Completed Event: Men's Basketball at UNLV on February 7, 2026 , Loss , 78, to, 80
M Basketball
at UNLV
L 78-80
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Photo by: David Kadlubowski
Rapid recap: GCU 75, Utah Valley 57
2/1/2025 9:02:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
Lopes avenge only WAC loss, tie Wolverines for 1st place
Grand Canyon pulled into a WAC first-place tie with Utah Valley by avenging an earlier loss to the Wolverines with an authoritative 75-57 victory Saturday night at Global Credit Union Arena.
GCU (17-5, 7-1 WAC) won its sixth consecutive game by snapping Utah Valley's 10-game winning streak to tie the Wolverines (15-7, 7-1 WAC) for first place at the conference midpoint.
The Wolverines were carrying the seventh-longest active winning streak in the nation and had a week to prepare for the Lopes. GCU won a late Thursday night home game against Seattle U and then executed a quick preparation turnaround to maintain their six-game winning streak's average victory margin of 18.
GCU graduate forward Tyon Grant-Foster tallied 16 points, seven rebounds, two assists, one steal and one blocked shot in 24 minutes off the bench.
The Lopes were plus-22 when Grant-Foster was in the game and minus-four in the 16 minutes he did not play. In Thursday's and Saturday's Lopes wins, Grant-Foster tallied 40 points and 14 rebounds.
The 6-foot-7 graduate swingman had averaged 17.7 points per game and shot 55% from the field in January.
Return to GCULopes.com later tonight for Paul Coro's updated game recap with more details and reactions from Lopes head coach Bryce Drew and players.
GCU (17-5, 7-1 WAC) won its sixth consecutive game by snapping Utah Valley's 10-game winning streak to tie the Wolverines (15-7, 7-1 WAC) for first place at the conference midpoint.
The Wolverines were carrying the seventh-longest active winning streak in the nation and had a week to prepare for the Lopes. GCU won a late Thursday night home game against Seattle U and then executed a quick preparation turnaround to maintain their six-game winning streak's average victory margin of 18.
Key player
GCU graduate forward Tyon Grant-Foster tallied 16 points, seven rebounds, two assists, one steal and one blocked shot in 24 minutes off the bench.The Lopes were plus-22 when Grant-Foster was in the game and minus-four in the 16 minutes he did not play. In Thursday's and Saturday's Lopes wins, Grant-Foster tallied 40 points and 14 rebounds.
The 6-foot-7 graduate swingman had averaged 17.7 points per game and shot 55% from the field in January.
Key moment
Midway through the first half, GCU was leading 17-15 before the Lopes defense shut out the Wolverines for five minutes. GCU turned it into a 9-0 run that began with a Grant-Foster scoring drive and ended with sophomore guard Makaih Williams' driving reverse layup for a 26-15 lead with 4:45 remaining in the first half.Key statistic
GCU held Utah Valley to a season-low 32.8% shooting from the field. Two of the Wolverines' three worst shooting games of the season have come against GCU this season. Utah Valley center Carter Welling is 5 for 22 against GCU and shooting guard Tanner Toolson did not score Saturday until 1:12 remained in the game.Quotable
Lopes head coach Bryce Drew: "I thought, in the first half, we came out with some really good energy on defense. I thought Makaih did a really good job putting pressure on the ball. I thought our bigs were terrific. Welling's a really good player, and we're thankful he missed a lot of those shots. JaKobe (Coles) started the game really well on him, and we threw multiple bodies at him throughout the game. In the second half, I thought we played even better than the first half, which was really encouraging. I thought our defense got even better in that second half. (Osisis) Grady made some on us, but overall I thought our defense was really good tonight."What's next?
GCU plays its next three games on the road, following an idle Thursday with a game at California Baptist on Saturday night. A trip to Tarleton State and UT Arlington follows the next week.Return to GCULopes.com later tonight for Paul Coro's updated game recap with more details and reactions from Lopes head coach Bryce Drew and players.
Players Mentioned
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