Title defense tips off with Southern Utah visit

Saturday, January 4 \| 6 p.m. (Phoenix time) \| Global Credit Union Arena \| Phoenix, Ariz.

	SOUTHERN UTAH THUNDERBIRDS (8-6, 0-0 WAC)	at	GRAND CANYON LOPES (10-4, 0-0 WAC)

WATCH: FOX 10 Xtra (Ch. 45, Cable 9), ESPN+ \| LISTEN: 1580 The Fanatic \| STATS: View

A WAC championship is the goal. Grand Canyon is the target.

The first of eight conference foes steps to the midcourt jump circle Saturday night ready to takes its best shot at the Lopes, the defending champions and preseason favorites.

The 6 p.m. Saturday game against Southern Utah is just the first of a 16-game title defense for GCU, which seeks its first back-to-back WAC regular-season championships to claim the all-important WAC Tournament top seed.

"Coach Drew has been telling us all week that we're going to get everyone's best shot, so we're ready," Lopes senior guard Ray Harrison of head coach Bryce Drew, whose GCU teams are 4-0 in WAC openers.

The preseason would have billed Saturday night's conference opener at Global Credit Union Arena as first vs. worst, but Southern Utah defied the WAC coaches' preseason doormat prediction with an 8-2 start. That spiraled into the Thunderbirds' current four-game losing streak, which began with a blowout at Arizona before three losses by an average of five points.

Under former Horizon League Coach of the Year Rob Jeter in his second season at Southern Utah, the Thunderbirds are the conference leader in fastbreak points at 13.9 per game. But when the Lopes are in tempo, they have played at their best – like the 24 fastbreak points they posted in routing Bryant 112-66 on Monday night.

"It's great to see a game like that where their hard work can come to the surface and other people can see it," Drew said. "With this team, there's a lot of upside. We've played a really demanding schedule, and we've got some great wins that were against really quality opponents. So going into league, hopefully that game will show the guys when we really play together, when we play great defense and when we do what GCU does as a basketball program, really good things can happen."

That passing lane-jumping, ball-stripping, mistake-provoking defense is enticing 16.6 opponent turnovers per game, the 14th-highest average in the nation. That is contributing to GCU playing at the 12th-fastest tempo in the nation and the program's highest in its 12-year Division I era.

A season that began with the absences of starters Tyon Grant-Foster (two games) and Duke Brennan (four games) had difficulty finding footing in nonconference play, which ended with four consecutive wins and an optimum Monday performance.

"That was the best way for us to get some momentum going into conference and get us closer to finding an identity as a team," said Harrison, who needs 11 points to crack the all-time GCU top 10 scorers in 2 1/2 seasons. "We still are trying to find that, but that last game was a good step in that direction."

GCU has been dominant in conference play at home with 10 consecutive wins and has won 24 of its past 25 home games overall. When the Lopes last saw Southern Utah at home in February, it was a GCU 94-65 rout at home.

With a clean slate and no clear challenger, Southern Utah enters as much of a challenger as any team with a shot-blocking defense, the WAC rebounding lead and a pair of 6-foot-5 senior guards combining for 31 points per game (Wisconsin Parkside transfer Jamir Simpson at 16.8 and returning starter Dominique Ford at 14.1).

Duke Brennan

"We have a lot of returners, so we know how we ran conference last year," said Brennan, the junior center who has averaged 9.9 rebounds in his past seven games. "We're going to keep the same mentality and mindset going in and get the new guys on the same page. Makaih (Williams) comes in and was runner-up in the WAC last year (at UT Arlington), so he's got a chip on his shoulder to help us win a championship this year."

Williams launched that energy Monday with a career-high 31 points, including outscoring Bryant off the bench by himself in the first half (25-23). That made him the seventh Lopes player to lead GCU in scoring in 14 games.

Each of the eight Lopes rotation players scored eight or more points Monday.

"It came right on time," Brennan said. "Everybody trusted each other and played for each other and was having fun out there. If we can do the same thing, we're going to win a lot of games in conference."

Lope tracks

GCU ranks fourth nationally with 20.4 free throw points per game, more than last season's Lopes at 19.3 per game. GCU is the only team in the nation to make at least 35 free throws in a game twice this season.
Lopes opponents are shooting 23.6% from 3-point range over the past eight games, lifting GCU's national ranking for 3-point defense from 301st to 88th.
Graduate forward Lok Wur has scored more points in 14 GCU games this season (137) than he did in 51 career appearances (100) at Oregon. His 47.5% would rank 11th nationally if he qualified with 2.5 makes per game. He is at 1.4 per game in 23.7 minutes per game.
The Lopes have two WAC category leaders: Harrison with 88.7% free throw shooting and senior guard Collin Moore with 2.0 steals per game.
GCU graduate swingman Tyon Grant-Foster's shooting slump continued Monday, putting him at 0 for 24 on 3-pointers in the past six games (1 for 36 in the past nine games). Grant-Foster is averaging career highs for rebounds (6.3), assists (2.1) and steals (1.9).
The Lopes are 7-0 in the all-time series with Southern Utah.

Saturday, January 4 | 6 p.m. (Phoenix time) | Global Credit Union Arena | Phoenix, Ariz.

Lope tracks

Players Mentioned

Duke Brennan

Tyon Grant-Foster

Ray Harrison

Collin Moore

Grand Canyon University Athletics