Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball at Baylor on October 10, 2025 at 2 p.m. (MST)
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Grand Canyon University Athletics
Photo by: David Kadlubowski
Acrisure tourney pits GCU-Utah, Iowa-Ole Miss
7/21/2025 9:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro, Lopes Insider Blog
Winners, losers meet on Day 2 in Palm Desert on CBS Sports Network
Grand Canyon's building-block win against Stanford at last year's Acrisure Holiday Invitational is evolving into a greater opportunity for this Lopes season when GCU returns to Coachella Valley for a pair of formidable Thanksgiving week games.
In successive national television games, the Lopes will play Utah on Tuesday, Nov. 25, at 9 p.m. at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, California, before returning to the 11,000-seat venue a night later to face Iowa or 2025 Sweet 16 qualifier Ole Miss. Each GCU game will broadcast on CBS Sports Network.
The four-team, two-day Acrisure Classic is part of the nation's largest multiteam event, the Acrisure Series, with 20 teams playing over four days (Nov. 25-28). Day-session tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday on Ticketmaster.com.
"What a great opportunity to play in the Acrisure Classic against quality teams that could all potentially be ranked this year," said GCU sixth-year head coach Bryce Drew, whose Lopes teams have gone 120-40. "We will be close in the Palm Springs area, so hopefully many of our fans will be able to be there."
The new-look Lopes, infused with a nationally acclaimed group of transfers, will face successful programs also going through changes at the 3-year-old Arcisure Arena.
Utah, the Lopes' opening opponent, will be playing its first season under head coach Alex Jensen, who wrapped up his Utes playing career in 2000 and has been assisting on NBA coaching staffs for the past 12 seasons.
The Utes bring back 6-foot-9 junior forward Keanu Dawes from their Big 12 debut season, which ended at 16-17. With hiring former Atlanta Hawks general manager and Sacramento Kings assistant general manager Wes Wilcox, Utah rebuilt its roster with a nine-newcomer group highlighted by All-Northeast first-teamer Terrence Brown. The 6-3 junior guard averaged 20.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.2 steals for Farleigh Dickinson last season.
The top two scorers from Western Kentucky, which lost 74-72 at GCU last season, also moved to Utah. Fifth-year players Don McHenry and Babacar Faye combined for 32.2 points per game last season with Faye grabbing 7.8 rebounds per game. The Utes also signed transfers from Akron, Auburn, Iowa and Syracuse and added 21-year-old German guard Jacob Patrick.
GCU is 0-3 vs. Utah with losses in Salt Lake City in 2010 and 2013 and at the 2018 Wooden Legacy, where Lopes star Alessandro Lever scored 16 points before fouling out of a 75-66 loss to the Utes in Fullerton, California.
The Lopes defeated Stanford 78-71 last season at Acrisure Arena, where returning guard Makaih Wiliams' 12-point second half was a key to the win backed by a large throng of Havocs.
Williams and fellow junior guard Caleb Shaw return from that NCAA Tournament qualifier's rotation and have been joined by transfers Wilhelm Breidenbach (Washington), Jaden Henley (UNLV), Brian Moore Jr. (Norfolk State), Nana Owusu-Anane (Brown), Kaleb Smith (UC Riverside) and Dusty Stromer (Gonzaga).
In this year's Acrisure Classic format, the Lopes-Utes' winner and loser will face the respective teams of the Iowa-Ole Miss game that precedes them on Nov. 25. The 6:30 p.m. championship game will precede a 9 p.m. third-place game on Nov. 26.
Either matchup has an element of NCAA Tournament history for GCU.
Iowa became the Lopes' first NCAA Tournament opponent of their Division I era in 2021, when the second-seeded Hawkeyes won 86-74 in the programs' first-ever meeting.
The Hawkeyes also have a new head coach, Ben McCollum, after he led Drake to a 31-4 record and NCAA Tournament first-round upset of Missouri in his debut there last season. Previously, McCollum enjoyed a 15-year Northwest Missouri State run that featured four Division II national championships.
Six Drake players followed McCollum to Iowa, where he also added Horizon League Player of the Year Alvaro Folgueiras, a 6-9 power forward from Spain.
GCU never has played Ole Miss, but Drew sank "The Shot," one of the NCAA Tournament's most memorable shots, to give Valparaiso a stunning upset on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer in the 1998 NCAA Tournament.
The Rebels have posted back-to-back 20-win seasons under head coach Chris Beard, whose senior-led team ousted North Carolina and Iowa State in last year's Big Dance.
Beard is relying on a pair of transfers to recapture 2023-24 form. Koren Johnson, a 6-2 junior guard, missed most of last season at Louisville with a shoulder injury. He averaged 11.1 points for Washington in 2023-24. A.J. Storr, a 6-6 guard on his fourth collegiate stop averaged 6.1 points at Kansas last season after averaging 16.8 points as a Wisconsin sophomore. He also added Division II All-American guard Deuce Grayson.
The week at Acrisure Arena will feature three other Mountain West programs besides GCU with Fresno State, Nevada and San Jose State there.
"We are excited to have put together a really exciting slate of highly competitive, important holiday nonconference basketball in Palm Desert, the perfect location for this event," said Total Sports Consulting President Dann Shell, the co-tournament director.
In successive national television games, the Lopes will play Utah on Tuesday, Nov. 25, at 9 p.m. at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, California, before returning to the 11,000-seat venue a night later to face Iowa or 2025 Sweet 16 qualifier Ole Miss. Each GCU game will broadcast on CBS Sports Network.The four-team, two-day Acrisure Classic is part of the nation's largest multiteam event, the Acrisure Series, with 20 teams playing over four days (Nov. 25-28). Day-session tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday on Ticketmaster.com.
"What a great opportunity to play in the Acrisure Classic against quality teams that could all potentially be ranked this year," said GCU sixth-year head coach Bryce Drew, whose Lopes teams have gone 120-40. "We will be close in the Palm Springs area, so hopefully many of our fans will be able to be there."
The new-look Lopes, infused with a nationally acclaimed group of transfers, will face successful programs also going through changes at the 3-year-old Arcisure Arena.
Utah, the Lopes' opening opponent, will be playing its first season under head coach Alex Jensen, who wrapped up his Utes playing career in 2000 and has been assisting on NBA coaching staffs for the past 12 seasons.
The Utes bring back 6-foot-9 junior forward Keanu Dawes from their Big 12 debut season, which ended at 16-17. With hiring former Atlanta Hawks general manager and Sacramento Kings assistant general manager Wes Wilcox, Utah rebuilt its roster with a nine-newcomer group highlighted by All-Northeast first-teamer Terrence Brown. The 6-3 junior guard averaged 20.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.2 steals for Farleigh Dickinson last season.
The top two scorers from Western Kentucky, which lost 74-72 at GCU last season, also moved to Utah. Fifth-year players Don McHenry and Babacar Faye combined for 32.2 points per game last season with Faye grabbing 7.8 rebounds per game. The Utes also signed transfers from Akron, Auburn, Iowa and Syracuse and added 21-year-old German guard Jacob Patrick.
GCU is 0-3 vs. Utah with losses in Salt Lake City in 2010 and 2013 and at the 2018 Wooden Legacy, where Lopes star Alessandro Lever scored 16 points before fouling out of a 75-66 loss to the Utes in Fullerton, California.
The Lopes defeated Stanford 78-71 last season at Acrisure Arena, where returning guard Makaih Wiliams' 12-point second half was a key to the win backed by a large throng of Havocs.Williams and fellow junior guard Caleb Shaw return from that NCAA Tournament qualifier's rotation and have been joined by transfers Wilhelm Breidenbach (Washington), Jaden Henley (UNLV), Brian Moore Jr. (Norfolk State), Nana Owusu-Anane (Brown), Kaleb Smith (UC Riverside) and Dusty Stromer (Gonzaga).
In this year's Acrisure Classic format, the Lopes-Utes' winner and loser will face the respective teams of the Iowa-Ole Miss game that precedes them on Nov. 25. The 6:30 p.m. championship game will precede a 9 p.m. third-place game on Nov. 26.
Either matchup has an element of NCAA Tournament history for GCU.
Iowa became the Lopes' first NCAA Tournament opponent of their Division I era in 2021, when the second-seeded Hawkeyes won 86-74 in the programs' first-ever meeting.
The Hawkeyes also have a new head coach, Ben McCollum, after he led Drake to a 31-4 record and NCAA Tournament first-round upset of Missouri in his debut there last season. Previously, McCollum enjoyed a 15-year Northwest Missouri State run that featured four Division II national championships.
Six Drake players followed McCollum to Iowa, where he also added Horizon League Player of the Year Alvaro Folgueiras, a 6-9 power forward from Spain.
GCU never has played Ole Miss, but Drew sank "The Shot," one of the NCAA Tournament's most memorable shots, to give Valparaiso a stunning upset on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer in the 1998 NCAA Tournament.
The Rebels have posted back-to-back 20-win seasons under head coach Chris Beard, whose senior-led team ousted North Carolina and Iowa State in last year's Big Dance.
Beard is relying on a pair of transfers to recapture 2023-24 form. Koren Johnson, a 6-2 junior guard, missed most of last season at Louisville with a shoulder injury. He averaged 11.1 points for Washington in 2023-24. A.J. Storr, a 6-6 guard on his fourth collegiate stop averaged 6.1 points at Kansas last season after averaging 16.8 points as a Wisconsin sophomore. He also added Division II All-American guard Deuce Grayson.
The week at Acrisure Arena will feature three other Mountain West programs besides GCU with Fresno State, Nevada and San Jose State there.
"We are excited to have put together a really exciting slate of highly competitive, important holiday nonconference basketball in Palm Desert, the perfect location for this event," said Total Sports Consulting President Dann Shell, the co-tournament director.
The schedule
Tuesday, Nov. 25- 10:30 a.m.: San Jose State vs. Tulsa
- 1 p.m.: Northern Iowa vs. Loyola Chicago
- 3:30 p.m.: California Baptist vs. San Diego
- 6:30 p.m.: Iowa vs. Ole Miss (CBS Sports Network)
- 9 p.m.: GCU vs. Utah (CBS Sports Network)
- 11 a.m.: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser (CBS Sports Network)
- 1:30 p.m.: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 loser (CBS Sports Network)
- 4 p.m.: Fresno State vs. Pepperdine (CBS Sports Network)
- 6:30 p.m.: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner (CBS Sports Network)
- 9 p.m.: Game 4 loser vs. Game 5 loser (CBS Sports Network)
- 11 a.m.: Colorado vs. San Francisco (CBS Sports Network)
- 1:30 p.m.: Washington vs. Nevada (CBS Sports Network)
- 4 p.m.: Saint Louis vs. Santa Clara (CBS Sports Network)
- 6:30 p.m.: Minnesota vs. Stanford (CBS Sports Network)
- 11 a.m.: Game 11 loser vs. Game 12 loser (truTV)
- 1:30 p.m.: Game 11 winner vs. Game 12 winner (truTV)
- 4 p.m.: Game 13 winner vs. Game 14 winner (truTV)
- 6:30 p.m.: Game 13 loser vs. Game 13 loser (truTV)
The pods
Acrisure Classic (Nov. 25-26)- GCU
- Iowa
- Ole Miss
- Utah
- Loyola Chicago
- Northern Iowa
- San Jose State
- Tulsa
- Colorado
- Nevada
- San Francisco
- Washington
- Minnesota
- Saint Louis
- Santa Clara
- Stanford
- California Baptist vs. San Diego
- Fresno State vs. Pepperdine
Players Mentioned
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