MW debut hits new heights at 9-2 Wyoming

Saturday, December 20

Arena-Auditorium • Laramie, Wyo.

2 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Wyoming

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

12/19/2025 9:16:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

GCU Notes Wyoming Notes

GCU opens its Mountain West era with Saturday game in Laramie

By: Paul Coro

In Grand Canyon's first season as a Mountain West member, the Lopes will play six conference opponents with home-court elevations of 4,500 feet or more.

None sit higher than Wyoming, where GCU launches its MW era Saturday at 7,220-feet-high Arena-Auditorium, where signs and court markings remind visitors of the "highest court in the land" and its head coach says the building moniker, Double-A, stands for "Altitude Advantage."

GCU at Wyoming

The elevation in conference standing has been much anticipated for a Lopes team focusing more on aptitude and attitude than altitude to pull a win out of thin air in the 1 p.m. Mountain West Network game.

Riding its best half of the season to rout Coastal Carolina, GCU (6-4) has progressed with its aptitude to play at a higher level. Taking on Wyoming (9-2) with its 8-0 home record, the Lopes have an attitude to ascend the program to new heights.

"A lot of it is still growing together and improving ourselves as individuals and improving our program," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "Our main focus has been on that, but there is an extra sense of excitement to start conference play. We're excited to be in the Mountain West and for the challenges it presents with all the quality teams."

Wyoming is one of 10 teams in the nation that has at least eight home wins without a loss this season. It is coming off one of its better wins, an 87-72 Monday victory for South Dakota State's first home loss. Northern Colorado (NET No. 105) is the highest-ranked team that the Cowboys defeated this season.

Wyoming second-year head coach Sundance Wicks, a Wyoming native and former Cowboys assistant, has used a 12-man rotation of seven transfers and five freshmen to lead the Mountain West in scoring at 87.9 points per game. Five of those Cowboys played Division I basketball last season.

Wicks won the Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year award in 2023-24 for improving Green Bay from three wins to 18 wins in his first season there. For his second year at Wyoming, Wicks pursued depth and speed to wear down altitude-weary opponents. The result has been the nation's fifth-best bench scoring at 42.7 points per game, the impetus to disprove its No. 9 ranking in the MW Preseason Poll.

"We want to run some of that size and see how good of shape you're in," Wicks told the Talking Grammer podcast when referring to GCU being a bigger team.

Stromer and Williams

The Lopes won at Wyoming in 2022 under Drew, but there are no remaining GCU players from that team.

"For me, it's a big game," Lopes junior guard Makaih Williams said. "I was committed to Wyoming before I decommitted. The coaches over there recruited me, so I want to win this game as badly as everybody else does."

Williams and junior guard Caleb Shaw, GCU's lone rotation returnees from last season, have been key cogs to the Lopes' recent improved play.

Williams posted 16 points, six rebounds and five assists off the bench against Coastal Carolina last Saturday, and Shaw is on the best three-game scoring stretch of his career with 16.7 points per game and 8-for-14 3-point shooting in that span.

That comes in tangent with unlocking the potential of 7-foot-1 freshman center Efe Demirel, averaging 14.5 points and 6.5 rebounds with 13-of-16 shooting in the past two games.

"The coaches have been really on him about doing the little stuff, and I think he's done a great job leaning into his role," Shaw said.

Demirel will need to play big against a Wyoming team that has outrebounded opponents by an average of 9.5 boards per game. GCU has allowed the sixth-fewest offensive rebounds per game (7.7) in the nation.

"It's been the toughest nonconference we've ever had," Drew said of the 6-4 start that matches last season's 10-game start. "Hopefully, that competition will prepare us for league because every team, every game in league is difficult.

"The last couple of games have really shown progress. I think the players are feeling more comfortable on the court together. It's taken a little time to understand exactly who we are and what we want. We tried to keep things simple with our standards, so we could start at the top and work our way down."

Playing frequent fouler Coastal Carolina proved to be preparation for facing Wyoming, which ranks third nationally with 22.4 fouls per game.

The Cowboys are tying to avoid last season's flip of fate, when it opened 5-1 before going 7-19 for the remainder of the season. A more talented Wyoming team looks to avoid that with senior 6-foot-1 guard Leland Walker, a Florida Atlantic transfer, and freshman 6-7 guard Naz Meyer each averaging about 14 points per game.

"They've been really good offensively," Drew said. "They played Texas Tech down to the wire in Lubbock (lost 76-72 on Nov. 30). They're a really good team that is playing well right now. Their players have executed at a really high level this season."

Without the ability to have two weeks of acclimation time, studies show the next-best scenario for high-altitude trips is to arrive within 24 hours of tip time to lessen the effect. GCU will practice at home Friday and arrive in Laramie, or "Laradise" as locals on the frozen plains call it, in the early evening.

Wyoming attempts to make the fatigue-inducing altitude a mental barrier with reminders posted in the locker room, hallway and on the court and a building nickname of "Dome of Doom."

"Some players it affects more than others," Drew said. "Some don't have near as much of an effect. It's like any game with challenges to overcome. That's just on the list when you go to schools with altitude."

Lope tracks

Wyoming ranks No. 52 in NET, with GCU at No. 124. The Cowboys have the Mountain West's fourth-best NET ranking behind Utah State (No. 30), Boise State (No. 40) and Colorado State (No. 51).
Mountain West play began Wednesday with San Diego State defeating Air Force 81-58 after having a three-point halftime lead. GCU-Wyoming is part of Saturday's five-game MW slate with Colorado State at Utah State, Fresno State and UNLV, San José State at New Mexico and Boise State at Nevada.
The Lopes' best categories for national rankings are rebound margin (plus-7.6 per game, 43rd), free throw percentage (76.3%, 50th) and opponent scoring (67.7 points per game, 62nd).
GCU graduate power forward Nana Owusu-Anane leads with Mountain West with 9.6 rebounds per game, which ranks 25th in the nation.
Lopes senior guard Jaden Henley ranks fourth in the Mountain West for points per game (16.6) and steals (1.8). GCU scored 82 points last Saturday vs. Coastal Carolina despite Henley going 1 for 11 from the field.
Wicks was the director of Arizona Power Basketball Academy from 2011 to 2015.
Wyoming 6-foot-4 junior guard Khaden Bennett, a Quinnipiac transfer, grabbed nine offensive rebounds against South Dakota State on Monday.
Meyer's 26 points against South Dakota State was the most by a Cowboy freshman since Graham Ike, now with Gonzaga, had 32 in the 2021 Mountain West Championship.