Courtesy of Grand Canyon Athletics
The Lopes rose to the rim and raised voices to the brim in a dominant 68-58 first-round victory against Utah on Tuesday night. GCU earned a return trip to Acrisure Arena for the ultimate sounding board Wednesday night – a nationally televised championship game against undefeated Iowa with a raucous Lopes Nation crowd with about 500 Havocs ready to return.
GCU (4-2) did not make a 3-pointer in a game or the first time in its Division I era (since 2013-14) – and won. The Lopes became the first team in the nation this season to prevail without a made 3 by following a football edict – win time of possession.
A 10-possession advantage was earned with GCU having eight fewer turnovers and two more offensive rebounds than Utah. The Lopes led for 38 of 40 minutes and by at least 10 points for the final 5:51.
With fewer turnovers (six) than GCU committed against any Division I opponent last season, the Lopes only made one errant pass in the Acrisure Classic nightcap with a 9:10 p.m. start in Palm Desert.
If the Lopes can resemble that level of ball care and defense again Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Phoenix time, they will give itself a chance to make more noise against Iowa on CBS Sprots Network. The Hawkeyes improved to No. 22 in KenPom rankings by beating Ole Miss 74-69 earlier Tuesday night at Acrisure Arena.
“Hopefully, we can ride some adrenaline,” Lopes head coach Bryce Drew said.
“This is a great tournament – great teams in the field. We’re thankful to be in it. Our crowd was spectacular. Iowa brought some people too. Hopefully, we’ll go out there rested and can give them the best look we can.”
GCU senior guard Jaden Henley helped do that in the late Tuesday game, which tipped off after 9 p.m. in Palm Desert. He made two steals for a layup and a slam in the game’s first 3:25 to thrust the Lopes into an 11-3 lead.
Henley finished with 18 points, once again doing damage by drawing fouls for 8-of-9 free throw shooting.
“He was so dynamic to start the game,” Drew said. “He came out and set a tone for the entire team with those steals on defense and the electrifying dunk. Jaden was just spectacular at both ends.”
After some unrecognizable defensive results for Drew this month, the defense was a star for GCU against Utah,
The Utes scored 28 points below their season average, and Lopes senior guard Brian Moore Jr. led a team effort on star Utah guard Terrence Brown. After finishing eighth nationally in scoring last season, Brown ranked second this season at 25.2 points per game until GCU held him to nine points on 3-for-11 shooting.
It broke his string of 37 consecutive double-digit scoring games, which he shared as the nation’s longest active streak.
The Utes shot 41.2%, crawling over 40% with a 4-for-6 finish as the teams exchanged scores in the final minute.
“I loved our defense,” Drew said. “They have two of the better scoring guards in the country. It wasn’t one-on-one defense, but it was five guys being aware of where he (Brown) was, building walls in transition and contesting him at the rim. We were really active on defense. I loved how we were anticipating and being aggressive on that end.”
The Lopes won despite going 0 for 10 from 3-point range. Their first game of the D-I era without a made 3 also marked their fewest 3-point attempts in a game since February 2020.
With college and 3-point lines on the Acrisure Arena floor, the Lopes gravitated to the darker outer line and usually were short. They went 0 for 7 in the first half and only took three 3s in the second half with one being because of an expiring shot clock.
GCU scored 62 of its 68 points in the paint or at the free throw line.
“It really speaks volumes to our defense and our guys attacking the rim,” Drew said. “I thought we did a really good job attacking the rim. I thought Efe (Demirel) had some really good finishes that the guards found him on. I really liked our pace on offense. I thought our ball control was good.”
After matching his season scoring high of 11 points on Friday, Demirel topped that with 12 points in 19 minutes for his second consecutive game off the bench.
The 7-foot-1 freshman scored on a post move on his first touch and kept that confidence to score on pick-and-rolls, tip-ins, alleyoops and free throws.
“He was aggressive attacking the rim,” Drew said. “We saw him finishing above the rim. I thought his defense was good. He was aware out there. He didn’t really have any breakdowns. And he contested the rim. He had a couple fouls doing it, but he was aggressive. He’s got long arms and big hands. When he does that, it helps our defense.
“It was a great sign for him, a huge step up.”
GCU’s ball movement and transition offense led to 11 layups and six dunks.
When Utah made its last push to trail 47-41 with 8:20 remaining, nice passes from Moore and junior guard Makaih Williams set up back-to-back dunks by graduate power forward Nana Owusu-Anane (nine points, nine rebounds) and junior guard Caleb Shaw.
Those were the first two of five consecutive field goals by dunk, including a driving Henley slam and two Demirel alleyoops from Williams and Henley.
“I give Bryce and Grand Canyon credit,” Utah head coach Alex Jensen said. “They did a good job. It’s kind of frustrating – the unforced turnovers. It’s just a matter of slowing down and letting the game come to you. We gave up 17 points off turnovers. The free throw line was disappointing to me. That’s one thing you can have control over.”
After stifling Brown’s downhill, explosive game, the Lopes face a different kind of challenge with Iowa’s top scorer – senior Bennett Stirtz. The 6-foot-4 guard has gone 15 for 28 on 3-point shots this season after sinking six 3s in Iowa’s 74-69 win against Ole Miss. He scored 29, one off his career high, and played all 40 minutes.
Hawkeyes head coach Ben McCollum previous led Northwest Missouri State to four Division II national championships and went 31-4 in his lone season at Drake, where he guided the Bulldogs to an NCAA Tournament first-round upset of Missouri.
Iowa’s 6-0 start is the longest undefeated start by a first-year Iowa coach since Dr. Tom Davis in 1987-88.
In addition to Stirtz having arguably his best game as a Hawkeye, 6-foot-8 redshirt freshman Cooper Koch had his best game with 12 points and 10 rebounds against Ole Miss.
“He was ready to go,” McCollum said of Stirtz, who made 9 of 20 from the field and 6 of 8 from beyond the arc. “He’s always ready to go. Part of it is it’s what the defenses gives you. They were switching everything. Naturally, you punish mismatches, and that’s what we did. Then a couple of times, he just went at whatever matchup he felt like going at. He was fantastic.”
