Run it back: GCU faces MW leader on FS1 again

Wednesday, January 21

Phoenix, Ariz.

9 p.m.

Grand Canyon

San Diego State

Buy Tickets

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

1/20/2026 7:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

GCU Notes SDSU Notes

After knocking off Utah State, Lopes take on 1st-place San Diego State

By: Paul Coro

Playing in the Mountain West can feel like navigating an unrelenting storm.

Grand Canyon escaped No. 23 Utah State's thunderbolts to bask in the shine of an 84-74 upset win, but only long enough to see the next wave coming Wednesday night – first-place and MW unanimous preseason favorite San Diego State.

Phoenix, Quicker than the Lopes could hear congratulations, they were processing what it will take to topple the gold – or scarlet – standard of the Mountain West. The 9 p.m. Wednesday game provides another chance for GCU basketball and the Havocs to impress an FS1 audience against the Aztecs, who are 0-2 at Global Credit Union Arena.

"Welcome to the Mountain West," Lopes head coach Bryce Drew said of following up one of the program's best-ever wins Saturday. "You better be ready to bounce back and play the next game. We're only six games in, and yet it feels like we're 16 games in with how competitive and physical the games are.

"It was very emotional Saturday. I think a big key is for us to still have emotion in us for this game Wednesday."

The only help Saturday's win over Utah State (16-2, 6-1 MW) gives GCU (11-6, 4-2 MW) is if the level of focused, passionate play carries over to battling San Diego State (13-4, 7-0 MW).

The Aztecs are seeking their sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament trip with the highest-scoring team of the program's 27 Mountain West seasons, including 16 MW champions. San Diego State's balanced attack averages 82 points per game with the nation's second-highest scoring bench (40.4 points per game). Six Aztecs average between 8.2 and 11.6 points.

Phoenix, "We celebrated Saturday, for sure," GCU graduate power forward Nana Owusu-Anane said. "That was a big win for us. It put us in the right direction. As soon as Saturday was over, we had to turn the page and get ready for a really good team. As soon as Sunday morning hit, we knew we have a big opportunity coming up on Wednesday, and it's time to lock in."

That is what San Diego State has done after a 3-3 start with a home loss to Troy, a 40-point loss to Michigan and a 10-point loss to Baylor. Since then, only No. 1 Arizona has beaten San Diego State.

Three Aztecs starters – junior guard and NBA prospect Miles Byrd, senior guard Reese Dixon-Waters and junior power forward Miles Heide – played on the team that lost 79-73 at GCU in December 2023.

Except for Caleb Shaw redshirting that season, no GCU player remains from that first Lopes win against a top-25 opponent. Just barely more than two years later, GCU recorded its third win over a top-25 team Saturday.

"You feel the students on top of you," Byrd told San Diego media of playing in front of the Havocs. "They're talking to you. I give credit definitely to their crowd. It's easy to rally behind a crowd like that."

Dixon-Waters remembers laughing at the Havocs' clean content, but he said the "White-out" atmosphere will not faze him.

"I think it's more creative when you don't use expletives, and you come up with something that's way more creative, so I thought that was kind of cool," Dixon-Waters told reporters.

Phoenix, Byrd has been finding the form that earned him MW Preseason Player of the Year. In Wednesday's 83-79 win against New Mexico, the 6-foot-6 guard tallied 21 points, eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and four blocked shots.

"Some of Byrd's steals and blocks are incredible timing," Drew said. "He really sees plays as they are developing, and he makes tremendous plays on the ball. It's hard to scout and practice some of the stuff he does, but ball security is going to be important. If we turn the ball over, it's going to be difficult to win.

"Byrd is phenomenal, kind of like Tyon (Grant-Foster) was for us last year coming from the weak side to block shots. He sees plays as they develop and acts."

Owusu-Anane is carving out a defensive reputation beyond being the Mountain West's No. 2 rebounder. The 6-foot-8 power forward is on a seven-game streak of multiple-steal games, including having seven steals over the past two games. He also averages 9.4 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game and needs five points to reach 1,000 for his career.

"At the beginning of the year, the coaches really challenged me with my defense," Owusu-Anane said. "A lot of my habits were bad because I hadn't played in a while (after a redshirt season at Brown for a shoulder injury). Defense has to be my calling card now and for my professional future. I'm trying to do whatever it takes to win, diving on every loose ball, grabbing 10 rebounds, guarding whoever I need to guard.

"I always thought I was a good defender. At our practices at the start of the year, you would've thought I was the worst defender in the country. Now I have so much more to prove defensively. Wednesday is another opportunity to do that."

San Diego State will do the same as a menacing defense that averages a conference-leading 4.6 blocked shots per game and second-best 14.9 opponent turnovers per game.

Byrd, 7-foot sophomore Magoon Gwath and 6-7 forward Pharaoh Compton account for 3.5 blocks per game, helping put opponents at 39.5% shooting (23rd-lowest clip nationally).

"We know it's a hard place to play," Aztecs head coach Brian Dutcher said of GCU. "It's going to take everything we have to get in there and try to steal a road win."

Despite two losing visits to GCU and a 1-3 record vs. the Lopes in the Division I era, Dutcher said he wants to continue a home-and-home series with GCU after the Aztecs leave the Mountain West for the reformed Pac-12 next year.

"It's a good game to get to," Dutcher said this week at a San Diego press briefing. "I'm always looking for travel and distance. It's only an hour flight into Phoenix. It's an easy home and home. So they'd be a team, even though we're not going to be in the conference, that we've played in the past home and home, and we'd probably be interested in looking to add it again because we know their metrics are always going to be high."

Lope tracks

The Lopes are 79-12 (.868) at home in Drew's six seasons as head coach.
GCU is 11-0 when leading at halftime this season.
Since Drew took over the Lopes in 2020, GCU (40.2%) and San Diego State (39.6%) rank among the top five programs for lowest opponent field goal percentage.
The Lopes are 9-1 when freshman center Efe Demirel scores six or more points and 9-1 when they score more points in the paint.
The Aztecs are 3-0 on the road this season with MW wins at Nevada, San José State and Wyoming.
San Diego State is off to its first 7-0 Mountain West start since 2019-20, a 30-2 team that finished No. 6 in national rankings.
Aztecs backup point guard Sean Newman Jr. had a 25-point, nine-assist game against GCU last season to help Louisiana Tech win a home game against the Lopes.
Dixon-Waters needs 20 points to reach 1,000 for his career.