Connected Lopes prove dangerous for 2nd rout

Saturday, January 18

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

13-5,3-1WAC

Tarleton State

8-12,3-2WAC

Tarleton St.

Grand Canyon

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

1/18/2025 9:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

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6 Lopes reach double-digit points for 1st time since 2018

By: Paul Coro

When Grand Canyon plugs into the winning ways of the program, the connectivity produces enough energy to light Global Credit Union Arena.

GCU played as connected as the cars of a train Saturday night and powered through Tarleton State's fouling for an 88-64 blowout that followed up Thursday night's 30-point rout.

Much like that 88-point effort, this 88-point effort was charged by a dynamic defense from the tipoff in a sold-out arena. GCU (13-5, 3-1 WAC) held Tarleton State to eight points in the first 11 minutes after keeping Abilene Christian to five points in the first 12 minutes on Thursday.

The Lopes turned the Texans' style of play against them, drawing more than 25 fouls for the third time this season. GCU head coach Bryce Drew's team made Tarleton State pay by sinking 33 of 39 free throws (85%) and shared the wealth with six scorers in double figures against a Division I opponent for the first time since 2018.

When Lopes sophomore guard Makaih Williams made a 3-pointer for a 70-42 lead midway through the second half, it marked GCU's only unassisted field goal make in the game. Williams, who started for the second consecutive game, accounted for a season-high seven assists with his 11 points.

"It was all Coach Drew," said GCU senior guard Collin Moore, who tallied 12 points, six rebounds and two steals in 19 minutes. "Coach Drew prepared us for both of these games, and he did a great job. We just had to be tougher each and every game."

Phoenix, AZ Jan. 18, 2025 : The Lopes overpower Tarleton State with a 88-64 win at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski / GCU

Phoenix, AZ Jan. 18, 2025 : The Lopes overpower Tarleton State with a 88-64 win at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski / GCU

GCU made its first four 3-point attempts and led 18-5 without taking a free throw, and then showed its penchant for turning pressure against defenses.

The Lopes pushed the lead to 33-12 with 5:35 to go in the first half when forward Traivar Jackson, facing his former team in his second appearance, blocked a shot to spark a fastbreak. Senior forward JaKobe Coles threw ahead to Moore, who pivoted mid-air to finished over his head while being fouled for a 3-point play.

Coles, who was a team-best plus-32 in 26 minutes, navigated first-half foul trouble to finish with 16 points, four assists, three rebounds and a steal.

"They tried to come in and impose their will," Coles said of Tarleton State. "We did a good job of standing our ground. We've got to come like that. Every team is not going to like us. We're GCU. We win championships here. There are going to be a lot of teams who come in and try to be physical. You've just got to stay in your ground, stay confident and play your game."

Phoenix, AZ Jan. 18, 2025 : The Lopes overpower Tarleton State with a 88-64 win at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski / GCU

GCU emerged with one of its best second-half starts of the season after Tarleton State had cut the lead to 39-30. A 9-0 run shot the lead back to 51-32 when senior guard Ray Harrison (10 points, four assists) rebounded his own miss and fed to junior center Duke Brennan (10 points, five rebounds) for a layup.

During that stretch, Coles made his most impactful play when he drew a fastbreak foul on Tarleton State center Chris Mpaka, who had remained in the game despite picking up his fourth foul with 17:21 remaining. Mpaka was the Texans' first-half leading scorer with 10 points.

"With a guy like me that has a bigger body, a lot of guys aren't going to want to stay in front of me," Coles said. "I just wanted to draw the foul."

With 49% shooting from the field, the Lopes were led in scoring by senior swingman Tyon Grant-Foster coming off the bench for the second consecutive game. He scored 17 points and added five rebounds and three assists in 26 minutes.

With strong off-ball cutting, the Lopes delivered 22 assists on 23 made baskets. It was not a standalone effort after they also had played that type of game in routing Norfolk State in November with 31 assists on 33 made baskets. There have been five games in the nation this season with a team assisting on at least 93% of its field goals, and GCU owns two of the five.

Phoenix, AZ Jan. 18, 2025 : The Lopes overpower Tarleton State with a 88-64 win at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski / GCU

"Love the sharing of the basketball," Drew said. "We have a lot of really talented offensive players that can go one-on-one, and what I love tonight is when it was there, they took it, but they did it fast. And when it wasn't, they had their eyes up, and they really saw guys cutting, and I thought our passing to cutters was as good as it's been all year."

Winning the two-game homestand by a combined 54 points was much like how well GCU played during its final WAC homestand last season, outscoring two visitors by 51 points to build the momentum for regular-season and WAC Tournament titles.

The Lopes are on an eight-game string of playing the type of defense that sent them to the NCAA tournament in three of the previous four seasons. Since losing at Louisiana Tech and allowing 52% shooting, GCU has held opponents to 37.4% shooting from the field.

GCU also became the only team in the nation this season to make at least 33 free throws in three games (also 36 vs. San Diego and 35 vs. Bryant).

"It was just a whipping," Tarleton State head coach Billy Gillispie said on his postgame show. "We never made them uncomfortable. We don't survive with our roster like it is or with our best roster in my whole career, we don't let people play comfortable. We let them play comfortable, and they're a very talented team. They play really well at home. We just didn't do what we needed to do to go on the road and beat a really good team."

The Texans, last season's WAC runners-up, fell to 3-2 in conference with top scoring threats Bubu Benjamin and Freddy Hicks going 6 for 20 from the field Saturday night.

Phoenix, AZ Jan. 18, 2025 : The Lopes overpower Tarleton State with a 88-64 win at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski / GCU

"Even in those losses, we guarded decent, but the urgency can be better on defense," Drew said. "The connectivity of the five guys on the court, and it starts on defense. And so in the last two games, I think the first 10 minutes of each game, we played really good defense. We were connected. And it was really nice to see us being connected flow right to the offensive end."

Since losing at WAC leader Utah Valley (now 5-0 in conference play), the Lopes used an idle Saturday and the week of practice to return to the level of play that has won 26 of their past 27 games. Taking that two-way efficiency to the road next week will be the next step in a conference dominated by home teams thus far.

The off-week's message came with a heavy dose of running and self-reflection.

"We're aiming for something big," Coles said. "We're aiming for championships, and we're aiming to get to the tournament and go deep in the tournament. Sometimes you've got to re-evaluate how the year is going. Everybody had got hit with adversity this year. You've just got to shake back and look at yourself and realize the opportunity that we have.

"We're playing together, we're playing the right way and we're finding ways to win. We're making winning plays and I think that was a testament of going into the practice last week and practicing hard but also playing together and learning how to share with each other."