(Phoenix, AZ) Grand Canyon faces a Power Five opponent for the thirteenth time since transitioning to Division I seven seasons ago.
The 2017’s matchup with Illinois was the closest the Lopes have come to pulling off a victory (four points).
GCU has also played within 10 points against Utah (2019, 9 points), Arizona (2017, 10 points), Louisville (2017, 9 points) and Penn State (2017, 9 points).
GCU is playing in the second of five home games in November, the most home games of any month.
The Lopes fell to Davenport 82-73 in the season opener. Carlos Johnson (22 points) scored the most points of any GCU home opener in the D-I era.
Head Coach Dan Majerle, “I knew this was going to be a process. We played basically six, seven guys with Bryce (Okpoh) playing seven minutes. We lost some key pieces but nobody is coming through the door so this is what we have. We’re going to continue to work at it. I like our guys but we have a long way to go and we’ll figure it out. This is probably a good thing for us that we got spanked this way so maybe it’ll open some eyes. Once we put the ball on the floor and got to the basket, we were pretty good. Our guys just have to understand that we’re not a 3-point shooting team. The only positive is these guys got a wake-up call.”
GCU rolls out a new-look roster with seven newcomers and three players coming off of redshirt seasons.
Last year, the Lopes won 20 games for the fourth straight season, one of just 29 D-I teams to accomplish the feat. GCU Arena was the fullest venue in college basketball at 102.43% of capacity, averaging 7,170 fans.
The Lopes return their two leading scorers for the first time in four years in Carlos Johnson (14.3 ppg) and Alessandro Lever (12.5 ppg). GCU last returned its top two scorers in 2015-16 (DeWayne Russell and Joshua Braun), finishing the year with a 27-7 record.
Johnson and Lever each earned Preseason All-WAC recognition on the first team as voted by coaches.
In one offseason, Majerle has gone from having his tallest roster (6’ 6.13”) to his shortest (6’ 4.46”). Six players 6-foot-6 or taller departed, giving way for an up-tempo guard-heavy team.
Illinois leads the series 1-0. In the first meeting on Dec. 30, 2017 at Champaign Illinois, the Illini beat Grand Canyon 62-58.
Illinois is in The Grand Canyon State for a 2-game road trip to wrap up the opening week of the season.
The Illini arrived in Phoenix on Wednesday ahead of Friday night’s game at Grand Canyon.
Illinois then travels to Tucson on Saturday and will face No. 21 Arizona on Sunday night before returning to Champaign.
Illinois is one of only two teams from the six major conferences to play two road games in the first week, and one of only three teams to play two of its first three games on the road (details on p. 2).
Andres Feliz had a double-double with 23 points and career-high 11 rebounds to lead the Illini to victory over Nicholls in Tuesday’s opener. Feliz has now recorded double-doubles in two of his last three games as an Illini.
Kofi Cockburn had 10 points and 11 rebounds vs. Nicholls, recording the first double-double by an Illini freshman in a season opener in 37 years (Efrem Winters, 17 pts-10 reb vs. Vanderbilt, Nov. 26, 1982).
Illinois returns 85% of its scoring from last season, the third-highest percentage among teams from the six major conferences.
Press Release from Grand Canyon Athletics
