10/24/2025 2:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
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New team makes GCU debut in front of Havocs, Lope Nation
By: Paul Coro
Grand Canyon is staging a reunion with a VIP guest Saturday night at Global Credit Union Arena.
When GCU basketball reunites with the Havocs and Lope Nation for "The Biggest Party in College Basketball," it will do so with the best exhibition matchup it has hosted since Arizona State visited in 2011 for the arena's inaugural game.
USC enters the building for a 6:30 p.m. Saturday exhibition game that will be the home debut for a Lopes team of hype and hope. Nana Owusu-Anane
"Practicing is cool, but playing games is why we play basketball," said GCU power forward Nana Owusu-Anane, a Brown graduate transfer. "I'm just excited to get back on the court and play real games to get the rust off and get back to it."
The Lopes' regular season will begin Nov. 3 at home against Purdue Fort Wayne, but this exhibition season has been a high-profile look at how sixth-year GCU head coach Bryce Drew remastered the roster for the program's first Mountain West season.
With 11 new Lopes (seven transfers, four true freshmen), Drew and his staff took lessons from an Oct. 10 exhibition at Baylor to apply to Saturday night's game against a big, defensively oriented USC team.
"Saturday is going to be a big night," Drew said. "Our first home exhibition and the first time for a lot of players to play in front of our crowd. I know we had Midnight Madness, but it's different when you're playing and actually trying to make free throws and shots and be in huddles with all the excitement and noise in the arena. I'm looking forward to them getting out there and acclimated to being comfortable in front of our fans."
GCU is being touted on a different scale after reaching the NCAA Tournament out of the WAC in four of Drew's five seasons leading the Lopes. This week, GCU was predicted to finish fourth in its new conference, the 12-team Mountain West that is ranked sixth among 31 conferences in the nation. The MW has sent at least four teams to the Big Dance in four consecutive seasons.
The Lopes are going from Big 12 opponent two weeks ago to Big Ten opponent on Saturday, when Trojans second-year head coach Eric Musselman will bring a roster with 10 transfers.
After USC went 17-18 last season, Musselman's most touted player is ex-NBA star Gilbert Arenas' son, Alijah, a five-star signee who is out after a serious car crash in April and a knee injury in July.
Another familiar Trojans guard who might be out injured Saturday is Rodney Rice, who started as part of the "Crab Five" for Maryland when it ousted GCU from the NCAA Tournament in March.
USC won its first exhibition game 60-51 at Loyola Marymount with 12 steals and 11 blocked shots that kept the Lions to 28% shooting from the field. The Trojans were led by two efforts off the bench – 14 points from Auburn 6-foot-7 transfer Chad Baker-Mazara and six blocks from Youngstown State 7-foot-5 transfer Gabe Dynes.
The USC starting lineup was pulled from Virginia (6-10 Jacob Cofie), Utah (6-9 Ezra Ausar), Robert Morris (6-7 Amarion Dickerson) and UNC Asheville (5-10 Jordan Marsh) teaming with 6-7, 240-pound returnee Terrance Williams II.
GCU's starting lineup put 7-foot Turkish freshman Efe Demirel at center with four transfers – 6-7 senior Jaden Henley (UNLV), 6-2 graduate Brian Moore Jr. (Norfolk State), 6-6 junior Dusty Stromer (Gonzaga) and Owusu-Anane.
Junior returning guard Makaih Williams is healthy after missing the Lopes' 79-74 exhibition loss at Baylor.
"You don't know until you let guys play in a game," Drew said. "We learned more probably in one of those than we do in two or three weeks of practice. We have a much better feel for our team going into Saturday's game than we did two weeks ago."
GCU last faced Musselman, assisted by former GCU assistant coach Todd Lee, when he had Nevada in the national top 10 for a Jerry Colangelo Classic meeting in 2018. The Wolf Pack won 74-66.
Musselman later became the Arkansas head coach for seven seasons (111-59) before joining USC last year.
In his sixth season leading GCU, Drew began working this Lopes team in June with Demirel arriving in Phoenix in August. Henley led the Lopes with 28 points in the first exhibition at Baylor.
"Our team is so unselfish." Henley said. "It's unreal. Everybody cares for one another. And the way Drew coaches, he cares for all of us. You can't ask for anything better than that."
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"Saturday is going to be a big night," Drew said. "Our first home exhibition and the first time for a lot of players to play in front of our crowd. I know we had Midnight Madness, but it's different when you're playing and actually trying to make free throws and shots and be in huddles with all the excitement and noise in the arena. I'm looking forward to them getting out there and acclimated to being comfortable in front of our fans."
