Defense returns to stifle Northern Illinois in rout

Monday, November 10

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

2-1,0-0Mountain West

Northern Illinois

1-2,0-0MAC

NIU

Grand Canyon

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

11/10/2025 11:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

Breidenbach scores career-high 16 in 11 minutes; NIU shoots 34.7% with 21 turnovers

By: Paul Coro

While the rest of the world can't wait until the weekend, Grand Canyon spent its weekend longing for it to be Monday.

The Lopes received a weekend-long message of film and practice about defensive shortcomings after allowing 90 points in Friday night's loss, and they applied it the first chance they had Monday night at Global Credit Union Arena.

GCU routed Northern Illinois 88-59 by holding the Huskies to 34.7% shooting and prompting 21 turnovers. That started the Lopes on a path back to the program's defensively charged success of head coach Bryce Drew's first five GCU seasons.

"I don't remember touching the ball," Lopes junior guard Makaih Williams said of the weekend sessions.

Northern Illinois also barely got to shoot the ball in the first half Monday night, when the Huskies barely kept their field goal attempts ahead of their offensive miscues in a 14-turnover first half.

Phoenix, AZ Nov. 10, 2025: The lopes rout Northern Illinois 88-59 on Monday night at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski/GCU

Phoenix, AZ Nov. 10, 2025: The lopes rout Northern Illinois 88-59 on Monday night at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski/GCU

The Lopes led by as many as 20 points in the first half and by as many as 35 points in the second half. For GCU, graduate power forward Wilhelm Breidenbach set a career scoring high of 16 points in 11 minutes of bench play and starting graduate power forward Nana Owusu-Anane approached a triple-double with 10 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.

"Every possession, the guys were locked into where their stance was supposed to be, where their angles were," Drew said. "We still need to get better obviously on a lot of things, but the intent and the focus was much, much better tonight on that end."

GCU held Northern Illinois without a field goal for an eight-minute, 50-second stretch of the first half. The first stop came on a shot-clock violation, and it only became more difficult for the Huskies with Breidenbach drawing a charge and blocking a shot and Owusu-Anane getting back-to-back steals during that time.

"We needed a bounce-back game, so it was good to show what we can do," said Breidenbach, who played last season at Washington. "Just make first contact. Just initiate contact. Play hard, play aggressive.

"We need to string 40 minutes together. Right now, we've been playing good in spurts."

The Lopes were playing without graduate guard Brian Moore Jr., who suffered a left wrist injury on the play in which he lost two teeth going for a loose ball Friday night.

Phoenix, AZ Nov. 10, 2025: The lopes rout Northern Illinois 88-59 on Monday night at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski/GCU

Williams started in his place and delivered 15 points, two assists and three steals in 24 minutes, and freshman point guard Evan Boisdur made his GCU debut with 16 minutes of action. The speedy 6-1 Frenchman thrives defensively and added two steals and ball pressure while also handing out three assists.

With GCU's 3-point accuracy also returning, Williams made 3 of 6 tries from beyond the arc with the Lopes connecting on double-digit 3s (10 for 26) for the second time in the season's first three games.

"I've got to bring the juice early when Brian's out," Williams said. "He's a big piece of our offensive and defense. Honestly, I was just being myself. I give all the glory to God. I just said before the game,' His will will be done every time.'

"We love to play with each other. Playing together and for each other on offense and defense. I think Evan did a great job coming in and speeding the guards up. He's a great defensive player."

GCU outscored Northern Illinois by 27 points in Breidenbach's 11 minutes on the floor. His experience shows in his physical, all-around game to be in the right spots and play selflessly with screens, rebounds and defense on top of being able to hit 6 of 7 shots, including a 3-pointer.

Lopes senior guard Jaden Henley also added 14 points, going 6 for 6 on free throws, and adding five rebounds and four assists.

"Wilhelm and Jaden really set a tone for us," Drew said. "Wilhelm did it off the bench with his aggressiveness. He was talking and active tonight. Jaden, with his defense. He significantly improved his defensive play from the first couple of games. I'm really proud of them."

After intense film study and defensive practice Saturday and Sunday, Drew said he still was not sure how his team would react Monday with players logging their first Lopes season outside of Williams and junior guard Caleb Shaw (12 points in 18 minutes).

Phoenix, AZ Nov. 10, 2025: The lopes rout Northern Illinois 88-59 on Monday night at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski/GCU

Other than letting Northern Illinois' best shooting get loose for consecutive 3s to end the first half, the Lopes defense did not let up. Northern Illinois missed nine of its first 10 shots to start the second half, and GCU made three consecutive steals within that same stretch – from three different players.

GCU got junior guard Dusty Stromer back on track offensively with his eight-point second half and unlocked 7-foot-1 redshirt freshman center Dennis Evans, who had six points and two blocks in six minutes.

The Lopes' lead peaked at 83-48 with 5:17 to go when Owusu-Anane made GCU's 10th 3-pointer off a Stromer assist.

"It's such a new team that we're all trying to figure it out," Drew said.

"I wanted to see them play hard for 40 minutes, and I wanted to see them really lock into our defensive principles that we practice and stay engaged in that. We have not done that this year. This is the first time we've stayed more in tune with our principles, and we played really hard."

GCU will play its first regular-season road game Saturday at Saint Louis, an offensively diverse team that is off to a 3-0 start with an average victory margin of 30 against Southeast Missouri, Chicago State and Lindenwood. Drew hopes Moore could return to action for that game.

Saint Louis lost 73-72 at GCU last December when Lök Wur rebounded a free throw miss and made an improbable last-second, go-ahead jumper.

"I definitely like our effort tonight, and it's something we can build on," Drew said. "We're going to have to defend at an extremely high level. Their offense is high-powered, and they spread you out a lot. It's going to take a lot of prep to get ready for them."