 at 2 p.m. (MST)
M Basketball
2 p.m. (MST)
at Baylor
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Grand Canyon University Athletics
Tuesday, November 26
Palm Desert, Calif. / Acrisure Arena
5 p.m. (MST)
Grand Canyon
4-2,0-0WAC
78
vs
71
Stanford
6-1,0-0ACC
1
2
F
Stanford
33
38
71
Grand Canyon
32
46
78
Photo by: David Kadlubowski
Depth, defense deliver for GCU in Stanford's 1st loss
11/26/2024 8:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
Lopes put 5 scorers in double figures, hold Cardinal to 38% shooting
PALM DESERT, Calif. – Maybe Grand Canyon just experienced a longer preseason than everyone else.
With its full lineup back on the court for a second game, GCU carried over the teamwork of its restored rotation's first win by delivering Stanford's first loss with depth and defense on Tuesday. Five double-digit scorers, not including WAC Player of the Year Tyon Grant-Foster, sent the Lopes to the 78-71 victory at the Acrisure Holiday Invitational in Acrisure Arena.
GCU (4-2) held Stanford (6-1) to 38% shooting despite Cardinal star Maxime Raynaud positing 29 points and 11 rebounds. The rest of the Cardinal players made as many shots combined (12) on twice as many attempts (42) as the 7-foot-1 center (12 of 21).
The Lopes followed up the ball-sharing and 3-point shooting of Friday's win, their first game this season with junior center Duke Brennan, by being balanced for better teamwork to dissect Stanford's 2-3 matchup zone. With about 2,000 Havocs and other GCU fans taking over an arena corner, the Lopes kept the lead for the final 10:35 of the game.
"It feels different," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said of the two wins since Brennan made the lineup whole. "It looks different. You could tell that first minute in the Norfolk State game (Friday with Duke back) we just already looked like a totally different team.
"It gets people back to their natural positions, some where they're comfortable, and gets guys that were starting to come off the bench really comfortable. Other guys don't have to play as many minutes."
GCU and Stanford were tied at 49-49 before a Lopes 7-0 run was capped by senior guard Ray Harrison's 3-pointer on one of Grant-Foster's five assists, which tied his career high. The graduate swingman did not join Harrison and four other Lopes in double figures, but he impacted the game by sharing the team rebounding lead (eight) and adding three blocked shots and a steal despite an ankle roll.
The Cardinal called timeout trailing 56-49 after Harrison's 3 with 8:20 to go but never pulled within a possession again.
After slowing the pace to its liking in the first half, GCU sped up Stanford in the second half. The Cardinal went 2 for 8 over the final 3 1/2 minutes, which included a key steal by GCU senior guard Collin Moore. That change of possession averted a Cardinal chance to cut the Lopes lead to three or four points and set up a pair of Harrison free throws for GCU to go ahead 70-62 with 1:31 remaining.
"They definitely outcompeted us in the second half," Stanford head coach Kyle Smith said of GCU on Cardinal radio. "They're a little more experienced, quicker and stronger.
"They seized a couple opportunities to take (the lead) from five to seven and put pressure on us to make bad plays."
The Lopes continued to thrive on volume and proficiency at the free throw line. GCU attacked Stanford more and increased the tempo in the second half to draw fouls, leading to making 17 of 21 free throws after halftime.The Lopes shot a season-high 79.3% on free throws for the game.
"I loved how we shared the ball," Drew said. "I thought our free throw shooting was huge, 23 of 29, and I just loved the toughness our guys played with throughout the whole game."
The restoration of the GCU rotation has put sophomore guard Makaih Williams back in a sixth man role and allowed graduate forward Lök Wur to also come off the bench. Wur gave GCU key minutes at the
end of the first half against Raynaud when Brennan sat the final 7:35 following his second foul. The Lopes played the Cardinal even in that stretch to trail 33-32 at halftime.
"Lök was fantastic during that stretch," Drew said. "He had a great steal on post defense, hit a nice layup and really gave us a nice burst."
Williams scored 12 of his season-high 14 points in the second half. After being in the nation's top 20 for 3-point shooting percentage last season, the 2023-24 WAC Freshman of the Year started this season 4 for 17 on 3s until he hit both of his 3-pointers in Tuesday's second half.
Angering himself with two missed free throws just as GCU had taken the lead for good, Williams aggressively drove and his second 3-pointer gave the Lopes a 64-56 lead with 5:05 remaining.
"I just took more opportunities to score, honestly," Williams said. "I was being more aggressive.
"After my two missed free throws, I was just mad the whole time, so basically I just went beast mode."
Moore scored eight of his team-high 15 points on free throws while Brennan and Williams each score14 points in less than 30 minutes. Harrison added 13 points and senior forward Jakobe Coles scored 10 with four assists.
GCU shot 46% from the field and only took 12 of its 54 shots from 3-point range. The Lopes shooting was a season high for a Stanford opponent, while the Cardinal's 38% shooting was a GCU opponent season low.
"A big thing was effort," Drew said. "We really tried to work a lot of days on the scout to try to get them really locked in and try to remove any confusion that they would have on assignments.
"We wanted to make it hard for those guys. And then, Raynaud, we knew he was going to score some because he just has too much run through him and he's a really good player. We just didn't want him to shoot a great percentage."
A 4-2 GCU team feels more like a 2-0 squad to the Lopes, who took a 54-27 halftime lead on Norfolk State in their first game with Brennan back from injury on Friday night and carried it over by beating a Stanford team that was 6-0. The Cardinal committed 13 turnovers, four more than its season average.
"All week, we were preaching about effort, energy, defense, just doing the little things," Williams said. "We came together as a team. We just played our best. We played a full two halves. That's what we really needed."
The Lopes felt ahead upon the bus' arrival at Acrisure Arena, where a pregame tailgate party of Lopes fans awaited them before taking over a corner of the Coachella Valley arena. Several buses of GCU students made the four-hour trip from campus.
"We were pulling up to the arena and you glance out to the right as we're pulling up and see a sea of purple," Drew said.
GCU will get a Thanksgiving break before returning to Global Credit Union Arena next Tuesday to play Hawaii (5-1).
With its full lineup back on the court for a second game, GCU carried over the teamwork of its restored rotation's first win by delivering Stanford's first loss with depth and defense on Tuesday. Five double-digit scorers, not including WAC Player of the Year Tyon Grant-Foster, sent the Lopes to the 78-71 victory at the Acrisure Holiday Invitational in Acrisure Arena.
GCU (4-2) held Stanford (6-1) to 38% shooting despite Cardinal star Maxime Raynaud positing 29 points and 11 rebounds. The rest of the Cardinal players made as many shots combined (12) on twice as many attempts (42) as the 7-foot-1 center (12 of 21).
The Lopes followed up the ball-sharing and 3-point shooting of Friday's win, their first game this season with junior center Duke Brennan, by being balanced for better teamwork to dissect Stanford's 2-3 matchup zone. With about 2,000 Havocs and other GCU fans taking over an arena corner, the Lopes kept the lead for the final 10:35 of the game.
"It feels different," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said of the two wins since Brennan made the lineup whole. "It looks different. You could tell that first minute in the Norfolk State game (Friday with Duke back) we just already looked like a totally different team.
"It gets people back to their natural positions, some where they're comfortable, and gets guys that were starting to come off the bench really comfortable. Other guys don't have to play as many minutes."GCU and Stanford were tied at 49-49 before a Lopes 7-0 run was capped by senior guard Ray Harrison's 3-pointer on one of Grant-Foster's five assists, which tied his career high. The graduate swingman did not join Harrison and four other Lopes in double figures, but he impacted the game by sharing the team rebounding lead (eight) and adding three blocked shots and a steal despite an ankle roll.
The Cardinal called timeout trailing 56-49 after Harrison's 3 with 8:20 to go but never pulled within a possession again.
After slowing the pace to its liking in the first half, GCU sped up Stanford in the second half. The Cardinal went 2 for 8 over the final 3 1/2 minutes, which included a key steal by GCU senior guard Collin Moore. That change of possession averted a Cardinal chance to cut the Lopes lead to three or four points and set up a pair of Harrison free throws for GCU to go ahead 70-62 with 1:31 remaining.
"They definitely outcompeted us in the second half," Stanford head coach Kyle Smith said of GCU on Cardinal radio. "They're a little more experienced, quicker and stronger.
"They seized a couple opportunities to take (the lead) from five to seven and put pressure on us to make bad plays."
The Lopes continued to thrive on volume and proficiency at the free throw line. GCU attacked Stanford more and increased the tempo in the second half to draw fouls, leading to making 17 of 21 free throws after halftime.The Lopes shot a season-high 79.3% on free throws for the game.
"I loved how we shared the ball," Drew said. "I thought our free throw shooting was huge, 23 of 29, and I just loved the toughness our guys played with throughout the whole game."
The restoration of the GCU rotation has put sophomore guard Makaih Williams back in a sixth man role and allowed graduate forward Lök Wur to also come off the bench. Wur gave GCU key minutes at the
end of the first half against Raynaud when Brennan sat the final 7:35 following his second foul. The Lopes played the Cardinal even in that stretch to trail 33-32 at halftime."Lök was fantastic during that stretch," Drew said. "He had a great steal on post defense, hit a nice layup and really gave us a nice burst."
Williams scored 12 of his season-high 14 points in the second half. After being in the nation's top 20 for 3-point shooting percentage last season, the 2023-24 WAC Freshman of the Year started this season 4 for 17 on 3s until he hit both of his 3-pointers in Tuesday's second half.
Angering himself with two missed free throws just as GCU had taken the lead for good, Williams aggressively drove and his second 3-pointer gave the Lopes a 64-56 lead with 5:05 remaining.
"I just took more opportunities to score, honestly," Williams said. "I was being more aggressive.
"After my two missed free throws, I was just mad the whole time, so basically I just went beast mode."
Moore scored eight of his team-high 15 points on free throws while Brennan and Williams each score14 points in less than 30 minutes. Harrison added 13 points and senior forward Jakobe Coles scored 10 with four assists.
GCU shot 46% from the field and only took 12 of its 54 shots from 3-point range. The Lopes shooting was a season high for a Stanford opponent, while the Cardinal's 38% shooting was a GCU opponent season low.
"A big thing was effort," Drew said. "We really tried to work a lot of days on the scout to try to get them really locked in and try to remove any confusion that they would have on assignments.
"We wanted to make it hard for those guys. And then, Raynaud, we knew he was going to score some because he just has too much run through him and he's a really good player. We just didn't want him to shoot a great percentage."
A 4-2 GCU team feels more like a 2-0 squad to the Lopes, who took a 54-27 halftime lead on Norfolk State in their first game with Brennan back from injury on Friday night and carried it over by beating a Stanford team that was 6-0. The Cardinal committed 13 turnovers, four more than its season average.
"All week, we were preaching about effort, energy, defense, just doing the little things," Williams said. "We came together as a team. We just played our best. We played a full two halves. That's what we really needed."
The Lopes felt ahead upon the bus' arrival at Acrisure Arena, where a pregame tailgate party of Lopes fans awaited them before taking over a corner of the Coachella Valley arena. Several buses of GCU students made the four-hour trip from campus.
"We were pulling up to the arena and you glance out to the right as we're pulling up and see a sea of purple," Drew said.
GCU will get a Thanksgiving break before returning to Global Credit Union Arena next Tuesday to play Hawaii (5-1).
Team Stats
Stan
GCU
FG%
.381
.463
3FG%
.182
.417
FT%
.792
.793
RB
38
32
TO
13
12
STL
3
8
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
15
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
8
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
14
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
13
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
5
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
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