GCU gets more balanced scoring, holds Sam Houston to 25.8% shooting
(Phoenix, AZ) Grand Canyon is not in complete control of what seed it will have for the WAC Tournament, but the Lopes are dictating what kind of momentum they will take into the postseason.
GCU will enter the final week of the regular season building on its most complete game, a Saturday night 67-41 win against Sam Houston in which the Lopes hit 3-pointers, found balanced scoring and played suffocating defense at sold-out GCU Arena.
The victory tightened the conference race but did not bump the Lopes (20-7, 11-5 WAC) in the conference race from fifth place, just behind third-place Stephen F. Austin (12-4) and fourth-place Sam Houston (12-5).
It did bump optimism for what GCU can be after holding Sam Houston to its worst shooting (25.8%) and scoring (41 points) of the season. They were also Lopes opponent lows for both categories after GCU blanked Sam Houston for nearly seven minutes of the first half.
“We can’t rely on offense all the time,” Lopes sophomore power forward Gabe McGlothan said. “Great things can happen if that’s going well. If we just have our foundation rooted in defense, then that’ll carry us. If the other team can’t score, how are they going to beat us?”
The Bearkats could not fathom how, especially with the Lopes’ revolving defenders shutting down Sam Houston leading scorer Savion Flagg. With 3-of-12 shooting, Flagg scored seven points after averaging 19.1 on the season.
“We tried to throw a lot of bodies at him – big, small, thicker, skinnier, all types of looks,” GCU head coach Bryce Drew said.
The Lopes made six of their first eight 3-point attempts to take a 22-15 lead when sophomore reserve guard Chance McMillian made his second 3. McMillian finished with a career-high 15 points after scoring 13 on Wednesday at Chicago State, giving his best back-to-back scoring games since last season’s WAC Tournament.
McMillian had gone the previous nine games without a double-digit outing, averaging 3.3 in that stretch. He made 3 of 4 shots from 3-point range on Saturday, including one from the “G” in the GCU midcourt logo with the shot clock winding down.
“I just had to lock in more,” McMillian said. “It shows that my work is paying off. I’m reaping the benefits now.
“I feel like the underdog, like nobody expects what I could do off the bench, so I just showed them.”
In a second consecutive win, the Lopes are getting the sort of balanced offense they have been seeking to support starting guards Jovan Blacksher Jr.and Holland Woods II. Woods led scoring Wednesday and Blacksher had a team-high 18 on Saturday, but McGlothan opened Saturday’s scoring with a 3 and finished with his third double-double of the season (11 points, 12 rebounds).
“It was really encouraging to see Gabe and Chance,” Drew said. “We know how good of players they are. Lately, they haven’t been at their best. This is the Chance McMillian and Gabe McGlothan that we saw earlier in the year and the ones that we like to see out there on the court.”
When Sam Houston missed 10 consecutive first-half shots, the Lopes opened a 31-17 on a run that included a McGlothan three-point play. GCU led by double digits for the remainder of the game, building the margin to as large as 29 when junior forward Taeshon Cherry scored for a 63-34 lead with 4:18 remaining. The final margin matched Sam Houston’s worst loss of the season to Bradley.
The Bearkats missed 17 of their first 19 second-half shots against a GCU defense that is holding opponents to 38.1% shooting on the season. Sam Houston’s 28.3% shooting was the third-worst opponent clip in GCU’s Division I era.
“I thought our guys really fought and tried to get through screens and contest shots as best as they could,” Drew said. “I thought this was Aidan Igiehon’sbest game, even though he didn’t score. Defensively and rebounding, he had a big presence on that side of the ball. I was really pleased with the effort that AidanBradley.
GCU closes the regular season against Utah Valley on Thursday and Dixie State on Saturday. If the Lopes win out and Sam Houston wins its Thursday finale against Tarleton, they will be tied with a split head-to-head and a GCU advantage in the next tiebreaker. Stephen F. Austin could wind up in that tie unless it can get an upset win at New Mexico State and win at UT Rio Grande Valley.
“We’re just really trying to gain momentum and get this team rolling,” McGlothan said. “Keep building off one another and see how far we can go and what we can peak at. I think that is really far if we just keep our heads down and marching along.”
The Lopes received a pregame visit from Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren, a former Lopes basketball player who spoke at the team chapel about how his Grand Canyon experience changed his life and grew his faith.
“It was extraordinary, what he said to the guys,” Drew said. “I think our guys were inspired by what he said. I think we saw our guys come out with a lot more toughness and energy than we played on the road at their place.”
Press Release courtesy of Grand Canyon University Athletics – Paul Coro
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