Completed Event: Men's Basketball at UNLV on February 7, 2026 , Loss , 78, to, 80
M Basketball
at UNLV
L 78-80
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Thursday, March 12
Las Vegas, Nev.
2:30 p.m.
Grand Canyon
20-12,13-7Mountain West
80
vs
84
Nevada
22-11,12-8Mountain West
1st half1
2nd half2
FinalF
Nevada
34
50
84
Grand Canyon
40
40
80
Photo by: David Kadlubowski
Outlier loss exits GCU from MW Championship
3/12/2026 8:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
Lopes snap 36-game win streak of converting halfitme leads into victories
LAS VEGAS – The Grand Canyon season's fate was the victim of cruel timing, which robbed the Lopes of their best selves with an outlier in its Mountain West Championship debut Thursday.
For the previous 36 games that GCU had led a game at halftime, it had turned that into a Lopes victory for the nation's second-longest streak in such games.
That extreme gave away to another extreme in fourth-seeded GCU's 84-80 quarterfinal loss to fourth-seeded Nevada at Thomas & Mack Center. The teams obliterated a tournament record for free throws attempts with the Wolf Pack winning the charity stripe shooting contest to oust the Lopes.
GCU (20-12) led by as many as 11 points in the first half and took a 40-34 lead to halftime, but Nevada scored 28 of its 50 second-half points on free throws to take a lead with 8:54 to go and never give it back. The Lopes' defensive standard for three consecutive NCAA Tournament seasons cracked in crunch time Thursday, when GCU only three stops in the game's final nine minutes.
"They showed great resiliency all year," Lopes head coach Bryce Drew said of his fifth consecutive 20-win team. "Just when we looked like we were out, they would come back and win games. So I really credit their character and their resiliency to bounce back. Unfortunately, this wasn't one of our finest performances tonight. You hate that to end on not one of your finest performances, but sometimes it's not meant to be."
The game broke a 19-year-old MW Championship record for combined free throws in a regulation-game with ease, blasting past the BYU-Wyoming mark of 73 free throw attempts with 86. It was the first regulation-length game in the nation this season to have each team attempt more than 40 free throws.
The difference that was "deflating," Drew said, was that Nevada converted free throws much better, making 28 of 34 (82.4%) in the second half while GCU went 15 for 27 (55.6%).
"At the end of the day, you've got to be able to knock down free throws in crunch time in March," said Henley, who made 10 for 14 to account for most of his 19 points.
After ending the season with improved bench impact, the Lopes needed to lean hard on their starters Thursday, when Drew went back to his starting lineup with 11:44 to go and Nevada taking a 50-48 lead. Only freshman center Efe Demirel's foul disqualification with 3:27 to go brought back junior reserve guard Dusty Stromer to finish with a small-ball lineup.
After GCU committed only three first-half turnovers on its way to a 40-34 halftime lead, the game turned when Nevada emerged with an 8-0 run to start the second half. Seven of those Wolf Pack points came in the half's first 1:25, starting with Nevada leading scorer Corey Camper Jr. knocking down an open 3-pointer for the third time in the game.
Nevada head coach Steve Alford gave credit to his assistant coach, Craig Neal, for designing the set that sprung Camper.
"He is an incredible offensive coordinator, and that's one of the reasons why we only turn it over about nine times a game and we get good shots," said Alford, whose team flipped the turnover trend with three in the second half after making eight in the first half. "It's through the discipline of his offense."
The Wolf Pack's last turnover of the game came midway through the second half, when Henley picked Nevada guard Vaughn Weems' dribble for a fastbreak layin and a GCU 56-55 lead with 9:20 to go. Nevada responded by scoring on 15 of its last 18 possessions with one of the empty possessions being because of two missed free throws.
"Inside the locker room going into the first half, the joy wasn't there," said Camper, who efficiently scored a game-high 27 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field and 8 of 9 at the free throw line. "Coach let us know (at halftime) that they was being way more physical. They were pushing us around. So I feel like, in the second half, that was our emphasis, being more physical, being a tougher team.
"Having the crowd get on our butts, I feel like that makes us play harder as a team. GCU, they were chirping, but we love the chirping."
GCU drew six Nevada fouls in the first four minutes of the second half, but the foul narrative flipped on the Lopes. They could not make the Wolf Pack pay for star sophomore Elijah Price's fouls limiting him to 21 minutes. And GCU's overplays or late rotations led to 19 second-half fouls.
The Lopes' options were limited with junior guard Caleb Shaw playing his second game since missing 11 games for an ankle injury and graduate power forward Wilhelm Breidenbach missing the last four games after rupturing his Achilles tendon.
"Caleb wasn't himself," Drew said. "He couldn't move really like needed to in a game like this. That really hurt, limited some of his minutes. Then Wil has that veteran experience. He knows how to guard ball screens. He knows how to box out. He could have drawn a lot of fouls with how physical he is and his defensive presence just seeing actions."
The Lopes never trailed in the first half, looking defensively stalwart to keep Nevada to a 7-for-18 shooting start. The Wolf Pack went 15 for 27 thereafter but shot as many free throws (45) as field goals (45) in the game.
GCU took double-digit leads on four occasions in the first half, the last coming on graduate power forward Nana Owusu-Anane's driving score on his 11-point, nine-rebound finale. But Henley exited with his second foul, and Nevada cut the GCU lead to 40-34 by halftime.
"Jaden getting his second foul really hurt us," Drew said. "We were building a lead, and he was playing really well (nine points in 12 minutes). That let them kind of get momentum going into halftime."
Lopes junior guard Makaih Williams posted a team-high 25 points, his second-highest scoring game of the season. He scored eight of those points in the final 14.1 seconds when GCU was trying to make a miracle comeback. That was preceded by two turnovers, the first of which came when the Lopes had the ball in a single-possession game for the last time.
When time expired, the GCU players walked across the court to wave to the throng of Havocs, who were part of a Lope Nation surround sound in Thomas & Mack Center.
"We can speak all day on our fan support, our school support, the support from the community," Owusu-Anane said. "Words can't describe what they do for us as a program. The way they travel, the way they support us when they see us. Even when they don't see us, it's tremendous. You saw it. For them to come out the way they did, it's spectacular. It's amazing."
Drew said potential postseason tournament opportunities would be evaluated but added, "To be honest, how many guys really want to play if it's not the NCAA Tournament?"
GCU did not reach its goal of qualifying for a fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament but recorded its fifth consecutive 20-win season and tied for third place in its first season as a Mountain West member. If it had held onto a late lead at Utah State, the Lopes would have been co-champions and earned the tournament's No. 1 seed because of its season sweep of San Diego State and a home win against Utah State.
The critical transfer portal time lies ahead in April, but Drew said the immediate emphasis will be on player retention. The Lopes' first Mountain West season taught them about the look of the conference from physical play to more challenging venues.
"You're so close, yet you're so far," Drew said of GCU's regular-season and postseason finishes.
"It will definitely help next year in the preparation and also as we roster construct to see what type of players we really need and what type of lineups we need to be able to play against teams in this league."
"Eyes on GCU help so much with the TV exposure we got this year. We've heard from people all around the country that didn't realize how good our crowd was. They didn't realize the players that we had. I think that exposure is hopefully going to kick-start us to even better things next year."
For the previous 36 games that GCU had led a game at halftime, it had turned that into a Lopes victory for the nation's second-longest streak in such games.
That extreme gave away to another extreme in fourth-seeded GCU's 84-80 quarterfinal loss to fourth-seeded Nevada at Thomas & Mack Center. The teams obliterated a tournament record for free throws attempts with the Wolf Pack winning the charity stripe shooting contest to oust the Lopes.GCU (20-12) led by as many as 11 points in the first half and took a 40-34 lead to halftime, but Nevada scored 28 of its 50 second-half points on free throws to take a lead with 8:54 to go and never give it back. The Lopes' defensive standard for three consecutive NCAA Tournament seasons cracked in crunch time Thursday, when GCU only three stops in the game's final nine minutes.
"They showed great resiliency all year," Lopes head coach Bryce Drew said of his fifth consecutive 20-win team. "Just when we looked like we were out, they would come back and win games. So I really credit their character and their resiliency to bounce back. Unfortunately, this wasn't one of our finest performances tonight. You hate that to end on not one of your finest performances, but sometimes it's not meant to be."
The game broke a 19-year-old MW Championship record for combined free throws in a regulation-game with ease, blasting past the BYU-Wyoming mark of 73 free throw attempts with 86. It was the first regulation-length game in the nation this season to have each team attempt more than 40 free throws.
The difference that was "deflating," Drew said, was that Nevada converted free throws much better, making 28 of 34 (82.4%) in the second half while GCU went 15 for 27 (55.6%).
"At the end of the day, you've got to be able to knock down free throws in crunch time in March," said Henley, who made 10 for 14 to account for most of his 19 points.
After ending the season with improved bench impact, the Lopes needed to lean hard on their starters Thursday, when Drew went back to his starting lineup with 11:44 to go and Nevada taking a 50-48 lead. Only freshman center Efe Demirel's foul disqualification with 3:27 to go brought back junior reserve guard Dusty Stromer to finish with a small-ball lineup.After GCU committed only three first-half turnovers on its way to a 40-34 halftime lead, the game turned when Nevada emerged with an 8-0 run to start the second half. Seven of those Wolf Pack points came in the half's first 1:25, starting with Nevada leading scorer Corey Camper Jr. knocking down an open 3-pointer for the third time in the game.
Nevada head coach Steve Alford gave credit to his assistant coach, Craig Neal, for designing the set that sprung Camper.
"He is an incredible offensive coordinator, and that's one of the reasons why we only turn it over about nine times a game and we get good shots," said Alford, whose team flipped the turnover trend with three in the second half after making eight in the first half. "It's through the discipline of his offense."
The Wolf Pack's last turnover of the game came midway through the second half, when Henley picked Nevada guard Vaughn Weems' dribble for a fastbreak layin and a GCU 56-55 lead with 9:20 to go. Nevada responded by scoring on 15 of its last 18 possessions with one of the empty possessions being because of two missed free throws.
"Inside the locker room going into the first half, the joy wasn't there," said Camper, who efficiently scored a game-high 27 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field and 8 of 9 at the free throw line. "Coach let us know (at halftime) that they was being way more physical. They were pushing us around. So I feel like, in the second half, that was our emphasis, being more physical, being a tougher team."Having the crowd get on our butts, I feel like that makes us play harder as a team. GCU, they were chirping, but we love the chirping."
GCU drew six Nevada fouls in the first four minutes of the second half, but the foul narrative flipped on the Lopes. They could not make the Wolf Pack pay for star sophomore Elijah Price's fouls limiting him to 21 minutes. And GCU's overplays or late rotations led to 19 second-half fouls.
The Lopes' options were limited with junior guard Caleb Shaw playing his second game since missing 11 games for an ankle injury and graduate power forward Wilhelm Breidenbach missing the last four games after rupturing his Achilles tendon.
"Caleb wasn't himself," Drew said. "He couldn't move really like needed to in a game like this. That really hurt, limited some of his minutes. Then Wil has that veteran experience. He knows how to guard ball screens. He knows how to box out. He could have drawn a lot of fouls with how physical he is and his defensive presence just seeing actions."
The Lopes never trailed in the first half, looking defensively stalwart to keep Nevada to a 7-for-18 shooting start. The Wolf Pack went 15 for 27 thereafter but shot as many free throws (45) as field goals (45) in the game.
GCU took double-digit leads on four occasions in the first half, the last coming on graduate power forward Nana Owusu-Anane's driving score on his 11-point, nine-rebound finale. But Henley exited with his second foul, and Nevada cut the GCU lead to 40-34 by halftime."Jaden getting his second foul really hurt us," Drew said. "We were building a lead, and he was playing really well (nine points in 12 minutes). That let them kind of get momentum going into halftime."
Lopes junior guard Makaih Williams posted a team-high 25 points, his second-highest scoring game of the season. He scored eight of those points in the final 14.1 seconds when GCU was trying to make a miracle comeback. That was preceded by two turnovers, the first of which came when the Lopes had the ball in a single-possession game for the last time.
When time expired, the GCU players walked across the court to wave to the throng of Havocs, who were part of a Lope Nation surround sound in Thomas & Mack Center.
"We can speak all day on our fan support, our school support, the support from the community," Owusu-Anane said. "Words can't describe what they do for us as a program. The way they travel, the way they support us when they see us. Even when they don't see us, it's tremendous. You saw it. For them to come out the way they did, it's spectacular. It's amazing."
Drew said potential postseason tournament opportunities would be evaluated but added, "To be honest, how many guys really want to play if it's not the NCAA Tournament?"GCU did not reach its goal of qualifying for a fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament but recorded its fifth consecutive 20-win season and tied for third place in its first season as a Mountain West member. If it had held onto a late lead at Utah State, the Lopes would have been co-champions and earned the tournament's No. 1 seed because of its season sweep of San Diego State and a home win against Utah State.
The critical transfer portal time lies ahead in April, but Drew said the immediate emphasis will be on player retention. The Lopes' first Mountain West season taught them about the look of the conference from physical play to more challenging venues.
"You're so close, yet you're so far," Drew said of GCU's regular-season and postseason finishes.
"It will definitely help next year in the preparation and also as we roster construct to see what type of players we really need and what type of lineups we need to be able to play against teams in this league."
"Eyes on GCU help so much with the TV exposure we got this year. We've heard from people all around the country that didn't realize how good our crowd was. They didn't realize the players that we had. I think that exposure is hopefully going to kick-start us to even better things next year."
Team Stats
Nevada
GCU
FG%
.489
.479
3FG%
.400
.438
FT%
.800
.659
RB
32
27
TO
11
11
STL
7
6
Game Leaders
Pts
25
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
10
Pts
19
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
10
Pts
11
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
C
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballG
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