Lopes deviate from win streak habits in road loss

Saturday, February 8

Riverside, Calif. / Fowler Events Center

6 p.m. (MST)

Grand Canyon

17-6,7-2WAC

California Baptist

12-11,5-4WAC

Grand Canyon

California Baptist

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

2/8/2025 11:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

GCU makes Drew era-high 22 turnovers for regulation game at CBU

By: Paul Coro

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Grand Canyon played an anomaly of a game Saturday that differed so much from its six-game winning streak that it could not be overcome.

The Lopes slipped in several areas at California Baptist, resulting in a double-digit deficit for the final 14 minutes and an 85-71 result that was their first loss since Jan. 9,

GCU (17-6, 7-2 WAC) fell a game in the loss column behind conference leader Utah Valley after a game that prompted head coach Bryce Drew's first career ejection in front of 4,174 fans at Fowler Events Center.

A debilitating 22 turnovers marked the Lopes' largest total in a regulation game in the Drew era and since January 2017, when GCU also committed 22 in a loss at Kansas City.

"On the road, you have to be mentally tough," Drew said. "You have to be ultimately really connected and together. I didn't think we were at our best in those two areas today. We were good on our last road trip. Hopefully, next week we can be more connected with each other on the court. We have to be more hungry together as a group on the court, and we have to be mentally tougher as a group on the court."

The Lopes suffered their worst margin of defeat (14) since the 2022-23 NCAA tournament team lost 81-62 at Tarleton State on Jan. 28, 2023.

The differences between the preceding six-game winning streak and the Saturday night loss were stark. GCU:

committed 22 turnovers after averaging 11.7 during the win streak.
allowed 14 offensive rebounds after opponents averaged 8.8 during the win streak.
gave up 44.6% shooting after limiting opponents to 36.5% during the win streak.
made 52.2% of their free throws after making 76.1% during the win streak.

Riverside, CA. Feb. 8,, 2025 : The Lopes fall 85-71 to CBU in Riverside, California. David Kadlubowski/GCU

"I thought they were more physical than us in the first half," Drew said. "They kind of set a tone and how the game was being called.

"We made a couple of nice runs in the first half and then, in the second half, just never really put together a run. We never really put together a solid stretch of four minutes of good basketball on both ends. It all starts on defense. Forty-seven in the first half is not good defense. Accountability amongst the team needs to be much better on the defensive end."

California Baptist (12-11, 5-4 WAC) experienced first-half foul trouble for its two stars, WAC leading scorer Dominique Daniels Jr. and big man Kendal Coleman, but took eight more shots than GCU because of nine offensive rebounds and 10 Lopes turnovers.

Coleman scored 14 points in just 11 minutes but still trailed until a 9-0 run capped by Drew's first technical foul put the Lancers ahead 35-26. GCU's bench, led by graduate swingman Tyon Grant-Foster's 10 points, scored most of the Lopes' first-half points (21 of 41).

After losing at home Thursday night to Southern Utah, California Baptist took the game to the Lopes with putbacks, physical drives and post-ups.

"We're getting teams that take their best shot and play their best game against us," Drew said. "But how we have to respond is much better than how we did tonight. We have to raise our game up a whole other level against those opponents. We didn't do that. They hit us first. We didn't hit them first."

The Lopes ended the first half with a sliver of momentum when graduate forward Lok Wur hit sophomore guard Caleb Shaw for a backdoor slam and senior guard Collin Moore hustled for his own 3-point miss' rebound to draw a foul. He converted 1 of 2 free throws, in line with GCU's 12-for-23 free throw shooting for the game, and California Baptist led 47-41 at halftime.

GCU has overcome turnover-ridden first halves with clean second halves repeatedly this season, but the 10-turnover first half was followed with turnovers on the first three possessions of the second half Saturday. Back-to-back bad passes were followed by a shot clock violation because of an airball 3-pointer.

"Most of those turnovers are unforced," Drew said. "Us just giving them the ball or throwing the ball directly to them and not us."

GCU made a push early in the half when a second-chance Wur jumper and a layup by junior center Duke Brennan, with about 70 relatives and friends on hand, cut the Lancers' lead to 55-47 with 14:25 to go.

After California Baptist head coach Rick Croy called a timeout, the Lancers held the Lopes without a field goal for four minutes. During that time, GCU turned over the ball five times with a dropped pass, a ball being stripped, a pass that didn't connect in traffic, a charge and an inbound turnover.

California Baptist kept its lead in the teens until GCU's first stretch of successful offense came in the final three minutes. The Lopes scored on four consecutive possessions for the first time in the game but did not get closer than 11 behind the Lancers.

"They're a physical ball club with tremendous athleticism," Croy said of GCU on the Lancers Athletics Podcast after the game. "They beat you up. They drive the ball. They get to the free throw line. We had to start the fight and finish the fight. That was our message."

The Lopes' starting three perimeter players went 7 for 28 from the field while its recently hot big men, senior power forward JaKobe Coles and Brennan, were limited to a combined 10 shots. Coles was questionable due to illness but played 21 minutes, scoring 11 points with five rebounds and two steals.

California Baptist did not need Daniels to approach his 20-point scoring average because sophomore Tylen Riley scored a career-high 25 points off the bench with 13 coming on free throws. His previous career scoring high was 13, and his season average was 2.5.

Riley had not played in six of the previous 11 games and was averaging 3.7 minutes in the games he did play since mid-December.

Offensive rebounding was California Baptist's strongest area entering the game with 12 per game, but the Lancers had nine by halftime on the way to finishing with 16. The Lancers limited their 3-point attempts and made 50% of their 2-pointers for a 46-38 advantage on paint points that helped them move into a third-place tie with Seattle U.

Grant-Foster led GCU with 15 points, six rebounds and two steals in 29 minutes off the bnech. With 10 points, senior guard Ray Harrison tied Jovan Blacksher Jr. for seventh place (1,354 points) on the Lopes' all-time scoring list in his third GCU season.

Drew picked up his second technical foul in the final minute when he went onto the court again to argue a non-call. His first career ejection came in his 13th season as a head coach and his 421st game.

"Obviously disappointed," Drew said. "We should have played much better than what we did. And I think that's the game of the year for them. Riley was fantastic. Coleman was terrific. They played really, really well."

Now 2-3 in road games, GCU heads to Texas next week for games at Tarleton State on Thursday and at UT Arlington on Saturday. With Utah Valley idle Thursday, the Lopes can pull back within a game of the Wolverines if they can avenge last season's loss at Tarleton State.

"Hopefully, we'll come out next week, and we'll be mentally tougher," Drew said. "We'll be more connected, and we'll play with more urgency to want to win, and not just play hard and be a one-sided team."