Late surge comes up short in Georgia

Saturday, December 14

Atlanta, Ga. / State Farm Arena

4 p.m. (MST)

Grand Canyon

6-3,0-0WAC

Georgia

9-1,0-0SEC

Grand Canyon

Georgia

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

12/14/2024 9:28:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

Lopes rally to within 3 but fall to 9-1 Bulldgos in Atlanta

By: Paul Coro

ATLANTA – Grand Canyon already came a long way to play Georgia and then the Lopes wound up off course Saturday night to create another long path to beating the Bulldogs.

GCU needed to rally from an 11-point halftime deficit Saturday at the Atlanta Hawks' State Farm Arena and nearly completed the journey before a pair of last-minute Lopes shots to tie the game missed and left GCU with a 73-68 loss to Georgia.

The narrow defeat to a 9-1 Bulldogs team playing near their Athens home does not appear on the surface to be as disappointing as how it unfolded for the Lopes. GCU's aggressive second-half effort could not overcome their season-worst shooting (37% from the field, 26% from 3-point range) against the big Bulldogs.

Georgia shot 51% from the field and led 66-56 with three minutes to go when the Lopes made one last run. GCU senior guard Collin Moore started a 7-0 rally with a 3-pointer, his lone bucket on only two attempts.

Atlanta, GA Dec. 13, 2024 : The Lopes take a 68-73 loss to Georgia in the 2024 Holiday Hoopsgiving at State Farm Arena. David Kadlubowski/GCU

A blocked shot by graduate swingman Tyon Grant-Foster, two free throws from senior guard Ray Harrison and a layup by senior forward JaKobe Coles set up a situation in which the Lopes trailed 71-68 with possession. With less than a minute remaining, Grant-Foster (2 for 17 from the field, 0 for 8 on 3s) and Coles (4 for 10 from the field, 1 for 5 on 3s) each missed open 3s to tie and Georgia put away the win.

GCU went from a 23-point first half, its season-worst scoring half by nine points, to a 45-point second half.

"I loved our second half," Lopes head coach Bryce Drew said of the second-longest trip of his five-season tenure. "We played really well. We played tough. We played physical. We played together.

"We had two really good looks in that last minute to tie the game. We wanted to put pressure on them. If we make one of those 3s and get one stop, I think we can save for one shot at the end. Unfortunately, we had two good looks and they just didn't got down."

Georgia, ranked No. 21 in NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET), is top 20 nationally for blocking and making shots. Its nine blocks exceed its 6.1 average that ranked third. Its 51% shooting was nearly in line with 50% shooting on the season.

However, the Bulldogs did not approach their average scoring margin of plus-18 on the season.

"I thought they defended at a really high level," Georgia head coach Mike White said of the Lopes. "We never got into a great offensive rhythm. It wasn't clean for us offensively, and they had a lot to do with that. Very physical game."

After a 16-16 tie, GCU made four of its nine first-half turnovers and gave up a 10-0 run that led to a 34-23 halftime hole. The Lopes emerged differently with an 8-0 run before Coles missed a 3 to tie and Georgia stretched the lead back to double digits.
GCU went 9 for 18 from the field in the last nine minutes and went 11 for 11 on second-half free throws to nearly be the first team other than No. 6 Marquette to beat Georgia.

Atlanta, GA Dec. 13, 2024 : The Lopes take a 68-73 loss to Georgia in the 2024 Holiday Hoopsgiving at State Farm Arena. David Kadlubowski/GCU

"It just shows that even when we're not at our best, we can be in the game with anybody based on our team and personnel," said Lopes graduate Lök Wur, who delivered 11 points and nine rebounds off the bench. We dug ourselves in a hole. It was a big emphasis at halftime to get back to ourselves and chip at the lead bit by bit.

"We felt like we should've won the game. A lot of plays didn't go our way, but we showed our fight for sure."

The Lopes also juggled foul trouble for three starters against Georgia's tall frontline, which features 6-foot-11 freshman Asa Newell. The projected NBA first-round draft pick finished with 17 points to lead the Bulldogs' 42-28 advantage in points in the paint.

Drew commended GCU junior center Duke Brennan for setting the second-half physicality tone on his 10-point, eight-rebound night.

"The first half wasn't our best effort," Brennan said. "We could've played way better in the first half. We played a good 20 minutes. But to beat teams like that, you can't just play 20 minutes. They had some big guys and we battled. I think we showed our toughness in the second half.

"I'm used to playing the big, strong guys, but they had five of them. It was a different challenge."

GCU also implemented a more aggressive 2-3 zone in the second half with the back-side wings playing higher. It helped handle the foul trouble and set up the Lopes' energy to switch to man defense over the final five minutes, when Georgia made three turnovers and had a shot blocked.

"That game was as physical as any game we've played this year, including Marquette and St. John's," White said. "Those guys really guard. We couldn't get into ball screens, couldn't get into pindowns, couldn't get into flare screens. We just got pushed off all of them."

The Lopes continue with what Drew considers to be the toughest road trip in his five-season GCU tenure. The Lopes play Monday night at Louisiana Tech (9-2), a Conference USA favorite in Ruston, Louisiana.

"It's been a challenging start," Drew said. "We're playing good teams. We're playing teams that are winning. This is good. Our team needs to play in this type of environment, and they need to play against the teams we are playing against. It teaches us about ourselves and teaches us what we need to get better at."