Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball versus Western New Mexico on October 27, 2026 at 7 p.m.
M Basketball
7 p.m.
vs Western New Mexico
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Photo by: Bryce Wheeler
Preseason All-MW picks 4 Lopes, tight race for 1st
10/7/2026 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
New Mexico edges GCU by 1 point for conference poll's top spot
LAS VEGAS – Straight off the preseason tip of Mountain West festivities, Grand Canyon is in a dogfight for the championship.
Long before a game point has been logged, only one poll voting point separates GCU from New Mexico to be the preseason conference favorite. Unless the idea is predicated on first-place votes, which the Lopes edged the Lobos by one, or Preseason All-Mountain West Team, where GCU snatched four of the 11 spots.
Lopes senior guards Dylan Darling, Jaden Henley and Makaih Williams and sophomore center Efe Demirel were chosen for Preseason All-MW with Darling, the point guard who transferred from St. John's, being named Preseason MW Newcomer of the Year.
"It's a great luxury to have guys back that actually started for us in our program, played in front of four fans and played in the league," GCU seventh-year head coach Bryce Drew said. "That's a great starting point. And then we went to the portal really hard and grabbed some guys who we really think can enhance our roster and fit in with the guys we have.
"We wanted to bring in guys that wanted to win and guys that really wanted to compete. I think we've seen that in practice. We put any combination of lineups out there, and it is very competitive. Players are wanting to win, whatever team they're on and playing with in that moment. It's made for some really good practices, and it's also made our guys better. They are getting better on daily basis, going against other good players in practice. Depth is so important. You look at last last year when we were playing really well and had some injuries that hurt us."
Demirel, Henley and Williams helped GCU go 20-12 last season, when it tied for third place in its Mountain West debut. But voters gave the overall poll scoring edge to New Mexico, which tied the Lopes for third place and went 26-11 overall in head coach Eric Olen's first Lobos season in Albuquerque.
New Mexico is one of three other Mountain West teams to put a pair of players on Preseason All-MW with sophomore guard Jake Hall being chosen as MW Preseason Player of the Year. Hall, a 6-foot-4 guard from Carlsbad, California, averaged 16.4 points as a freshman and set a Lobos record with 117 3-pointers on 44% shooting.
Hall was joined on Preseason All-MW by another sophomore guard, 5-foot-11 Uriah Tenette. The graduate of Prescott (Arizona) High School averaged 10.6 points last season, mostly as a spark plug off the bench.
Olen added five European frontcourt players and gets Chris Howell, who followed him from UC San Diego last year, back from a redshirt injury season.
The Lopes counter with the strength of Demirel, Henley and Williams, while adding one of the most touted transfer classes in the nation to attract 20 nationally televised games in 2026-27. The roster features 13 players who have started for a Division I program and eight who have averaged 11.9 points per game or more in a season.
Darling, a former Big Sky Player of the Year at Idaho State, earned the MW Newcomer Player of the Year acclaim after helping St. John's to the Sweet 16 last season. St. John's went 11-0 when Darling played 25 or more minutes, and he started the final nine games of the 30-7 season. He is remembered for his buzzer-beating NCAA Tournament shot for a second-round win against Kansas but is more known as the floor general with a 2.6 to 1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
"I saw Coach Drew's plan for me, and it checked all the boxes that I wanted it to have, and I've been loving my time here so far," Darling said. "He told me exactly what it would look like. At Idaho State, I played a certain way. At St. John's, I played a certain way. I wanted to find somewhere where I could a little bit of both, and that's the vision he had for me."
Henley, the 6-foot-7 guard, is the only returning player from last season's All-MW first team besides Hall. The Ontario, California, native was one of four players in the nation last season to average at least 17.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.6 steals.
Williams, a 6-4 guard in his third GCU season, was an All-MW third-team selection after boosting his scoring from 8.2 points per game in 2024-25 to 14.0 last season with a mix of quick half-court drives and transition finishes with perimeter shooting.
Demirel, a 7-1 center from Turkey, started 28 games last season for the Lopes after a late-summer arrival in Phoenix that turned into a growing late-season interior presence. He averaged 8.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game with 63% shooting from the field for GCU.
Mountain West Basketball Media Day will be held Wednesday in Las Vegas with Antelope Productions hosting a six-hour video livestream featuring interviews with MW coaches and players, including Drew, Darling and Henley.
Long before a game point has been logged, only one poll voting point separates GCU from New Mexico to be the preseason conference favorite. Unless the idea is predicated on first-place votes, which the Lopes edged the Lobos by one, or Preseason All-Mountain West Team, where GCU snatched four of the 11 spots.
Lopes senior guards Dylan Darling, Jaden Henley and Makaih Williams and sophomore center Efe Demirel were chosen for Preseason All-MW with Darling, the point guard who transferred from St. John's, being named Preseason MW Newcomer of the Year.
"It's a great luxury to have guys back that actually started for us in our program, played in front of four fans and played in the league," GCU seventh-year head coach Bryce Drew said. "That's a great starting point. And then we went to the portal really hard and grabbed some guys who we really think can enhance our roster and fit in with the guys we have.
"We wanted to bring in guys that wanted to win and guys that really wanted to compete. I think we've seen that in practice. We put any combination of lineups out there, and it is very competitive. Players are wanting to win, whatever team they're on and playing with in that moment. It's made for some really good practices, and it's also made our guys better. They are getting better on daily basis, going against other good players in practice. Depth is so important. You look at last last year when we were playing really well and had some injuries that hurt us."
Demirel, Henley and Williams helped GCU go 20-12 last season, when it tied for third place in its Mountain West debut. But voters gave the overall poll scoring edge to New Mexico, which tied the Lopes for third place and went 26-11 overall in head coach Eric Olen's first Lobos season in Albuquerque.
New Mexico is one of three other Mountain West teams to put a pair of players on Preseason All-MW with sophomore guard Jake Hall being chosen as MW Preseason Player of the Year. Hall, a 6-foot-4 guard from Carlsbad, California, averaged 16.4 points as a freshman and set a Lobos record with 117 3-pointers on 44% shooting.
Hall was joined on Preseason All-MW by another sophomore guard, 5-foot-11 Uriah Tenette. The graduate of Prescott (Arizona) High School averaged 10.6 points last season, mostly as a spark plug off the bench.
Olen added five European frontcourt players and gets Chris Howell, who followed him from UC San Diego last year, back from a redshirt injury season.
The Lopes counter with the strength of Demirel, Henley and Williams, while adding one of the most touted transfer classes in the nation to attract 20 nationally televised games in 2026-27. The roster features 13 players who have started for a Division I program and eight who have averaged 11.9 points per game or more in a season.
Darling, a former Big Sky Player of the Year at Idaho State, earned the MW Newcomer Player of the Year acclaim after helping St. John's to the Sweet 16 last season. St. John's went 11-0 when Darling played 25 or more minutes, and he started the final nine games of the 30-7 season. He is remembered for his buzzer-beating NCAA Tournament shot for a second-round win against Kansas but is more known as the floor general with a 2.6 to 1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
"I saw Coach Drew's plan for me, and it checked all the boxes that I wanted it to have, and I've been loving my time here so far," Darling said. "He told me exactly what it would look like. At Idaho State, I played a certain way. At St. John's, I played a certain way. I wanted to find somewhere where I could a little bit of both, and that's the vision he had for me."
Henley, the 6-foot-7 guard, is the only returning player from last season's All-MW first team besides Hall. The Ontario, California, native was one of four players in the nation last season to average at least 17.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.6 steals.
Williams, a 6-4 guard in his third GCU season, was an All-MW third-team selection after boosting his scoring from 8.2 points per game in 2024-25 to 14.0 last season with a mix of quick half-court drives and transition finishes with perimeter shooting.
Demirel, a 7-1 center from Turkey, started 28 games last season for the Lopes after a late-summer arrival in Phoenix that turned into a growing late-season interior presence. He averaged 8.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game with 63% shooting from the field for GCU.
Mountain West Basketball Media Day will be held Wednesday in Las Vegas with Antelope Productions hosting a six-hour video livestream featuring interviews with MW coaches and players, including Drew, Darling and Henley.
Preseason All-Mountain West Team |
|
| Player | Team |
| Dylan Darling, senior guard | GCU |
| Efe Demirel, sophomore center | GCU |
| Jaden Henley, senior guard | GCU |
| Makaih Williams, senior guard | GCU |
| Elijah Price, junior forward | Nevada |
| Vaughn Weems, senior guard | Nevada |
| Jake Hall, sophomore guard | New Mexico |
| Uriah Tenette, sophomore guard | New Mexico |
| Tyrin Jones, sophomore forward | UNLV |
| AJ Storr, senior guard | UNLV |
| Naz Meyer, sophomore guard | Wyoming |
MW Preseason Player of the Year |
|
| Player | Team |
| Jake Hall, sophomore guard | New Mexico |
MW Preseason Newcomer of the Year |
|
| Player | Team |
| Dylan Darling, senior guard | GCU |
MW Preseason Freshman of the Year |
|
| Player | Team |
| Jackson Kiss, forward | UNLV |
MW Preseason Poll |
|||
| Rank | Team (first-place votes) | Points | |
| 1 |
 |
New Mexico (9) | 179 |
| 2 |
 |
GCU (10) | 178 |
| 3 |
 |
Nevada | 148 |
| 4 |
 |
UNLV | 125 |
| 5 |
 |
Wyoming | 116 |
| 6 |
 |
Hawai'i | 99 |
| 7 |
 |
San José State | 63 |
| 8 |
 |
UC Davis | 62 |
| 9 |
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UTEP | 52 |
| 10 |
 |
Air Force | 23 |
Players Mentioned
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