Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball versus Western New Mexico (Exhibition) on October 27, 2026 at 7 p.m.
M Basketball
7 p.m.
vs Western New Mexico (Exhibition)
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Photo by: David Kadlubowski
GCU receives votes for preseason AP Top 25
10/19/2026 10:04:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
Lopes, MW opponent Nevada each get 2 voting points
Grand Canyon is among the 44 teams in the nation receiving votes to be a presesaon AP Top 25 team.
The Lopes garnered two voting points, as did fellow Mountain West member Nevada. New Mexico, which was the Mountain West preseason poll's top pick by one point over GCU, did not receive a vote in the preseason AP Top 25.
This is the second time that GCU has earned preseason AP Top 25 votes, also doing so for the 2024-25 season. This season's team received one more first-place vote than New Mexico in the Mountain West preseason poll and was tabbed by NCAA's Andy Katz as one of his 10 non-ranked teams that could be a Final Four darkhorse.
In head coach Bryce Drew's seventh season at GCU, the Lopes landed in the top 50 of two metric-compiled rankings — No. 44 in the preseason KenPom.com rankings and No. 42 in the preseason BartTorvik.com rankings.
Florida, a Dec. 18 GCU opponnent in Jacksonville, is the No. 1 team in the preseason Top 25 with three other Lopes 2026-27 opponents receiving votes — Nevada (in Reno on Jan. 16 at home Feb. 13), Saint Louis (Nov. 24 in Palm Desert, California) and Santa Clara (at home Dec. 5).
GCU makes its public debut Oct. 27 with a 7 p.m. exhibition game against Western New Mexico at Global Credit Union Arena. The Lopes' regular season will begin with four consecutive home games, tipping off Nov. 2 against Texas Southern.
The Lopes are returning center Efe Demirel and guards Jaden Henley, Caleb Shaw and Makaih Williams from a 20-win team and have added a touted trasfer class featuring Mountain West Preseason Newcomer of the Year Dylan Darling at point guard.
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The Lopes garnered two voting points, as did fellow Mountain West member Nevada. New Mexico, which was the Mountain West preseason poll's top pick by one point over GCU, did not receive a vote in the preseason AP Top 25.
This is the second time that GCU has earned preseason AP Top 25 votes, also doing so for the 2024-25 season. This season's team received one more first-place vote than New Mexico in the Mountain West preseason poll and was tabbed by NCAA's Andy Katz as one of his 10 non-ranked teams that could be a Final Four darkhorse.
In head coach Bryce Drew's seventh season at GCU, the Lopes landed in the top 50 of two metric-compiled rankings — No. 44 in the preseason KenPom.com rankings and No. 42 in the preseason BartTorvik.com rankings.
Florida, a Dec. 18 GCU opponnent in Jacksonville, is the No. 1 team in the preseason Top 25 with three other Lopes 2026-27 opponents receiving votes — Nevada (in Reno on Jan. 16 at home Feb. 13), Saint Louis (Nov. 24 in Palm Desert, California) and Santa Clara (at home Dec. 5).
GCU makes its public debut Oct. 27 with a 7 p.m. exhibition game against Western New Mexico at Global Credit Union Arena. The Lopes' regular season will begin with four consecutive home games, tipping off Nov. 2 against Texas Southern.
The Lopes are returning center Efe Demirel and guards Jaden Henley, Caleb Shaw and Makaih Williams from a 20-win team and have added a touted trasfer class featuring Mountain West Preseason Newcomer of the Year Dylan Darling at point guard.
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