(Phoenix, AZ) When a team defends as well as Grand Canyon consistently does, the offensive bar is not at Olympic heights to clear for success.
The Lopes are 14-0 when shooting at least 40% this season. They are 13-0 when scoring at least 65 points. That is all thanks to the WAC’s leading scoring defense and the nation’s second-best 3-point shooting defense.
GCU can be carried there by its dynamic duo in the backcourt, where sophomore Jovan Blacksher Jr. and graduate Holland Woods II are combining for 30.6 points per game and coming off a 48-point effort to beat first-place Seattle U on Thursday. But in order to continue that in Saturday night’s home game against California Baptist and beyond, the Lopes will need complimentary scoring from their frontcourt and bench.
“Obviously, those two are going to demand a lot of attention,” GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. “We need Taeshon (Cherry) to make shots. We need Gabe (McGlothan) to make shots. We need Sean (Miller-Moore) to be really good around the rim. We need Walt (Ellis) to come in and make shots. And Chance is going to play better for us. He’s going to get shots and make them.
“We don’t want to have to rely on Jovan and Holland to score 48 a night for us. We need other guys to continue to step up.”
The Lopes received that with efficient doses of support spread through the rotation. The starting frontcourt made 7 of 12 shots with Miller-Moore (nine points, seven rebounds) and McGlothan (eight points, eight rebounds) each getting close to a double-doubles.
Drew and the staff helped the offense with a tweak that put four players on the perimeter Thursday, which helped spacing and driving opportunities. With that, Ellis is seeing his most significant playing time of the season. The 6-foot-5 Bucknell transfer played 18 and 15 minutes in the past two games, going 2 for 4 on 3-pointers in each game to keep the quick-release sharpshooter at 50% for the season.
“We all see it,” Ellis said of the need to support Blacksher and Woods offensively. “We have to do our parts to be able to help them out in the best way we can.
“As the season has progressed, we’ve all figured out who we are as a team. Especially with ‘Nuna’ (Blacksher) and Holland, we found where everybody else’s niches are. I think we’ve all known I can shoot the ball, but now that we’re getting to conference play, it’s getting more gritty. Confidence is high to do my part to help us win games.”
Woods (39 minutes) and Blacksher (36 minutes) carried a heavy workload Thursday and that was not unusual. But on Saturday, they also will have their plates full defensively with CBU freshman phenom Taran Armstrong, an Australian 6-foot-5 point guard who is drawing NBA scouts to Lancers games. Armstrong missed nearly four weeks of action before returning off the bench Thursday night at New Mexico State, where the Lancers led 33-23 at halftime before losing 68-57.
CBU has three other guards who averaged more than 10 points per game and each have made more than 30 3-pointers this season, but Armstrong is a facilitator who can drive with either hand and use an array of shot types.
“He’s just a terrific talent and a terrific player,” Drew said. “I doubt their record would be what it is now if he had been playing for the past month.”
Lope tracks
Blacksher is the first Division I player to average at least 17.0 points, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals with at least 42% 3-point shooting since 2014-15 (Sacramento State’s Mikh McKinney and Northwestern State’s Jalan West). Only 12 players have finished a season averaging 17/4/2 with at least 40% 3-point shooting since 2000-01, including Duke’s Jay Williams, Harvard’s Jeremy Lin and Notre Dame’s Jerian Grant.
Blacksher is 45 points away from his 1,000th career point after making his 100th career 3-pointer on Thursday.
GCU ranks nationally in opponent 3-point shooting (second, 26.1%), opponent field-goal shooting (15th, 38.6%), rebounds per game (14th, 40.7) and offensive rebounds per game (11th, 11.6).
The Lopes lead the WAC in scoring defense, holding opponents to an average of 60.7 points per game.
Press Release courtesy of Grand Canyon University Athletics – Paul Coro
