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Grand Canyon University Athletics
Thursday, January 16
Phoenix, Ariz.
7 p.m.
Grand Canyon
vs
Abilene Christian
Passion play: Lopes strive to match home scene
1/15/2025 2:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
Thursday, January 16 | 7 p.m. | Global Credit Union Arena | Phoenix, Ariz. |
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ABILENE CHRISTIAN
WILDCATS (8-9, 0-2 WAC) |
at | GRAND CANYON LOPES (11-5, 1-1 WAC) |
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In the final weeks of a magnificent season, Grand Canyon hit a crossroads last February when the Lopes lost games at Tarleton State and Abilene Christian in a three-day stretch for half of their regular season's defeats.
As Abilene Christian and Tarleton State come to GCU this week, the Lopes seem to be at a similar junction with pending actions and choices that can define a season after just one conference loss.
The Lopes (11-5, 1-1 WAC) used the week since last Thursday's loss at Utah Valley to prioritize and progress into Thursday's 7 p.m. conference game against Abilene Christian (8-9, 0-2 WAC) at Global Credit Union Arena.The defending WAC champion and overwhelming preseason conference favorite has an unfamiliar view, looking up in the standings but with plenty of opportunity to meet the potential and standards of the program.
GCU lost 72-64 last week at Utah Valley (11-6, 3-0 WAC) by allowing 17 offensive rebounds and missing 14 of 18 shots in transition, the type of fast-paced play that had been a Lopes strength as one of the nation's highest-tempo teams.
"That was a great learning trip for us in a lot of ways," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "Now is the time to take what we've learned and apply it. It definitely has been applied in practice. We feel like we are moving forward in a really good direction, but we have a lot of season left and a lot of games. A lot of this training and prep is to try to get us to be at our best to win three games in March (at the WAC Tournament).
"The games are the exam, so to speak, to see if the guys learned."
Thursday's toughness test comes from an Abilene Christian that beat GCU in Texas last season and wears a defensive identity, ranking 10th in the nation for opponent turnovers per game (16.5). In last week's loss at Utah Valley, the Lopes committed nine first-half turnovers that led to 14 of the Wolverines' 35 first-half points (40%).The Wildcats are coming off a 66-64 loss at Seattle U on Saturday night, when they missed a tying shot at the buzzer after losing an 11-point, second-half lead. Abilene Christian is opening conference play with its third consecutive road game. WAC home teams are 10-1 in the the first two weeks.
"It's a great environment," Abilene Christian head coach Brette Tanner said of GCU. "It's a great place to play. We're going to miss them when they leave the league because it's a fun place to go play.
"We have not been able to win there yet, but we've played really well there. So I'm confident going into the game. We're going to play the way we play. We're going to go out there and be aggressive defensively. Offensively, we're going to play with confidence."
As the nine-team WAC's only idle team Saturday, GCU used the extra preparation time to emphasize standards, accountability and the theme of being part of "the program," Drew said.
The Lopes have played well in patches this season and were riding a five-game winning streak until last week. They also have hit inconsistent spells where each of the previous two streak-ending losses was followed with another loss. "No matter how long you're in college basketball, every season presents different challenges at different times," Drew said. "You hate going through adversity, but if you have the right character and the right focus, you can come out in a much better place than you were before the adversity. That's what we're striving to do as a program."
The environment of Global Credit Union Arena will be restored Thursday night with the Lopes' first home game with students in session since Dec. 7. GCU has won 25 of its past 26 home games as it enters this three-day stretch that ends Saturday night against Tarleton State, which is off to a 2-1 conference start.
GCU wants more of the defense that it played last week, holding Utah Valley to 36.5% shooting from the field. The Lopes had been 7-0 this season when holding an opponent to less than 45% shooting until that loss, when the Wolverines took eight more shots because they grabbed eight more offensive rebounds than the Lopes.
Drew also would like GCU to improve its board work, system execution, kickout passes and overdribbling.
More than anything, Drew said he wants to see "Love for the program. Playing for the right reasons. Playing with urgency. Playing with a lot of passion. This is a great university with a great fan base, so those were the things at the forefront of our practices."
Lope tracks
- GCU senior guard Ray Harrison moved into 10th place on the GCU all-time scoring leaderboard last week and needs 26 points to pass Chad Briscoe (1,313 points, 1991-93) for ninth place.
- Senior teammate Tyon Grant-Foster shot 50% in the past two games to average 22.5 points, a six-point increase from his previous season average.
- The Lopes rank fourth nationally with 19.6 free throw points per game. They made 11 free throws on 18 tries in the loss at Utah Valley.
- GCU ranks 10th in the nation for steals per game (10.2) with senior guard Collin Moore leading the WAC at 2.0 steals per game.
- The Lopes are the leading scoring team in the WAC at 78.8 points per game. Abilene Christian allows 70.8 points per game.
- GCU junior center Duke Brennan leads the WAC with 3.7 offensive rebounds per game, which ranks 12th nationally.
- Abiliene Christian 6-foot-8 junior Leonardo Bettiol is averaging a team-best 14.8 points per game on WAC-best 59% shooting.
- The Wildcats average the 10th-most fouls per game (20.3) in the nation.
- Abilene Christian makes the third-least 3-pointers per game (4.6) in the nation, shooting 29% as a team. The Lopes have held opponents to 25% 3-point shooting in the past 10 games.
Players Mentioned
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