Lessons of loss get put to test in Abilene

Saturday, Feb. 24 \| 2 p.m. (Phoenix time) \| Moody Coliseum \| Abilene, Texas

	GRAND CANYON LOPES (24-3, 14-2 WAC)	at	ABILENE CHRISTIAN WILDCATS (11-15, 6-9 WAC)

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ABILENE, Texas – .When Grand Canyon holds an opponent to fewer than 75 points, the Lopes are undefeated this season.

Nationwide, teams are 13-79 this season when their opponent shoots at least 40 free throws in a game.

Thursday night's win probability turned bleak for WAC leader GCU when second-place Tarleton State scored 75 points with the help of 40 free throws. The loss stirred postgame and next-day emotions in the Lopes to improve their odss by changing their defensive ways for Saturday's game at Abilene Christian.

Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. (Phoenix time) for the first of GCU's four-game finishing stretch to the regular season. Each game turned imperative with GCU's WAC lead trimmed to one game in the loss column over Tarleton State, which has five games remaining. The Lopes have not lost consecutive games since last February.

"During the course of the year, you need all types of games to prepare you." GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "You hate to lose. Hopefully, we can take that loss and really learn from it so that it helps us for the rest of the season.

"It challenges them. All of this is preparation for the conference tournament. Hopefully, these lessons we learn will be us a better team, a more together team and a resilient team when we get in."

The Lopes (24-3, 14-2 WAC) lost a 15-point, second-half lead Thursday night because Tarleton State (19-7, 12-3 WAC) did not score on four of its final 23 possessions. Two of those stops came from the Texans missing free throws.

The Lopes defense was mostly strong Thursday, holding Tarleton State to 27% shooting from the field for the first 29 minutes of play. But GCU's issue of stopping quick guard penetration resurfaced with Texans point guard Devon Barnes scoring all 22 of his points in the second half.

Tarleton State shot 63% from the field over the final 11 minutes. The Texans shot 29 free throws in the second half to total the most free throws shot in a game (40) against GCU since January 2022.

"It's learning mistakes," Lopes junior guard Collin Moore said. "We'll be better. I don't bring enough energy with on-ball pressure the last couple of games. I've got to be better at it. I'm going to pick it up."

The free throws took away any semblance of uptempo offense for the Lopes. They also set up Tarleton State for success with Barnes getting 12 of his 22 points on free throws.

"Transition defense," Drew said. "We didn't sprint back. We didn't stop the ball. We didn't build walls. We have to do a very much better job of that. We didn't defend one on one very well."

Abilene Christian (11-5, 6-9 WAC) does not impress with its records, but it is on its first three-game winning streak of the season and is fighting to claim one of the eight WAC Tournament spots. The Wildcats are tied for eighth place with Utah Tech.

With GCU's success, opponents often have brought their best efforts and drawn their best crowds for the Lopes' visits. In nine GCU road games, five of the hosts have set an attendance season high with Abilene Christian pushing to be the sixth.

"GCU can be beaten, so that's our mentality coming into Saturday," Wildcats senior forward Airion Simmons said on the ESPN+ postgame interview following Thursday's 71-65 home win against California Baptist.

Abilene Christian will have to tangle with a resurgence in GCU senior guard Tyon Grant-Foster's offense. After shooting 32% from the field over an eight-game stretch, he went 10 of 17 on Thursday to score 25 points and add a career-high 13 rebounds.

His game might have benefited from a house visit. Last week, Denver Nuggets guard Christian Braun used his NBA All-Star break to visit Grant-Foster in Phoenix, attend two GCU home games and spend quality time together. Braun and Grant-Foster knew each other growing up in the Kansas City area and were 2020-21 teammates at Kansas.

"It was a stress reliever really," Grant-Foster said of Braun's visit. "It was nice. I got tips from him. It was real helpful, just him giving his perspective on everything because of the type of player he is and the level he's at right now. It felt good to get back in the groove and play well."

Braun showed up to a Nuggets postgame press conference this week in a T-shirt with Grant-Foster wearing a GCU uniform. The shirt was made by former Lope and current G League player Walter Ellis' clothing company, No Bad.

"My brother @Ty_Youngbull ... Best show in college basketball. See you DRAFT day," Braun posted on his X account Thursday.

Lope tracks

GCU's 24-3 record is tied for second best in the nation with Purdue and UConn behind James Madison (25-3).
Graduate power forward Gabe McGlothan reached 1,000 career rebounds, which ranks 13th nationally among active players. McGlothan is one of 10 active players in the nation with at least 1,500 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.
McGlothan needs four points to pass Kenny Archbold for ninth place on the program's all-time scoring list.
Graduate point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. needs five points to pass Chad Briscoe for seventh place on the program's all-time scoring list.
Junior guard Ray Harrison ranks 17th nationally for career scoring average (16.6) among active Division I players.
Senior guard Tyon Grant-Foster ranks 19th nationally for free throws made (144) and 47th for points per game (19.1).
Graduate forward Lök Wur is averaging 11 points over the past six games. He previously averaged 2 points per game against Division I opponents this season.
The Lopes' 14-game winning streak from Nov. 25 to Jan. 18 is tied for the third longest in the nation this season. It was the Lopes' longest winning streak since 1978-79.
The Lopes rank in the national top 25 for free throws made per game (fifth, 18.8, blocks per game (16th, 5.2), scoring margin (17th, plus-12.4 per game) and rebounding margin (25th, plus-6.6 per game).
Abilene Christian does not have a player ranked in the nation's top 150 of any statistical category.
The Wildcats rank 16th in the nation for opponent turnovers per game (15.5) with an aggressive defense that results in the 10th-most fouls per game (20.3).
Abilene Christian ranks 26th nationally for free throws per game (23.1).
Junior guard Ali Abdou Dibba is the Wildcats' leading scorer at 15.3 points per game, but senior forward Airion Simmons is the heart of the team with 13.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Senior guard Hunter Jack Madden averages 16 points in wins.

WAC Resume Seeding System (updated Feb. 23)
Rank	Team	Record (WAC only)	WAC points
1.	GCU	24-3 (14-2)	8.07
2.	Tarleton State	19-7 (12-3)	3.41
3.	Seattle U	17-10 (10-6)	1.14
4.	UT Arlington	14-13 (9-7)	-1.07
5.	Utah Valley	13-14 (8-8)	-1.75
6.	Stephen F. Austin	14-12 (7-8)	-1.89
7.	California Baptist	14-12 (7-8)	-2.79
8.	Abilene Christian	11-15 (6-9)	-3.87
9.	Utah Tech	10-16 (6-9)	-4.38
10.	Southern Utah	9-18 (4-12)	-6.42
11.	UT Rio Grande Valley	6-20 (2-13)	-9.28

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, Feb. 24 | 2 p.m. (Phoenix time) | Moody Coliseum | Abilene, Texas

Lope tracks

WAC Resume Seeding System (updated Feb. 23)

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Players Mentioned

Jovan Blacksher Jr.

Walter Ellis

Tyon Grant-Foster

Ray Harrison

Gabe McGlothan

Collin Moore

Lök Wur

Grand Canyon University Athletics