Defensive battle goes to physical Iowa

Wednesday, November 26

Palm Desert, Calif. / Acrisure Arena

7:30 p.m. (MST)

Grand Canyon

4-3,0-0Mountain West

Iowa

7-0,0-0Big Ten

Grand Canyon

Iowa

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

11/27/2025 5:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

Lopes hold No. 1 shooting team to 40% but make 19 turnovers

By: Paul Coro

PALM DESERT, Calif. – Without getting anything the easy way offensively, Grand Canyon could not capitalize on what it did the hard way defensively.

Iowa entered Wednesday night as the nation's top shooting team at 57.6% but was held to 33% shooting until its 6-for-8 finish put away GCU 59-46 in the Acrisure Classic championship slugfest.

Palm Desert, CA Nov. 26, 2025: The Lopes fall 59-46 to Iowa during the Acrisure Classic in Palm Desert, California. David Kadlubowski/GCU

Palm Desert, CA Nov. 26, 2025: The Lopes fall 59-46 to Iowa during the Acrisure Classic in Palm Desert, California. David Kadlubowski/GCU

The Lopes (4-3) did not register a second-chance score or a fastbreak score and bumbled 19 turnovers in a plodding game to the liking of the Hawkeyes (7-0), who play at the nation's seventh-slowest pace. GCU's 46-point total tied for its third-lowest scoring output of the Lopes' 13-year Division I era.

GCU resurrected its stalwart defense in Palm Desert, California, to beat Utah and position itself to challenge Iowa in a 24-hour span, but the Lopes committed a turnover on 31% of their possessions against the Hawkeyes and failed to take advantage of a defense lacking a rim protector.

"Some of it may have been a little fatigue on the other end after defending for so long, not making as crisp or as good of decisions as needed," Lopes head coach Bryce Drew said. "Their defense is really good, really physical. I was watching the (Iowa-Ole Miss) game last night, and they really body bump you, hold you, push you, grab you. It's Big Ten basketball, and they called it like a Big Ten game.

"We knew that physicality was going to be an issue. The No. 1 point on our board going in offensively was toughness with the ball, being able to get open where you get open because they're going to grab you and push you and they're not going to call it.

A lot of our turnovers were from plays like that. But for us to win the Mountain West, we have to embrace the physicality and be tougher with the ball."

Palm Desert, CA Nov. 26, 2025: The Lopes fall 59-46 to Iowa during the Acrisure Classic in Palm Desert, California. David Kadlubowski/GCU

After leading 13-8 in the first six minutes, the Lopes scored 11 points over the next 21 minutes of game action. Yet, GCU remained a run away because of its consistently gritty defensive effort.

That effort was highlighted by the Lopes backcourt's effort on Iowa senior point guard Bennett Stirtz, who went from 29 points against Ole Miss to 13 points on 5-of-15 shooting against the defense primarily of junior guard Dusty Stromer and senior guard Brina Moore Jr. Stirtz, a projected NBA first-round draft pick, did not make a turnover despite playing all 40 minutes for the second consecutive night.

"Our defense was definitely good enough to win the game," Drew said. "We somewhat gave a blueprint for other teams of how to guard them from here on out. I'm proud of our defensive effort. It's just really hard to overcome no second-chance points and really hard to overcome 19 turnovers."

When there was a flicker, the miscues doused that flame. Moore scored on a driving three-point play to make Iowa's lead 37-27 with 12:38 to play, and the Lopes followed with four consecutive turnovers to allow the Hawkeyes to survive 10 consecutive missed shots.

Iowa played physical, but GCU also misread player cuts, lost dribbles, traveled and had three shot-clock violations. When it did not make a turnover, GCU missed 10 shots around the rim.

"I've got to get better with helping them to transition from hard, hard defense for 25 seconds to slowing down and making good decisions on offense," Drew said.

Palm Desert, CA Nov. 26, 2025: The Lopes fall 59-46 to Iowa during the Acrisure Classic in Palm Desert, California.

Palm Desert, CA Nov. 26, 2025: The Lopes fall 59-46 to Iowa during the Acrisure Classic in Palm Desert, California.

GCU's last hope was doused by an unlikely sniper – Iowa sophomore reserve Isaia Howard. After going 1 for 12 on 3-pointers this season, Howard made three consecutive 3s late and scored 13 of Iowa's final 17 points.

The Lopes' frontcourt cumulatively grabbed one offensive rebound and went 2 for 12 from the field, with freshman center Efe Demirel getting both baskets on just three attempts. Graduate power forward Nana Owusu-Anane played through an ankle sprain but went 0 for 8 from the field and grabbed four rebounds after having nine or more boards in each previous game this season.

"We can never, ever, ever have a game where we have zero second-chance points when we're sending three and four guys to the glass," Drew said. "That's just not good enough. That's just not tough enough."

GCU senior guard Jaden Henley scored a game-high 16 points for 35% of the Lopes' scoring, but he committed six turnovers.

Half of Henley's points came when he made two 3-pointers and dunked while being fouled during the Lopes' 10-4 opening.

"They had a great crowd here," Iowa head coach Ben McCollum said. "We said we're going to treat this like a Big Ten road game. They jumped on us quick, just like can happen in the Big Ten, but how do you respond to that? How do you survive that? Our kids did a good job of surviving."

Palm Desert, CA Nov. 26, 2025: The Lopes fall 59-46 to Iowa during the Acrisure Classic in Palm Desert, California. David Kadlubowski/GCU

GCU led 13-8 before Iowa's physical, fierce defensive invoked a Lopes offensive stretch of 1-for-8 shooting with six turnovers over nearly nine minutes.

With a 10-3 foul disparity until two late first-half whistles, Iowa stretched its lead on mostly free throws to take a 30-23 halftime lead. The Lopes did not earn their first two-shot foul until 14:31 remained in the game, as the Hawkeyes kept them at bay just as GCU had done to Utah a night earlier.

"They're playing like a late February team right now, and we're playing like a November team right now with 11 new players," Drew said. "If we had the same players for three straight years, I think we'd be operating a lot different six games in."

The Lopes return to Phoenix with the perspective that they lost to an Iowa team that is No. 21 in KenPom rankings and beat Utah, which defeated Ole Miss a night later. GCU will play Stetson at home Tuesday before facing Oklahoma State in the Dec. 6 Jerry Colangelo Classic at Mortgage Matchup Center in downtown Phoenix.

"We're a much better team today than we were a week ago," Drew said. "Being in these situations and playing against teams like this really helped expose some things we need to get better at. It's also a really great compliment to our guys how we defended a Big 12 team and now a Big Ten team. Neither one shot 41% from the field. That's really impressive that these guys were executing their defensive assignments."