NCAA tournament pairs GCU, Maryland in Seattle

LAS VEGAS – The Grand Canyon players and staff, in newly earned WAC Tournament championship apparel, gathered in their Las Vegas hotel's ballroom Sunday afternoon with the usual angst about where the NCAA selection show would send them for the first date on their Big Dance card.

But once the bracket's first three quadrants passed and the Seattle Regional returned, GCU pretty much knew its name was about to pop up as Maryland's opponent for a TBS game at 1:35 p.m. Friday in Climate Pledge Arena.

Slotted as a No. 13 seed, the Lopes (26-7) will match up with No. 4 seed Maryland (25-8), which was ranked 11th in the AP Top 25 last week and is No. 10 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking.

Bryce Drew and Duke Brennan

"Whoever we play, we know they're going to be really good," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "Maryland statistically is even better than what their seed is. Top 10 in the country in defense, top 30 in offense and a really good team. They have a lottery pick (6-foot-10, 246-pound freshman Derik Queen), and they have one of the best point guards in the country (6-1 junior Ja'Kobi Gillespie). They have a lot of really good pieces, and obviously that shows in how good they've been all year."

Queen and 6-9, 252-pound senior Julian Reese each have 14 double-doubles and combine for 29.4 points and 18.0 rebounds per game, while Gillespie averages 14.7 points, 5.0 assists and 1.8 steals while shooting 41% from 3-point range.

Maryland took its fourth last-second loss of the season Saturday in the Big Ten semifinals, when Michigan's 81-80 win avenged the Terrapins' win in Ann Arbor 10 days earlier. Maryland had won eight of nine games until Saturday for third-year head coach Kevin Willard, whose program had an about-face from going 16-17 overall and 7-13 in the Big Ten last season to 25-8 and 14-6 this season.

The Terrapins boast the highest-scoring starting lineup in the nation, the "Crab Five," with 70 points per game, which is more than 79 teams' entire rosters averaged in games this season.

"We thought Arizona was going to be a likely opponent just because of West Coast and them being a 4 (seed)," Drew said. "Having Maryland go all the way out to the West Coast is interesting how that came to be. We're really happy to be on the West Coast, where it feels like home."

The Lopes, making their fourth NCAA tournament trip in Drew's five GCU years, already won in the Emerald City this month when they prevailed at Seattle U two weeks ago. Making its third consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, GCU had similar directional trips the last two years at Denver and Spokane.

"That Grand Canyon team is not a typical mid-major team," CBS college basketball analyst Clark Kellogg said. "They've got size, great experience. They've been to the tournament. That's going to be a tough challenge for a very good and explosive Maryland team."

WAC celebration

Last year's team broke through for the program's first NCAA Division I tournament win over Saint Mary's and pushed Alabama in the second round. Four starters returned from that team and secured a WAC Tournament championship three-peat Saturday night.

"We're locked in for sure and ready to fight Friday," GCU senior guard Collin Moore said. "We're more mature now. It's just going out there playing basketball and competing, and I feel like we can compete with anybody."

Maryland scores 81.7 points per game, ranking 22nd nationally, with 37.2% 3-point shooting. And the Terrapins score like that with the 14th-lowest fastbreak scoring average (12.6) in the nation. The Terrapins are capable of rolling big numbers, as shown by the seventh-highest scoring margin in the nation (plus-14.7 per game).

This is the type of platform the GCU returnees sought and earmarked. It showed in the changed level of focus and connectivity for their best stretch of basketball to win three WAC Tournament games in four nights.

"Hopefully, they're comfortable," Drew said. "They know the routine. There's always that joy and that excitement to be in the tournament, but there's also that level of focus and the attitude of we're not just here, we want to win when we're here."

Although the four returning starters and sixth man Lök Wur gained NCAA tournament experience and new starer JaKobe Coles is playing in his fourth NCAA tournament, Lopes such as sophomore guard Makaih Williams were experiencing a first NCAA selection show as the team watched together on a large screen in the hotel ballroom. The finally got the word when show host Adam Zucker said, "The Antelopes are under high gear under tournament legend Bryce Drew. Third straight tournament out of the WAC."

"They were kind of teasing us, having us go all the way to one of the last picks, but it was fun and I was excited to see it," Williams said. "This is my first time in March Madness. I want to show who I am and how our team is. We're ready for this."

GCU has played in Seattle seven times since 2019, but Seattle U hosted those visits at its campus Redhawk Center rather than 18,300-seat Climate Pledge Arena. The Lopes last played there in 2018 when it was Key Arena before a $1.15 billion renovation.

Drew did have games in then-Key Arena as an NBA player. He played his last game there on Jan. 23, 2002, scoring 10 points to help a Charlotte Hornets win against the Seattle SuperSonics.

"I played there when I was a player in the NBA years ago against the great Seattle teams with Gary Payton, but never as a coach and not since they've redone it," Drew said. "I'm excited to see it."

If GCU knocks off Maryland on Friday, the Lopes would have a second-round game Sunday in Seattle against the winner of No. 5 seed Memphis (29-5) and No. 12 seed Colorado State (25-9).

The TBS talent crew for the GCU-Maryland game will be play-by-play announcer Lisa Byington, color commentators Robbie Hummel and Jalen Rose and sideline reporter Andy Katz.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

Players Mentioned

JaKobe Coles

Collin Moore

Makaih Williams

Lök Wur

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