Hot Coles turns up heat for GCU's winning WAC ways

Friday, March 14

Las Vegas, Nev.

8:30 p.m.

Grand Canyon

California Baptist

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Las Vegas, NV March 12, 2025 : The Lopes get a 98-75 win over UT Arlington during their 2025 WAC Tournament quarterfinal game in Las Vegas. David Kadlubowski/GCU

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

3/13/2025 7:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

GCU Notes CBU Notes

Lone new starter takes scoring tear into semifinal vs. California Baptist

By: Paul Coro

Friday, March 13 \| Noon \| WAC Tournament semifinal Orleans Arena \| Las Vegas

	GRAND CANYON LOPES (24-7)	vs.	CALIFORNIA BAPTIST LANCERS (17-14)

WATCH: ESPN+ \| STATS: View

LAS VEGAS – There already is a familiar look to Grand Canyon at the WAC Tournament as it rolls into Friday night's semifinal.

The result looks familiar with Wednesday night's quarterfinal win against UT Arlington being the Lopes' seventh consecutive WAC tournament win. The Lopes look is reminiscent with four of the same starters as last year's tourney champs.

The glaring but blowing difference is the lone new starter, senior power forward JaKobe Coles, who takes a streak of 15 consecutive double-digit scoring games into the 8:30 p.m. Friday game vs. third-seeded California Baptist, a 55-51 Thursday night winner against Tarleton State.

Las Vegas, NV March 12, 2025 : The Lopes get a 98-75 win over UT Arlington during their 2025 WAC Tournament quarterfinal game in Las Vegas. David Kadlubowski/GCU

Coles' arc has gone from a TCU transfer tiptoeing into the summer scene to a newcomer assessing where he fit the team's gaps in the fall to the Lopes' go-to offensive threat of late. GCU posted its second-best scoring total against a Division I opponent in the quarterfinal win with Coles' 24-point quarterfinal coming two points shy of his career high.

"It's the right time to figure that out, especially here in tournament time," Coles said. "The coaches and the players helped me get in that position where I can fit right in. It's just been great. I thought we could accomplish a lot of things this season, and we got the first one in the tournament. We're looking for the championship. That's where we are headed toward."

The 15-game streak of double-digit scoring games is three times his previous career law, but he is giving more than that with career-high averages across the board: 14.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.2 steals per game.

Coles, an All-WAC first-team selection, I shooting a career-best 52% from the field and 60% over the past four games with his unique mix of shots. The 6-foot-8, 230-pounder has the strength and creativity to score down low without being a high-riser and the touch and ball-handling to be lethal in the mid-range with square-up and fadeaway shots.

Las Vegas, NV March 12, 2025 : The Lopes get a 98-75 win over UT Arlington during their 2025 WAC Tournament quarterfinal game in Las Vegas. David Kadlubowski/GCU

"I've always wanted to have an ability to adjust to any type of game that's thrown at me," Coles said. "You always want to evolve, and that's always what I wanted to do with my game. It's just being able to be a player that's very versatile."

That meant the highest scoring half of his career on Wednesday, when Cole delivered 18 of his 24 points in the first half to continue his string of sizzling starts. He made 9 of 15 shots from the field, converting 3-point plays on the interior and a 3-point shot from the perimeter.

"He's so, so efficient," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "He makes some of those baskets around the rim that are difficult, and he finds a way to get them in. He really completed plays, he played quite a few minutes with Lok (Wur) in foul trouble. But JaKobe was playing so well, he was really hard to take off the court."

Coles, who is from Denton, Texas, sought a program for his final year where he could have a greater role without losing his greater goals to win a championship. He also found a place that developed his skills

"It's all what I asked for," Coles said. "I just wanted an opportunity to display my talents and play on a winning team and win championships. Right now, that's heading in the right direction, and it's a beautiful thing.

"We all want to accomplish something great. That's where we're headed, so we've just got to stay locked in. focus on the small details, cut mistakes down and play as hard as we can."

After a late-night grinder Wednesday, California Baptist (17-14) is on a four-game winning streak and playing in the WAC Tournament semifinals for the first time. The Lancers won a 55-51 quarterfinal with 33% shooting because they grabbed 14 offensive rebounds and held Tarleton State to one 3-pointer.

"Our rallying cry has been, 'Let's try to play our best basketball and our toughest and most united basketball at the end of the season,' " California Baptist 12th-year head coach Rick Croy said. "It feels good to get this one under our belt. We know we've got a lot of work to do tonight to get ready for Grand Canyon. We've got a tremendous respect for what they've been able to do in the postseason and how consistently they've been able to perform."

Lope tracks

California Baptist won the teams' first meeting 85-71 in Riverside, California, where GCU committed 22 turnovers and allowed 14 offensive rebounds.
GCU won the teams' second meeting 66-64 in Phoenix, where the Lopes led by 20 but needed a CBU miss at the buzzer to edge the Lancers. Top scorers Tyon Grant-Foster of GCU and Dominique Daniels Jr. of CBU did not play in that Feb. 22 game, but both have returned to action. Daniels scored 24 of the Lancers' 55 points on Wednesday night.
GCU sophomore guard Makaih Williams on the Lopes making only eight turnovers Wednesday: "That's just what championship teams do. Just stay poised, know that you're the better team, even if you're down. It was a tough game at the moment, but we stayed. We kept our front of our neck and we just kept playing.
Drew on senior swingman Tyon Grant-Foster's return (12 points, five rebounds, two steals and two blocks in 21 minutes) after missing five games due to injury: "He had some great bursts in there. He had some really good plays. He made some great passes. His length got some hands on some balls."
Harrison needs four assists to be the only active player besides North Carolina's R.J. Davis, Arizona's Caleb Love and Alabama's Mark Sears to have at least 2,000 career points and 500 career assists.
Harrison's 1,452 points in three GCU seasons ranks fifth on the GCU all-time scoring leaderboard. He trails fourth-place Duane Gagnon (1965-69) by 38 points.
Harrison and Coles are the only Lopes to start every game this season.
GCU junior center Duke Brennan ranks 19th nationally with 9.5 rebounds per game. His career-best average of 10.7 points per game has come on 65.9% shooting, which would rank fifth nationally if his 4.3 made field goals per game was not shy of the statistical qualifying minimum of five.
GCU ranks seventh in the nation with 18.7 free throw points per game after ranking third last season with 19.3 per game.
The Lopes, ranked third nationally in defensive rating since Dec. 17, average the 11th-most steals per game (9.5) and 16th-most blocked shots per game (5.1) in the nation.