Extending stretch of elite defense builds GCU optimism

Duke, Houston and St. John's are three of the nation's top seven ranked teams because of the defense that they play.

Since mid-December, they all trail Grand Canyon in defensive rating because every team in the nation does.

GCU enters a 7 p.m. Thursday home game against UT Arlington trying to climb back to the status of last season's team that reached the NCAA tournament's second round, and it will need to be just as elite defensively to do so.

Collin Moore

The Lopes (20-6, 10-2 WAC) slipped some in that area when they won at UT Arlington less than two weeks ago. GCU's unstoppable late-game offense overwhelmed the Mavericks' 49% shooting, but the Lopes defense improved to hold California Baptist to 43% in a Saturday win without injured star Tyon Grant-Foster, who remains day to day.

Since Dec. 17, the Lopes have gone 14-2 by holding opponents to a nation-low 88.6 points per 100 possessions, according to stathead.com. GCU is allowing 38.9% shooting from the field (eighth best nationally) and 28.0% on 3-pointers (fourth best nationally) during that 10-week span.

If their defense can charge the Lopes' 31st win in their past 32 home games on Thursday night, GCU will be within one game of WAC leader Utah Valley with three regular-season games remaining for each team. In the case of a first-place tie, GCU likely would win a tiebreaker for the WAC Tournament No. 1 seed because of a split head-to-head series and its higher metrics than Utah Valley.

"It's got to start on defense," Lopes head coach Bryce Drew said. "When we start good on defense, we can create offense from defense. Offense can't create stuff on the defensive end for you. Defense is a great opportunity to be connected.

"We've got to be at a high level the rest of the year on the defensive end. If you're more aggressive on defense, you're more aggressive on all offense. If you're not as aggressive on defense, it usually comes out in how you cut, how you offensive rebound, how you screen and other things off the ball."

GCU is causing more turnovers than last season with opponents averaging 15.3 per game, up from 13.9 last season, to rank 18th nationally. The Lopes are 11th nationally for steals per game (9.5).

"Coach Drew's philosophy is when all our guys are connected on defense, our offense is good so I've been trying to stay attached to that," said Lopes senior guard Collin Moore, who has a team-high 46 steals (1.84 per game) this season. "We've just got keep stacking days and whatever we want, we'll be there."

Ray Harrison

When GCU reached the NCAA tournament in three of the previous four seasons, defense was a program hallmark. Last season, shot-blocking became a larger part of the Lopes' winning formula.

That has carried over to this season with 5.1 blocks per game and four blocks or more in the past 12 games.

The blocked shots and opponent turnovers have led GCU to playing with the 14th-fastest tempo in the nation this season, according to kenpom.com.

"A defense is what wins championships, so we've been focused on that," said Lopes sophomore guard Makaih Williams, who faces his former team in UT Arlington (13-14, 6-7 WAC) for the second time in 12 days.

The Mavericks rallied from a 14-point deficit Saturday for a 67-57 home win against Tarleton State in front of 5,183 fans.

"We're very confident," UT Arlington head coach KT Turner said. "I love where we're at. We've been through our rough patches throughout the season. Close games that we've lost, we learned form it. We're getting back healthy, so I'm really, really excited where we're at heading into the end of the season. Haven't been this excited all year."

Lope tracks

GCU senior guard Ray Harrison needs 32 points to pass Jim Irvine (1970-74) for fifth place on the Lopes' all-time scoring list. With his two seasons at Presbyterian, Harrison ranks ninth among active Division I players with 2,280 career points. Only Alabama's Mark Sears has made more career free throws than Harrison's 595.
UT Arlington power forward Lance Ware, a graduate transfer from Villanova, leads the WAC with 59.7% shooting that ranks 15th nationally. Ware, who began his career at Kentucky when Turner was an assistant there, is one of 11 players nationally averaging at least 14 points (14.0) and nine rebounds (9.3). He had 11 points and 16 rebounds when GCU won 82-75 at UT Arlington.
Mavericks 6-foot-2 guard Jaden Wells, a graduate transfer from Division II Central Oklahoma, returned Saturday for 10 minutes off the bench after not playing for three weeks. He is averaging 12.3 points per game with 37% 3-point shooting.
In Wells' absence, sophomore Kade Douglas has averaged 11.6 points and gone 11 for 23 on 3-pointers in his last five starts.
GCU is 6-1 against UT Arlington with the lone Lopes loss coming Nov. 20, 2014.
The Lopes have posted four consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time since 2015-19.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

Extending stretch of elite defense builds GCU optimism

Lope tracks

Players Mentioned

Tyon Grant-Foster

Collin Moore

Makaih Williams

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