GCU ends layoff with off-night

Saturday, January 3

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

8-5,1-1Mountain West

Colorado State

10-4,1-2Mountain West

Colorado St.

Grand Canyon

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

1/3/2026 10:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

Colorado State builds lead of 25 to drop Lopes to 1-1 in MW play

By: Paul Coro

Grand Canyon got caught ball-watching on a backdoor play, gave up two blow-by drives, switched a center onto a 3-point shooter and was outmuscled inside.

That would normally be a game of defensive possession mistakes for GCU's annually staunch stoppers, but those telling missteps all came in the first six Colorado State offensive trips of the second half Saturday night. The Rams converted each of those opportunities, and the momentum snowballed into a 21-2 avalanche that proved to be the difference in ruining the Lopes' Mountain West home debut.

Phoenix, AZ Jan. 3,, 2025: The Lopes fall 70-60 to Colorado State in their Mountain West home debut at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski/GCU

Phoenix, AZ Jan. 3,, 2025: The Lopes fall 70-60 to Colorado State in their Mountain West home debut at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski/GCU

After losing one home game in the previous two seasons, GCU (8-5, 1-1 MW) suffered its second loss at Global Credit Union Arena this season with Colorado State swiping a 70-60 win in the teams' only conference meeting this season.

The Rams (10-4, 1-2 MW) were leading the nation in every shooting category through mid-December, but they responded to two conference-opening losses and leading scorer Kyle Jorgensen's knee injury by winning differently Saturday night.

Colorado State was ordinary from 3-point range (9 for 26, 34.6%). But in the first half, one of the bottom-25 offensive rebounding teams grabbed seven offensive boards. The nation's fifth-slowest tempo team doubled up GCU on fastbreak points for the game. With its top two centers out, converted center Augustinas Kiudulas scored 15 points and power forward Carey Booth starred with 19 points and 12 rebounds to help Colorado State lead by as many as 25 points.

"We thought we found our identity before this 10-day break on both ends," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "Our defense was much tougher. We rebounded tougher. We were sharing the ball and executing. All those things that we were finally doing what we are supposed to do, we dropped the ball on all of those tonight. That was really upsetting to watch. Us not making the extra pass. Us not hitting the boxout. Us not being tough on defense to get through screens. Things that we have done really well before, we did not do well. It's just not good enough when you play teams in this league."

The Mountain West is unforgiving, and GCU had too many areas to forgive. The Lopes found their desperate side to rally from the 25-point deficit to a more manageable 62-50 hole with 3:40 to go, but this would not be the night for everything to go right for a Lopes comeback.

Phoenix, AZ Jan. 3,, 2025: The Lopes fall 70-60 to Colorado State in their Mountain West home debut at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski/GCU

GCU's top two centers, freshman Efe Demirel and graduate Wilhelm Breidenbach, played 22 minutes combined because of foul trouble for each player. The Lopes' starting perimeter trio of Jaden Henley, Brian Moore Jr. and Caleb Shaw went 6 for 22 from the field combined. GCU's total of made free throws was single digits for the third time this season – all losses.

"I didn't like our togetherness out there," Drew said. "It was really good before the break. It just wasn't there tonight. Really, really disappointing. Conference home opener. In front of our home crowd, to not play that physical and not have the desperation that you need to in conference games was really alarming."

GCU had survived the unexpected issues with Colorado State's second-chance and transition scoring in the first half by bothering the Rams with ball pressure. Colorado State made nine first-half turnovers to help GCU go from trailing 28-19 to being within three points until Booth made a 3 for a 35-29 Rams halftime lead.

The second half opened with Henley getting into the lane and missing a leaner before Booth scored on a backdoor slam. The Lopes opened the half making 1 of 9 shots with four turnovers, helping the Rams to a 21-2 run that put them ahead 56-31 with 12:33 to go.

"It's mind-boggling that we came out when we had some momentum with our ball coming out (of halftime)," Drew said. "Jaden Henley made a soft play at the rim. Ducked around guys instead of getting fouled. Missed it. Our body language on the court wasn't great after that possession. It pretty much started right there. We have too many older guys, and we have too many good players for a play like that to put us down in the drain for the next so many minutes.

"We've got to be tougher and have a better winning mentality. We've got to pick each other up better. We were doing all three of those. We've got to get back to it."

Phoenix, AZ Jan. 3,, 2025: The Lopes fall 70-60 to Colorado State in their Mountain West home debut at Global Credit Union Arena.

Phoenix, AZ Jan. 3,, 2025: The Lopes fall 70-60 to Colorado State in their Mountain West home debut at Global Credit Union Arena.

For nearly six minutes of the early second half, junior guard Makaih Williams was the only Lopes player to score. He tallied 17 of his season-high 22 points in the second half, marking his fourth consecutive double-digit scoring game off the bench.

Colorado State was coming off a Tuesday home loss to Nevada, which it led with seven minutes to go before not scoring for six minutes. The Rams played like the more desperate team Saturday, particularly physically. That was represented by wing Jevin Muniz, who provided 14 points, six rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot to be plus-13 in his 32 minutes.

"There was a different edge to it," Colorado State head coach Ali Farokhmanesh told coloradoan.com after the win.

Redshirt freshman center Dennis Evans provided a rare GCU bright spot when he was forced into action because Demirel and Breidenbach each picked up three first-half fouls in nine and four minutes, respectively.

Evans, who had played 22 minutes this season, held down the middle for the final five minutes of the first half and earned eight more minutes in the second half. GCU was plus-nine during the 7-foot-1 center's playing time with Evans finishing an alleyop slam from Moore and adding four rebounds, a blocked shot and a pair of altered Rams misses.

"He's been practicing really hard," Drew said of Evans. "I credit him for working hard, and our coaches. He didn't look like a player who hadn't played in a quite a while. He really helped us. He rebounded the ball well. Out of our three centers, he was our best one tonight with his defensive presence and his rebounding."

GCU will stay in Mountain West play for the remainder of the season, continuing with a Wednesday game at Boise State on national television (FS1 at 9 p.m. Phoenix time). The Broncos (9-5, 1-2 MW) rallied from a 24-point deficit Tuesday night at San Diego State before losing 110-107 in a three-overtime thriller.