Rarin' to go, Lopes roll for wire-to-wire win

Wednesday, February 25

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

18-10,11-6Mountain West

UNLV

14-14,9-8Mountain West

UNLV

Grand Canyon

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

2/25/2026 11:36:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

12-0 sparks GCU for victory featuring Henley, Owusu-Anane double-doubles

By: Paul Coro

For the three minutes and 16 seconds from Wednesday night's tipoff to graduate guard Brian Moore Jr. tossing freshman center Efe Demirel an alleyoop dunk, all the angst from Saturday's loss subsided into a mutual fervor for Grand Canyon and its fans.

The Lopes took a 12-0 lead in that time with four players scoring, and 6,803 fans appreciating the immediate intensity of their team by celebrating it the same way Wednesday night at Global Credit Union Arena. GCU never trailed, led by as much as 20 and washed away the distaste of losing at UNLV by putting the Runnin' Rebels away for an 80-67 win.

Phoenix, AZ Feb. 25, 2026: The Lopes dominate UNLV 80-67 at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski/GCU

Phoenix, AZ Feb. 25, 2026: The Lopes dominate UNLV 80-67 at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski/GCU

It was a meaningful one for putting GCU (18-10, 11-6 Mountain West) back into a fourth-place tie with Nevada, giving the Lopes a shot at a Mountain West Championships No. 4 seed if they can outplay the Wolf Pack over the final three regular-season games. It was just as meaningful for not letting UNLV (14-14, 9-8 MW) tie GCU and take the head-to-head tiebreaker, potentially slipping the Lopes to a No. 6 seed that requires a tougher first-round tourney opponent.

"It's amazing," GCU senior guard Jaden Henley said of his team's Wednesday night start. "You can't ask for anything better than that. All of us playing together, getting excited, hyping the crowd up. That was a big emphasis for us coming out – throwing the first punch and letting them know we're here. We kind of got embarrassed there, and we didn't feel good leaving there. We wanted to make sure we felt good going into the locker room tonight."

The Lopes felt good hitting the locker room door twice, later with the win but first with a 42-24 halftime lead after holding UNLV to 25% first-half shooting.

Henley struggled from the field in the first meeting but was brilliant Wednesday night with his fourth career double-double, all of which have occurred this season with the Lopes. He came within a point of his career scoring high, finishing with 28 points and 11 rebounds while making three 3-pointers for the first time since the season opener.

GCU graduate power forward Nana Owusu-Anane added his sixth double-double of the season, nearly accumulating it by halftime on his way to 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Phoenix, AZ Feb. 25, 2026: The Lopes dominate UNLV 80-67 at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski/GCU

It was the Lopes big men's assertion that set GCU on a strong path, with Owusu-Anane scoring eight of the first 10 points and dominating the boards early while GCU 7-foot center tandem of freshman Efe Demirel and Dennis Evans protected the rim.

"Efe was really physical, and Nana was really physical," Lopes head coach Bryce Drew said. "The bigs came out and set a tone for us with their physicality, posting up, rebounding and being aggressive. Obviously, that was a flip from the first time we played UNLV when it was the other way around and they set the tone."

Evans blocked shots on three consecutive UNLV possessions, including a monster two-handed stuff when Runnin' Rebels 7-foot center Emmanuel Stephen tried to dunk on him. A play later, he was out 20 feet farther swatting UNLV scoring machine Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn's 3-point shot.

"Dennis and Efe did a really good job protecting," Drew said. "They were aggressive. They were either getting hands on it or making them shoot higher around the rim."

Evans was part of Drew extending the rotation in the first half with four substitutes giving quality minutes that maintained a wide margin. Freshman point guard Evan Boisdur showed his defensive acumen on Gibbs-Lawhorn, who saw waves of GCU defenders and still posted a 30-point game to continue his eight-game tear of averaging 28.1 points.

"It probably didn't look like it, but we keyed a lot on 'Zero,' " Drew said of Gibbs-Lawhorn. "(Boisdur) is an elite on-ball defender, and he showed that without fouling for his minutes tonight."

Phoenix, AZ Feb. 25, 2026: The Lopes dominate UNLV 80-67 at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski/GCU

With graduate guard Brian Moore Jr. tying his second-highest scoring game of the season (17 points), GCU shot 53.2% from the field and moved to 8-0 in games that it shoots better than 35% from 3-point range. The Lopes were selective on 3s, taking less than one-third of their shots from beyond the arc and going 7 for 15.

"This is my worst team I've ever coached defensively in my 15 years as a head coach, so I'm beyond disappointed about that, which I put on me," UNLV head coach Josh Pastner told FOX5 Las Vegas after the loss. "I didn't do a good enough job defensively with this group. That's on me, on my shoulders. It keeps me up every night. Sleepless nights. It makes me sick to my stomach."

When UNLV shot poorly in the first half, GCU controlled the boards with only three offensive rebounds allowed on 21 misses. The Lopes outrebounded the Rebels 41-27 for the game. That matches the largest opponent rebounding margin over UNLV since a Nov. 25 game against Alabama.

"Efe and Nana did a good job of solidifying the paint early," Drew said. "At UNLV, their bigs were more physical than us and took us out of a lot. I thought our bigs really took it as a challenge to be able to post up, finish and rebound. Our rebounding was substantially better. For us to outrebound a team that big by 14 was a great compliment to our guys for being aggressive on the glass."

But after Gibbs-Lawhorn had little first-half support, he continued his three-level scoring in the second half but with help. UNLV still could not dent the lead until the middle of the second half, when it scored on seven of eight possessions with the other being two missed free throws on its 14-for-28 free throw shooting night.

Phoenix, AZ Feb. 25, 2026: The Lopes dominate UNLV 80-67 at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski/GCU

The Runnin' Rebels worked the lead to single digits and as close as 71-65 when Gibbs-Longhorn knocked down a 3 and continued to taunt the Havocs section.

But GCU closed out UNLV with an 8-0 run that started with guard isolations. Moore went to the lefthanded drive for a 73-65 lead, and junior guard Makaih Williams sped down the lane for a score after he had lifted his 6-foot-2 frame to block UNLV 6-9 power forward Jacob Bannarbie at the rim.

"I think we're getting better at closing out games," Henley said.

"We have so many different weapons on this team. We can space the floor. We have so many options that can score. We play so well off each other. It's hard to stop when we get going."

The Lopes now have their final road swing of regular-season Mountain West play. They start with a Saturday night game at conference co-leader Utah State, which lost 89-72 at San Diego State on Wednesday to tie the Aggies and Aztecs at 13-4 each – two games ahead of GCU.

After experiencing The Spectrum in Logan, Utah, the Lopes will head to last-place Air Force for a Tuesday night game.

"I loved the response," Drew said of the bounce-back from a Saturday home loss to Wyoming. "We had a rough couple days after our last game, and it was physically demanding at times and mentally demanding at other times. We kind of recalibrated, and it was on the guys. I give them all the credit. They responded. I thought that initial 12-0 run was just so fun to see them play with so much energy and togetherness and aggressiveness on the defensive end and to rebound the basketball."