GCU tries to continue safe travels at Nevada

Tuesday, January 27

Lawlor Events Center • Reno, Nev.

8:30 p.m. (MST)

Grand Canyon

Nevada

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

1/26/2026 6:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

4th-place Lopes test 3-1 Mountain West road record vs. 5th-place Wolf Pack

By: Paul Coro

RENO, Nev. – The unfamiliar has not proven improbable for Grand Canyon.

The Lopes will go for their fourth Mountain West road win in five tries Tuesday when they play at 8:30 p.m. (Phoenix time) on FS1 at Nevada, a 9-2 home team that is trying to catch up to GCU in the conference standings.

The Mountain West was a step up in competition and physicality this season, but the veteran-laden Lopes mostly have handled the higher elevations, crowd decibels and talent levels well with double-digit conference wins at Wyoming, Boise State and Fresno State.

"Going into these different environments where you might have to create your own energy or you might have to feed off the opposing team's energy to come out and be 'dawgs,' " said GCU leading scorer Jaden Henley, whose team posts a "WE GOT DAWGS" poster in its visiting locker rooms. "We come out with the same passion every night. We're going to come out and be us. As long as we're us, we're going to win a lot of games."

The Lopes' in-season defensive improvement has traveled well too. GCU (13-6, 6-2 Mountain West) now ranks second in the Mountain West for scoring defense (68.3 points allowed per game) after posting three of its seven lowest opponent field goal percentages in road conference games. The most recent came Saturday, when Fresno State set its season low and GCU's opponent season low by making 30.2% of its shots from the field in a 68-57 loss.

"These are such intense games and such quick turnarounds," said Lopes head coach Bryce Drew, whose team is aiming for its first four-game winning streak. "It keeps coming at you in this league.

"Every game is draining from a lot of factors, including emotionally with how good the teams are. The environment was really good (at Fresno State). And so rest is such a big thing and health. We've been healthy most of the year. Now seeing how Caleb (Shaw) and Brian (Moore Jr.) are, we've got to get our guys back because these are a lot of minutes the guys logged. It's going to be hard to play this many minutes consistently."

With Moore out for a hamstring strain Saturday and Shaw going out in the second half with an ankle sprain, graduate power forward Nana Owusu-Anane (38 minutes), junior guard Makaih Williams (37 minutes) and Henley (35 minutes) barely came off the floor at Fresno State. Moore remains questionable for Tuesday's game, but Shaw was listed as out on Monday's Mountain West initial report.

GCU's ability to succeed on the road has much to do with its Division I experience, which ranks 13th nationally, according to kenpom.com. GCU's top four scorers (Henley, Williams, Owusu-Anane and Moore) have cumulatively started 299 games.

"The good thing about us is we match up well with anyone in the country physicality-wise," Owusu-Anane said.

Nevada (14-6, 6-3 Mountain West) became New Mexico's 23rd consecutive victim at The Pit in an 80-73 loss that the Wolf Pack led with about eight minutes to go.

New Mexico kept Nevada to 6-of-23 3-point shooting (26.1%), but the Wolf Pack still ranks 16th nationally for 3-point percentage at 38.5%. But Nevada does it judiciously, taking the least 3-point attempts per game (18.3) in the conference.

"It seems like they're just such a together, connected group," Wolf Pack seventh-year head coach Steve Alford said after last Tuesday's 87-54 home blowout of San José State. "That's why they're fun to coach and they're starting to keep each other accountable.

"We're shooting the ball better because the ball is moving and we're getting really good open looks."

San Diego State has been the only conference visitor to win at Lawlor Events Center, where the average attendance has been 7,641. In its last Reno visit, GCU lost 59-46 in a November 2022 nonconference game.

"He always does a terrific job," Drew said of Alford, his fellow Indiana Mr. Basketball. "It's a tough place to play."

GCU and Nevada are in fourth and fifth place, respectively, in the Mountain West with the Lopes (6-2), Utah State (7-2) and New Mexico (7-2) sitting one in the loss column behind first-place San Diego State (8-1). A Wolf Pack win would pull Nevada even with GCU in what would be a head-to-head tiebreaker for the teams because the Wolf Pack are the lone Mountain West team to not come to GCU this season.

"This is the Mountain West," Henley said. "There are no easy nights. Anybody can get knocked out, so we have to come out here and want to win more than the person in front of you and play as hard as we can."

Lope tracks

GCU has risen to No. 74 in NET ranking, a 27-spot jump in 10 days and an 89-spot vault since the NCAA posted its first NET ranking on Dec. 1.
The Lopes are holding opponents to 39.4% shooting over its past 10 games. They rank 57th nationally on the season at 41.4%.
Nevada commits 9.4 turnovers per game, the lowest average in the Mountain West and 14th lowest in the nation.
Wolf Pack 6-foot-9 sophomore forward Elijah Price, Williams' close friend, leads the Mountain West with 2.1 blocks per game. He also tied with Owusu-Anane for the Mountain West's second-best rebounding average (8.9).
Williams is averaging 16.3 points in GCU's Mountain West games after averaging 10.7 in nonconference games.
GCU is 12-0 when leading at halftime this season.
The Lopes are 10-1 when freshman center Efe Demirel scores six or more points.
GCU is 8-1 when Caleb Shaw makes two or more 3-pointers.
The Lopes are 10-1 when they score more than opponents in the paint.
GCU is 11-1 when its scores more than opponents off the bench.
The FS1 announcing crew will be John Ramey (play by play) and former Phoenix Suns player Casey Jacobsen (analyst).