Completed Event: Men's Basketball at Baylor on October 10, 2025 , Loss , 74, to, 79
M Basketball
at Baylor
L 74-79
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Grand Canyon University Athletics
Photo by: David Kadlubowski
Identity of new-look Lopes begins to unravel
10/30/2025 9:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro, Lopes Insider Blog
Uptempo, ball movement, on-ball defense proved to be GCU strengths
With a made-over Grand Canyon roster, asking who the Lopes are began this offseason with learning names and backgrounds.
A pair of high-quality GCU exhibition games advanced the get-to-know process for revelations about other identities of the team. A second tight exhibition loss to a top-25 KenPom opponent (67-61 to USC at home Saturday) showed areas that make this season's Lopes click and tick ahead of Monday night, when the regular season opens against Purdue Fort Wayne at Global Credit Union Arena.
GCU ranked 16th nationally last season for pace, per sport-reference.com, and that drastic uptick from previous triple-digit rankings seemingly will carry over this season.
The Lopes can put opponents quickly on their heels because of multiple ball-handling threats from quick guards to skilled big men. Against USC, GCU scored 19 fastbreak points after only scoring that many against one Division I opponent last season (Bryant, 24).
And they left some transition points out there Saturday night too, having trouble finishing against a long USC defense at times.
Lopes senior point guard Jaden Henley's decision-making in the open court will only improve, but one of his best signs was the instinctual patience he showed in a 3-on-3 situation to hit junior guard Dusty Stromer trailing the break for a 3-pointer.
When GCU is more disruptive defensively, those transition offense chances will only increase. Lopes junior guard Makaih Williams delivered that spark late with a steal that resulted in an and-one fastbreak finish and a pull-up jumper after zooming through GCU's defense to the paint.
Some of the Lopes' best 3-point looks came in transition with organized spacing, such as when graduate guard Brian Moore Jr. pushed the pace and hit Stromer for a 3.
Certain to allow the ball to stick fewer times than last season, the Lopes exemplified that quality with six passes in a 12-second span to set up another Stromer 3.
It all started off a made USC free throw with Moore bringing up the ball and drawing a double team to pivot and pass to graduate power forward Nana Owusu-Anane, who swung the ball to Stromer. He ran a pick-and-roll with Owusu-Anane, who caught the roll pass and kicked the ball to junior guard Caleb Shaw in the corner. He swung to Moore, whose diagonal drive set up a kickout to Stromer for the shot.
However, the Lopes also committed 18 turnovers with overdribbling and dropped passes being a major portion of them. Henley, Moore and Williams all ran the point at times, but Henley handled the brunt of it and committed six turnovers, which included passing, traveling and dribbling. The most notable was getting picked when the deficit was four points in the final minute.
"He's a really willing learner, and I'm confident we'll learn from the film," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "Hopefully, we can make him a quicker pick-up passer instead of trying to dribble between two guys."
GCU played defense aggressively – to a fault in the case of the rapid foul disqualification for freshman 7-foot-1 center Efe Demirel.
Moore was tenacious on the ball, meeting playmakers high to disrupt USC"s offense.
Graduate power forward Wilhelm Breidenbach was the Lopes' sneaky player of the game. With Demirel fouled out and redshirt freshman Dennis Evans playing tentatively, Breidenbach's savvy and physical hustle sparked the first-half comeback and contributed to a defensive turnaround with face-up walls, a charge taken and three blocked shots in 25 minutes. He met 7-foot-5 Gabe Dynes at the catch on a lob to snuff out a potential dunk.
The defensive aggression also got the best of the Lopes at times for fouls when they were scrambling to recover or guarding with their hands too much.
"You've just got to do whatever it takes to win," Owusu-Anane said. "It's not about me. It's about the team. If I can't make shots, I can go do other teams to help the team."
As a 6-7 guard, Henley gives extra value as a rebounder. On many of his nine rebounds, Henley could immediately push the ball. But his best rebound effort came when he trailed a fastbreak to slam back a miss. If he had not got it, Owusu-Anane would have done the same.
Like arena chapels on Monday, a lively environment is a staple of Global Credit Union Arena.
An exhibition game drew a standing-room-only crowd, and the Havocs set the scene with loud costumes and louder voices.
"I knew it would be a really good crowd," USC head coach Eric Musselman said during his media conference this week. "I did not know that it would be a sellout, and I did not know it would be standing room only, and I did not know that the Havocs would be dressed up in costumes. But it tested our team when they went on a run."
GCU needed that test run too, with some nerves showing in its free-throw shooting and the earlygoing when the Lopes missed high-percentage shots.
"We've got to get better," Drew said. "I think playing this game in front of our crowd with the energy and playing out there will help us moving forward."
A pair of high-quality GCU exhibition games advanced the get-to-know process for revelations about other identities of the team. A second tight exhibition loss to a top-25 KenPom opponent (67-61 to USC at home Saturday) showed areas that make this season's Lopes click and tick ahead of Monday night, when the regular season opens against Purdue Fort Wayne at Global Credit Union Arena.
Uptempo
GCU ranked 16th nationally last season for pace, per sport-reference.com, and that drastic uptick from previous triple-digit rankings seemingly will carry over this season.The Lopes can put opponents quickly on their heels because of multiple ball-handling threats from quick guards to skilled big men. Against USC, GCU scored 19 fastbreak points after only scoring that many against one Division I opponent last season (Bryant, 24).
And they left some transition points out there Saturday night too, having trouble finishing against a long USC defense at times.
Lopes senior point guard Jaden Henley's decision-making in the open court will only improve, but one of his best signs was the instinctual patience he showed in a 3-on-3 situation to hit junior guard Dusty Stromer trailing the break for a 3-pointer.
When GCU is more disruptive defensively, those transition offense chances will only increase. Lopes junior guard Makaih Williams delivered that spark late with a steal that resulted in an and-one fastbreak finish and a pull-up jumper after zooming through GCU's defense to the paint.
Some of the Lopes' best 3-point looks came in transition with organized spacing, such as when graduate guard Brian Moore Jr. pushed the pace and hit Stromer for a 3.
Ball movement
Against a strong USC defense, GCU moved the Trojans defenders around like spinning bumpers cars when it added to the highlight reel with a memorable, ball-moving possession.Certain to allow the ball to stick fewer times than last season, the Lopes exemplified that quality with six passes in a 12-second span to set up another Stromer 3.
It all started off a made USC free throw with Moore bringing up the ball and drawing a double team to pivot and pass to graduate power forward Nana Owusu-Anane, who swung the ball to Stromer. He ran a pick-and-roll with Owusu-Anane, who caught the roll pass and kicked the ball to junior guard Caleb Shaw in the corner. He swung to Moore, whose diagonal drive set up a kickout to Stromer for the shot.
Omg the Dust Storm is cookin' 👌 pic.twitter.com/p419wqpJg7
— Grand Canyon Men's Basketball (@GCU_MBB) October 26, 2025However, the Lopes also committed 18 turnovers with overdribbling and dropped passes being a major portion of them. Henley, Moore and Williams all ran the point at times, but Henley handled the brunt of it and committed six turnovers, which included passing, traveling and dribbling. The most notable was getting picked when the deficit was four points in the final minute.
"He's a really willing learner, and I'm confident we'll learn from the film," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "Hopefully, we can make him a quicker pick-up passer instead of trying to dribble between two guys."
On-ball defense
GCU played defense aggressively – to a fault in the case of the rapid foul disqualification for freshman 7-foot-1 center Efe Demirel.Moore was tenacious on the ball, meeting playmakers high to disrupt USC"s offense.
Graduate power forward Wilhelm Breidenbach was the Lopes' sneaky player of the game. With Demirel fouled out and redshirt freshman Dennis Evans playing tentatively, Breidenbach's savvy and physical hustle sparked the first-half comeback and contributed to a defensive turnaround with face-up walls, a charge taken and three blocked shots in 25 minutes. He met 7-foot-5 Gabe Dynes at the catch on a lob to snuff out a potential dunk.
The defensive aggression also got the best of the Lopes at times for fouls when they were scrambling to recover or guarding with their hands too much.
Rebounding
After USC's second chances built its early lead, GCU controlled the boards for the remainder of the game. Owusu-Anane showed an amazing knack to mix positioning and power for 16 rebounds (eight offensive) after he led the team with eight boards at Baylor two weeks earlier."You've just got to do whatever it takes to win," Owusu-Anane said. "It's not about me. It's about the team. If I can't make shots, I can go do other teams to help the team."
As a 6-7 guard, Henley gives extra value as a rebounder. On many of his nine rebounds, Henley could immediately push the ball. But his best rebound effort came when he trailed a fastbreak to slam back a miss. If he had not got it, Owusu-Anane would have done the same.
Home court
Like arena chapels on Monday, a lively environment is a staple of Global Credit Union Arena.An exhibition game drew a standing-room-only crowd, and the Havocs set the scene with loud costumes and louder voices.
"I knew it would be a really good crowd," USC head coach Eric Musselman said during his media conference this week. "I did not know that it would be a sellout, and I did not know it would be standing room only, and I did not know that the Havocs would be dressed up in costumes. But it tested our team when they went on a run."
GCU needed that test run too, with some nerves showing in its free-throw shooting and the earlygoing when the Lopes missed high-percentage shots.
"We've got to get better," Drew said. "I think playing this game in front of our crowd with the energy and playing out there will help us moving forward."
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