GCU ends Eastern Illinois win streak with 85-63 win
The Lopes can enjoy a two-week break before WAC play after posting their season’s most dominant victory, a 85-63 win against Eastern Illinois at GCU Arena.
As GCU (5-9) looks forward to being the conference team that it envisioned, the Lopes showed what is possible by holding the Panthers (7-5) to an opponent season-low 31.7% shooting while recording a season high for 3-pointers by going 11 for 19.
“It was unbelievable,” GCU head coach Dan Majerle said. “It was by far our best game.”
Once GCU junior center Alessandro Leveropened the second half with post-up scores on the first two trips, the Lopes led by double digits for the remainder of the game. Lever made 10 of 13 shots, including 3 for 3 on 3-pointers, for a 24-point, seven-rebound game that made him 19 for 22 (86.4%) from the field in the past two games.
GCU junior Carlos Johnson, starting at power forward for the second consecutive game, set the tone for the Lopes by opening with four consecutive 3-pointers that gave GCU a 19-12 lead.
Johnson cooled off with 11 consecutive misses but his teammates did not, stretching the lead 33-14 by making eight of their first nine 3-pointers. The Lopes entered the game shooting 27.4% on 3s this season.
“We ran until we got past our second wind,” Johnson said. “All the little things we were doing in practice, the coaches getting on us for not getting to the ball and not talking, I feel like we did. We took a step forward doing that and doing just the little things. We paid attention to detail.”
The early 3-point shooting softened Eastern Illinois’ attempts to collapse defensively to the post on Lever, who also delivered a team-high four assists.
GCU fans saw junior guard Mikey Dixon’s wide-ranging offensive ability for the first time. Dixon debuted on the road Tuesday and was again hesitant to assert himself Saturday, when he missed his only two first-half shots.
In the game’s final nine minutes, Dixon scored 13 of his 15 points by making two 3-pointers, a long jumper, baseline runner and free throws.
“Each game out there, I’m getting more comfortable,” Dixon said. “I feel like, as a team, we get more comfortable playing together and I feel like that’s good going into conference play.
“It’s just a matter of getting there and getting back into the groove. Tonight was a huge step for me and for us as a team.”
The Lopes had four players score at least 15 points with senior power forward Lorenzo Jenkinsadding 16 points and six rebounds in only 18 minutes, limited by fouling out. It marked the Colorado State graduate transfer’s third double-digit scoring game off the bench in the past four games.
When Eastern Illinois made its only second-half threat to cut the lead to 51-40 with 16 minutes to go, Jenkins scored on a backdoor layup from Lever.
GCU only made four second-half turnovers and finished with 11 to keep close to its season average of 11.7, which ranks as the 35th lowest in the nation.
“The energy we’ve got, I just feel like we got our confidence back as team,” Dixon said. “This was a big win. It’s good. We’ve got a good vibe going into the next couple of weeks.”
The game reflected recent practices, when Lopes practiced with greater energy as the coaches increased the intensity. Majerle was no longer concerned with protecting a short rotation after seeing how the level of play was not transferring to game action.
“Our guys have been really receptive to it,” Majerle said. “The way they played tonight, I’m sure they’re open to practicing hard. It’s not that it’s punishment. It’s just that we’re going to go hard and do our drills hard. We’re going to play at a pace that makes it so practice should be hard. The harder you practice, the easier the games are.”
GCU will take a break from practices until next weekend, when it will begin preparation for a Jan. 4 WAC opener at CSU Bakersfield. Having Dixon gives the Lopes another reliable scorer in a tight rotation, which lost J.J. Rhymes for the season to a hip injury last week, had Louis Bangai out for illness Saturday and already was missing Oscar Frayer for academic ineligibility.
“I took a picture before the game because I’ve got nine guys in there,” Majerle said of GCU’s locker room. “I told them, ‘You guys look like Hoosiers.’
“Maybe that’s going to be a rally cry. You know, nine strong or when Bangai gets back, 10 strong, because that’s all we’ve got. We know who we have on this team and we’ve just got to focus and find a way to get it done.”
Courtesy of Paul Coro/Grand Canyon University Media
All Photos/David Kadlubowski
