MEN’S BASKETBALL #LOPESUP @GCU MBB 2018 …...2018/12/08 · Roxy Bernstein (Play-by-play) Sean...

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Charles Hampton, Associate AD, Strategic Communications and PR · Office: (602) 639-7738 · Cell: (480) 628-1754 · E-mail: [email protected]

MEN’S BASKETBALL2018-19 GAME NOTES

@GCU_MBB@gcu_mbb

#LOPESUP

GRAND CANYONLOPES

V S » Head Coach: Dan Majerle (6th, 108-61, .639)

POINTS REBOUNDS ASSISTSAlessandro Lever Michael Finke Trey Drechsel

So. | C | 6-10 Sr. | F | 6-10 Sr. | G | 6-613.0 ppg 5.0 rpg 3.1 apg

SUNDAY, DEC. 9 | TALKING STICK RESORT ARENA (18,422) | PHOENIX, ARIZ.

(5-3, 0-0 WAC)

NEVADAWOLF PACK(9-0, 0-0 MWC)

» Head Coach: Eric Musselman (4th, 89-29, .754)POINTS REBOUNDS ASSISTS

Caleb Martin Jordan Caroline Cody MartinSr. | F | 6-7 Sr. | G/F | 6-7 Sr. | F | 6-719.3 ppg 9.8 rpg 6.3 apg

TV STREAM LISTEN STATS

ESPN U WatchESPN 1580 The Fanatic GCUStats.comRoxy Bernstein (Play-by-play)

Sean Farnham (Analysis) WatchESPN.com

ESPN AppMichael Potter (Play-by-play)

Tom Kuyper (Analysis)

No. Player Pos. G PPG RPG APG2 Trey Drechsel G 8 10.4 4.0 3.124 Tim Finke G 8 5.3 3.9 1.34 Oscar Frayer F 8 8.4 4.6 1.643 Michael Finke F 8 8.6 5.0 1.025 Alessandro Lever C 8 13.0 4.8 0.9

LAST GAME’S STARTERS

AT A GLANCE » The Air Force Reserve Jerry Colangelo Classic presented by Citi is a premier college basketball double-header at Talking Stick Resort Arena, featuring a double-header with Tennessee, Gonzaga, Nevada and Grand Canyon.

» Grand Canyon is 8-8 all-time against Mountain West oppo-nents, including winning 4-of-5 since the 2014-15 season.

» While GCU and Nevada have never met in the regular sea-son, they did square off for an exhibition game benefiting the North Bay Fire Relief in October 2017. In that contest, Nevada used a 14-0 run to start the second half to separate from the Lopes en route to an 81-72 win in Reno, Nev.

» The Lopes are seeking their first win against an AP Top-25 team. They are 0-5 all-time vs. ranked opponents.

» GCU is a perfect 4-0 at home this season. Dating back to 2017, the Lopes have won 16 of their last 18 games at GCU Arena.

» The Lopes are looking for their second neutral-site win of the season. They defeated La Salle in the seventh-place game of the Wooden Legacy in Fullerton, Calif., on Nov. 25.

» Alessandro Lever recorded his third double-double of his career with 17 points and 10 rebounds vs. La Salle. His last double-double was Feb. 22, 2018 vs. Seattle.

» Eight games in, GCU leads the WAC in FT percentage (.716). » In the WAC Preseason poll, the Lopes were picked to finish second by both the coaches and media. In each poll, Lever was picked as the WAC Preseason Player of the Year and member of the first team. Oscar Frayer was tabbed as Preseason First-Team All-WAC by the coaches as well.

» In 2017-18, the Lopes led the nation in 3-point defense, allowing opponents to shoot just 27.8 percent.

» Lever was one of 20 players named to the watch list for the 2019 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, The annual honor recognizes the top centers in men’s college basketball.

» GCU ranks fifth for the most home wins since the start of the 2015-16 season with 53, trailing only St. Mary’s (56), Kentucky (55), Oregon (54), and Louisville (54).

201 8 -1 9 SCHEDULE

5-3 0-0 4-0 0-1 1-2OVERALL WAC H A N

OCTOBERTue 30 Montana State Billings (exhib.) W, 97-60

NOVEMBERTue 06 at South Dakota State ^ L, 79-74Sat 10 Delaware State W, 89-47Mon 12 Jacksonville W, 76-59Fri 16 Arkansas State W, 96-72Wooden Legacy | Fullerton, Calif.Thu 22 vs. Seton Hall L, 82-75Fri 23 Utah L, 75-66Sun 25 La Salle W, 82-70

DECEMBERSat 01 Boise State W, 69-67Sun 09 vs. Nevada % 3:30 p.m.Sat 15 at Texas 4 p.m.Wed 19 at Northern Iowa 6:30 p.m.Sat 22 Mississippi Valley State 7 p.m.Sat 29 at San Diego 8 p.m.

JANUARYThu 03 Utah Valley * 6 p.m.Sat 05 Seattle U * 6 p.m.Thu 10 at New Mexico State * 7 p.m.Sat 12 at UT Rio Grande Valley * 6 p.m.Thu 17 Chicago State * 7 p.m.Sat 19 Kansas City * 7 p.m.Sat 26 at California Baptist * 8 p.m.

FEBRUARYSat 02 at CSU Bakersfield * 8 p.m.Thu 07 UT Rio Grande Valley * 7 p.m.Sat 09 New Mexico State * 7 p.m.Thu 14 at Kansas City * 5 p.m.Sat 16 at Chicago State * 1:05 p.m.Thu 21 California Baptist * 7 p.m.Wed 27 Eastern New Mexico 7 p.m.

MARCHSat 02 CSU Bakersfield * 7 p.m.Thu 07 at Utah Valley * 7 p.m.Sat 09 at Seattle U * 2 p.m.WAC Tournament | Las Vegas, Nev.Thu 14 WAC Quarterfinals TBAFri 15 WAC Semifinals TBASun 16 WAC Finals TBA* denotes WAC game ^ denotes WAC / Summit Challenge % denotes Colangelo Classic (Talking Stick Resort Arena)

To access the media guide, archived game notes and more materials, visit:

GCULopes.com/mbbmedia

BY THE NUMBERS | 2018-19

CATEGORIES

86.2 POINTS | AVG. 78.4

+18.4 MARGIN +9.5

.491 FG % .456

.368 3PT % .301

.727 FT % .716

39.2 REB | AVG. 37.1

16.2 AST | AVG. 13.9

9.1 TO | AVG. 12.8

4.6 STL | AVG. 5.5

4.3 BLK | AVG. 3.0

SERIES HISTORYGrand Canyon vs. NevadaFirst regular season meeting between the two schools

» Overall: 0-0 | Home: 0-0 | Away: 0-0 | Neutral: 0-0 » Last time: None » Streak: None

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MEN’S BASKETBALL //

#LOPESUP

NUMERICAL ROSTER

No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown (Previous School)0 J.J. Rhymes G 6-4 205 Jr. Phoenix, Ariz. (Hutchinson CC) 1 Isiah Brown G 6-2 175 Jr. Lynnwood, Wash. (Northwestern) 2 Trey Drechsel G 6-6 205 R-Sr. Woodinville, Wash. (Western Washington) 3 Brent Hibbitts F 6-8 210 R-Jr. Hudsonville, Mich. (Michigan) 4 Oscar Frayer G 6-7 190 Jr. Oakland, Calif. (Moreau Catholic) 5 Matt Jackson F 6-8 230 R-Sr. Melbourne, Australia (Diamond Valley) 11 Damari Milstead G 6-2 190 So. Hayward, Calif. (Moreau Catholic) 12 Roberts Blumbergs F 6-10 220 So. Ventspils, Latvia (GBA Prague) 15 Raef Gerdes G 6-7 180 Fr. Lee’s Summit, Mo. (Summit Christian) 21 Caleb Holifield G 6-2 185 Fr. Duluth, Ga. (The Walker School) 23 Carlos Johnson G 6-3 215 Jr. Centralia, Ill. (Washington) 24 Tim Finke G 6-6 195 Fr. Champaign, Ill. (Champaign Central) 25 Alessandro Lever F 6-10 230 So. Bolzano, Italy (Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia) 35 Quinn Smith G 6-6 205 Fr. Brooklyn Park, Minn. (Maranahta Christian) 42 Gerard Martin G 6-7 225 R-Sr. Manly, Australia (Australian Institute of Sport) 43 Michael Finke F 6-10 235 R-Sr. Champaign, Ill. (Illinois)

ALPHABETICAL ROSTER

No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown (Previous School)12 Roberts Blumbergs F 6-10 220 So. Ventspils, Latvia (GBA Prague) 1 Isiah Brown G 6-2 175 Jr. Lynnwood, Wash. (Northwestern) 2 Trey Drechsel G 6-6 205 R-Sr. Woodinville, Wash. (Western Washington) 43 Michael Finke F 6-10 235 R-Sr. Champaign, Ill. (Illinois) 24 Tim Finke G 6-6 195 Fr. Champaign, Ill. (Champaign Central) 4 Oscar Frayer G 6-7 190 Jr. Oakland, Calif. (Moreau Catholic) 15 Raef Gerdes G 6-7 180 Fr. Lee’s Summit, Mo. (Summit Christian) 3 Brent Hibbitts F 6-8 210 R-Jr. Hudsonville, Mich. (Michigan) 21 Caleb Holifield G 6-2 185 Fr. Duluth, Ga. (The Walker School) 5 Matt Jackson F 6-8 230 R-Sr. Melbourne, Australia (Diamond Valley) 23 Carlos Johnson G 6-3 215 Jr. Centralia, Ill. (Washington) 25 Alessandro Lever F 6-10 230 So. Bolzano, Italy (Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia) 42 Gerard Martin G 6-7 225 R-Sr. Manly, Australia (Australian Institute of Sport) 11 Damari Milstead G 6-2 190 So. Hayward, Calif. (Moreau Catholic) 0 J.J. Rhymes G 6-4 205 Jr. Phoenix, Ariz. (Hutchinson CC) 35 Quinn Smith G 6-6 205 Fr. Brooklyn Park, Minn. (Maranahta Christian)

BASKETBALL STAFF

Dan Majerle Head Coach 6th Season Central Michigan Louis Wilson Associate Head Coach 1st Season William Jewell Chris Crevelone Assistant Coach 6th Season Adams State T.J. Benson Assistant Coach 6th Season Weber State Johnny Hill Special Assistant to the Head Coach 2nd Season UT Arlington Dylan Hidalgo Graduate Assistant 1st Season Kansas Wesleyan Jesse Parker Director of Basketball Operations 1st Season Utah State Matt Lopez Video Coordinator 1st Season Grand Canyon Geordie Hackett Director of Sports Medicine 4th Season Springfield College Gabe Bourland Director of Sports Performance 2nd Season Arizona State

PRONUNCIATION GUIDE

Trey DRECHSEL DREX-sull Michael/Tim FINKE FEENK-eeOscar FRAYER FRAY-er Alessandro LEVER LAY-verDamari MILSTEAD MILL-sted GERARD Martin jaredRoberts BLUMBERGS BLUM-bergs Dan MAJERLE MAR-leeRAEF GERDES RAYF GER-diss

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Roster & Media Information 2Broadcast Roster 3Game Notes 4GCU Arena 15Schedule Notes 16Head Coach Dan Majerle 17Stats 18Last Time 20Game Capsules 22Player Capsules 30

COMMUNICATIONS CONTACTS

Charles HamptonAssociate AD, Strategic Communications / PROffice Phone 602-639-7738Cell Phone 480-628-1754Email [email protected]

Josh HauserDirector of Creative MediaOffice Phone 602-639-6126Cell Phone 503-734-8587Email [email protected]

GRAND CANYON INFORMATIONSchool Grand Canyon UniversityLocation Phoenix, Ariz.Founded 1949Enrollment 20,500President Brian MuellerVice President of Athletics Mike VaughtFaculty Representative Claude Pensis Affiliation NCAA Division INickname LopesMascot ThunderColors Purple, Black & WhiteConference Western Athletic Conference (WAC)

GCU ARENA

Opened Sept. 1, 2011Capacity 7,000Grand Canyon Record at GCU Arena 103-21 (.831)

PROGRAM HISTORY

First Year of Basketball at GCU 1949-50All-Time Record 1,168-729 (.616)All-Time Division I Record 108-61 (.639)All-Time WAC Record 49-23 (.681)

ROSTER

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BROADCAST ROSTER

J.J. RHYMES

ISIAH BROWN

TREY DRECHSEL

BRENT HIBBITTS

OSCAR FRAYER

MATT JACKSON

G • 6-4 • 205 • Jr.Phoenix, Ariz.

G • 6-2 • 175 • Jr.Lynnwood, Wash.

G • 6-6 • 205 • R-Sr.Woodinville, Wash.

F • 6-8 • 210 • Jr.Hudsonville, Mich.

F • 6-6 • 190 • Jr.Oakland, Calif.

F • 6-8 • 230 • R-Sr.Melbourne, Australia

DAMARI MILSTEAD

ROBERTS BLUMBERGS

RAEF GERDES

CALEB HOLIFIELD

CARLOS JOHNSON

TIM FINKE

G • 6-2 • 160 • So.Hayward, Calif.

F • 6-10 • 220 • So.Ventspils, Latvia

F • 6-7 • 180 • Fr.Lee’s Summit, Mo.

G • 6-2 • 180 • Fr.Duluth, Ga.

G • 6-3 • 215 • Jr.Centralia, Ill.

F • 6-6 • 195 • Fr.Champaign, Ill.

ALESSANDRO LEVER

QUINN SMITH

GERARD MARTIN

MICHAEL FINKE

F • 6-10 • 230 • So.Bolzano, Italy

G • 6-6 • 205 • Fr.Brooklyn Park, Minn.

G • 6-7 • 225 • R-Sr.Manly, Australia

F • 6-10 • 230 • R-Sr.Champaign, Ill.

DAN MAJERLE

LOUIS WILSON

CHRIS CREVELONE

T.J. BENSON

JOHNNY HILL

DYLAN HIDALGO

Head Coach6th Season

Associate Head Coach1st Season

Assistant Coach6th Season

Assistant Coach5th Season

Special Assistant2nd Season

Graduate Assistant1st Season

0 1 2 3 4 5

11 12 15 22 23 24

25 35 42 43

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LEVER, FRAYER EARN PRESEASON NOD

Sophomore forward Alessandro Lever was named the 2018-19 WAC Preseason Player of the Year. Lever becomes the third straight Lope to be named to this honor. Former GCU guard Joshua Braun earned this honor the previous two seasons. Junior guard Oscar Frayer was also named to the Preseason Coaches All-WAC First Team and the Preseason Media All-WAC Second Team.

PRESEASON COACHES ALL-WAC FIRST TEAM

OSCAR FRAYER F GRAND CANYON

A.J. Harris G New Mexico State

Matej Kavas F Seattle U

ALESSANDRO LEVER* F GRAND CANYON

Conner Toolson G Utah Valley

* Denotes WAC Preseason Player of the Year selection

LOPES PICKED 2ND IN PRESEASON POLLS

Following a runner-up finish at the WAC Championships last year, the Lopes were picked to finish second in both the coaches and media WAC Preseason Polls for the 2018-19 season. This is the second season the Lopes are eligible for the WAC and NCAA Tournaments.

PRESEASON COACHES POLL PRESEASON MEDIA POLLRank Team Points Rank Team Points

1. New Mexico State 63 1. New Mexico State 2142. Grand Canyon 58 2. Grand Canyon 1803. Seattle U 45 3. Utah Valley 1624. Utah Valley 43 4. Seattle U 1505. CSU Bakersfield 35 5. CSU Bakersfield 1176. UT Rio Grande Valley 28 6. UT Rio Grande Valley 897. Kansas City 24 7. Kansas City 738. California Baptist 20 8. California Baptist 639. Chicago State 8 9. Chicago State 32

LEVER ON CENTER WATCH LIST

Sophomore center Alessandro Lever was named as one of the 21 watch list members for the 2019 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award. This award is in its fifth year recognizing the top center in men’s basketball. Previous winners include three current NBA players: Angel Delgado (2018), Jakob Poeltl (2017), and Frank Kaminsky (2015). Gonzaga center Przemek Karnowski won the award in 2017 and played in the national championship game that year.

Daniel Gafford, Arkansas Dewan Hernandez, MiamiAustin Wiley, Auburn Nick Ward, Michigan StateJames Thompson IV, Eastern Michigan Jontay Porter, MissouriKillian Tillie, Gonzaga Bol Bol, OregonJesse Govan, Georgetown Tacko Fall, UCFAlessandro Lever, Grand Canyon Moses Brown, UCLAUdoka Azubuike, Kansas James Dickey, UNC GreensboroNick Richards, Kentucky Charles Bassey, Western MichiganCameron Kurtwig, Loyola Chicago Nathan Knight, William & MaryNaz Reid, LSU Ethan Happ, WisconsinJalen Smith, Maryland

JOHNSON CLEARED FOR TAKEOFF

The NCAA ruled that junior guard Carlos Johnson is eligible to play this season after transferring this offseason from Washington. As a freshman with the Huskies, Johnson averaged 5.9 points and 3.0 rebounds per game and started four games when No. 1 NBA draft pick Markelle Fultz was injured. The four-game stretch included a 19 point, 12 rebound performance against Arizona State.

Johnson gave Lopes fans their first look at what could come this season during GCU’s Bahamas trip in August where he led the team in scoring with 34 points in 21 minutes during the two exhibitions.

The move to GCU marks a return to his basketball roots. Johnson started his basketball career in seventh grade, three miles away from GCU. He would go on to play two seasons at Shadow Mountain High School in Phoenix with fellow Lopes guard J.J. Rhymes. The transfer also reunites Johnson with his former club teammates, Oscar Frayer and Damari Milstead.

BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME

Head coach Dan Majerle continually says that the Lopes have one of the nation’s top home court advantages. The size of GCU Arena crowds have lived up to the billing.

The average attendance in GCU Arena has grown every single season in the Division I era from 4,373 fans per game in 2013-14 to 6,973 fans per game in 2017-18. In the five years of Division I play, the average attendance per game has grown by 59.5 percent.

GCU ARENA ATTENDANCE BY YEARYear Fans per game

2017-18 6,9732016-17 6,8172015-16 5,8062014-15 5,1702013-14 4,373

SOPHOMORE SURGE?

If recent history has anything to say about it, a sophomore slump is not in the cards for 2017-18 WAC Freshman of the Year Alessandro Lever.

Among the last five recipients of the award, two have gone on to win WAC Player of the Year the next season and three have landed on the All-WAC first or second team.

In the last five seasons, there has been a 37 percent increase in points per game from freshman to sophomore campaign among the WAC Freshmen of the Year and a 60 percent increase in scoring in the last three seasons.

WAC FRESHMEN OF THE YEAR IN THEIR SOPHOMORE SEASONSPoints

Year Won Player Freshman Sophomore Pct. change2017-18 Alessandro Lever 12.2 -- --2016-17 Matej Kavas 8.6 15.2 .7672015-16 Antonio Green 11.6 16.7 .4402014-15 Pascal Siakam 12.8 20.3 .5862013-14 Martez Harrison 17.2 17.5 .0172012-13 Sim Bhullar 10.1 10.4 .030

NOTES

LEVER

FRAYER

JOHNSON

LEVER

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FORCE TOUGH SHOTS: STAPLE OF PROGRAM

Coach Majerle, an NBA Defensive team honoree during his playing days, has an emphasis on defense that has been constant during his tenure leading the program. Throughout the 2017-18 season, his message successfully translated to on-court results.

Not only was GCU’s 3-point defense tops in the nation last season -- by a wide margin -- the Lopes’ opponents’ final clip of 27.8 percent was the second-best mark over the past nine NCAA seasons. The only team to top last year’s 3-point defense was Rhode Island which limited its opponents to 26.5 percent shooting during the 2014-15 campaign.

TOP 3-POINT DEFENSES (SINCE 2009-10)Rank Year School 3PM 3PA 3P%

1 2014-15 Rhode Island 120 452 26.52 2014-15 Pepperdine 142 526 27.03 2014-15 Kentucky 175 646 27.14 2009-10 Coastal Carolina 184 670 27.55 2017-18 GRAND CANYON 161 580 27.8

DEFENSE KEEPS IMPROVING

The GCU defense has improved every season in the Division I era as evidenced by a declining opponent points per game mark and a rising defensive ranking.

GCU’s 2017-18 mark ranked second in the conference behind only New Mexico State (64.2 points per game).

SCORING DEFENSE IN D-I ERAYear Points per game Rank

2018-19 69.1 1332017-18 65.1 222016-17 67.8 622015-16 68.1 822014-15 68.4 2322013-14 71.7 t-223

HOLD BELOW 70 POINTS

In Dan Majerle’s tenure, the Lopes are 67-15 (.817) when holding opponents under 70 points. In the last four years, the Lopes are 61-10 (.859).

RECORD WHEN HOLDING OPP. UNDER 70 POINTSYear Record Win Pct.

2017-18 18-3 0.8572016-17 14-2 0.8752015-16 16-2 0.8892014-15 13-3 0.8132013-14 6-5 0.545

OVERALL 67-15 0.817

In 2017-18, the Lopes only losses when holding an opponent under 70 points came against Utah Valley on the road (68 points), Illinois on the road (62 points), and St. John’s (68 points).

FIELD GOAL DEFENSERk. School FG%1 Michigan St. 36.72 Cincinnati 37.43 Virginia 38.04 UC Irvine 38.95 Syracuse 39.16 Georgia St. 39.37 Georgia 39.48 Houston 39.49 New Mexico State 39.810 UCF 40.111 Texas Tech 40.112 GRAND CANYON 40.213 ETSU 40.314 Kentucky 40.415 Eastern Michigan 40.4

3-POINT DEFENSERk. School 3FG%1 GRAND CANYON 27.82 Penn 29.53 Northeastern 29.94 Kentucky 30.15 San Diego 30.36 South Alabama 30.57 Murray State 30.78 Cincinnati 30.99 Northern Kentucky 31.010 Virginia 31.011 New Mexico State 31.012 Illinois State 31.113 Green Bay 31.214 Jacksonville 31.315 Valparaiso 31.4

NOTES

SCOUTINGNEVADA

2017-18 NOTESRecord 29-8 (15-3)Conf. Finish 1stPostseason NCAA Tourn. (2-1)

2018-19 NOTESRecord 8-0 Home 6-1 Away 2-0 Neutral 0-0

SCHOOL NOTESLocation Reno, Nev.Conference Mountain WestEnrollment 18,348

COACH NOTESHead Coach Eric MusselmanSeason 4thRecord at School 89-29Career Record 89-29

AT-A-GLANCE » The Wolf Pack return four senior starters from last season: Caleb Martin, Cody

Martin, Jordan Caroline and Lindsey Drew. » Caroline and Caleb Martin lead Nevada in scoring with 18.9 and 18.6 points per game,

respectively. Caroline is also averaging 10 rebounds per game. » Five-star recruit Jordan Brown is averaging 6.3 points and 3.6 rebounds per game

off the bench. » Nevada is tied with New Mexico leading the Mountain West in scoring with 88 points

per game. » The Wolf Pack are first in the conference in 3-point field goal percentage defense,

holding opponents to 28.6%.

LAST TIME OUT » Nevada defeated No. 20 Arizona State 72-66 in the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic at

the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Dec. 7.

LAST TIME THEY MET » Nevada defeated GCU by a score of 81-72 in an exhibition game on Oct. 22, 2017. » This will be the first regular season matchup between the Lopes and Wolfpack.

CONNECTIONS » While serving as assistant coach with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Orlando Magic

and Atlanta Hawks, Nevada Head Coach Eric Musselman faced GCU Head Coach Dan Majerle as a player 11 times. Majerle went 8-3 in those contests.

» Nevada Special Assistant to the Head Coach, Rex Walters played with Dan Majerle on the Miami Heat from 1998-2000.

» While at the University of Washington, Lopes guard Carlos Johnson faced the Wolfpack in 2016, scoring 13 off the bench.

» Wolfpack freshman forward K.J. Hymes is from Phoenix, Ariz. and played a season at Hillcrest Prep with Phoenix Suns center and No. 1 overall pick, DeAndre Ayton.

» Lopes senior power forward Michael Finke and Nevada senior swingman Jordan Caroline grew up as grade school classmates with nearby homes in Champaign, Ill., and played on a fifth-grade traveling club that was called the Thunder.

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NOTES

AUSSIE-AUSSIE DUO

Seniors Matt Jackson and Gerard Martin are set to begin their final season at GCU. The pair of Australia natives have been a staple in Coach Majerle’s program since he took over the reigns of the program in 2013-14.

At least one member of the Jackson-Martin duo has appeared in 104 consecutive games entering the 2018-19 season. The last time neither player appeared in a GCU game was on Feb. 19, 2015 in a home game against Texas-Pan American (now UT Rio Grande Valley).

Martin and Jackson represent one half of GCU’s seniors this year, joining Trey Drechsel and Michael Finke as the seniors on the roster.

THE JACKSON-MARTIN DUOGames Played Points 3PT Makes

Matt Jackson 95 396 47Gerard Martin 107 455 91Combined 202 851 138

HAPPY TO BE BACK HOME

GCU’s wild home court advantage has been well documented. The team’s on-court success has proven it by the way the Lopes play when they return home from games away from GCU.

In the first home game following a road or neutral-site contest, GCU is 27-5 since making the transition to D-I. They are 23-2 in such games since the 2014-15 season.

2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 D1 Era4-3 6-0 6-0 6-0 5-2 27-5

HOME SWEET HOME

The Lopes have enjoyed playing their home games at Grand Canyon University Arena. Since the arena opened prior to the 2011-12 season, GCU has recorded a 100-21 (.826) record, proving to be quite the home-court advantage.

An intimidating factor for opponents, the large Havocs student section has proven to be one of the best in the Western Athletic Conference. The Havocs create an imposing backdrop for visiting teams as they fill the arena with energy and enthusiasm.

“It’s unbelievable,” head coach Dan Majerle said. “We love our crowd, our student section, our overall crowd, our atmosphere here. We have a true home-court advantage and it’s a pleasure to play here every night and our guys don’t take it for granted.”

MOST HOME WINS IN NCAA DIVISION I (SINCE 2015-16)Rk. Institution Conference Wins1 Saint Mary’s (CA) West Coast 562 Kentucky Southeastern 553 Oregon Pac-12 54 Louisville Atlantic Coast 545 GRAND CANYON WESTERN ATHLETIC 536 Texas Tech Big 12 52 Cincinnati American 52 SMU American 52 9 Arizona Pac-12 51 Purdue Big Ten 51

BIG MAN’S GAME

With an average height of 6’6.125” this is the tallest GCU men’s basketball has ever been under head coach Dan Majerle, beating last year’s record of 6’5.56”. In comparison, GCU is the tallest team in the WAC with Seattle U coming in at 6’5.56” and Utah Valley at 6’5.33”.

HEIGHTS OF ROSTERS UNDER MAJERLE HEIGHTS OF 2018-19 WAC ROSTERS

YearAverage

Height TeamAverage

Height2013-14 6-4.800 Grand Canyon 6-6.132014-15 6-5.06 Seattle U 6-5.562015-16 6-4.65 Utah Valley 6-5.332016-17 6-4.71 UT Rio Grande Valley 6-5.072017-18 6-5.56 Kansas City 6-4.732018-19 6-6.13 California Baptist 6-4.73

Chicago State 6-4.71CSU Bakersfield 6-4.67

New Mexico State 6-3.89

INTERNATIONAL STARS

A pair of 6-foot-10 sophomores returned home this summer to represent their countries at the U20 European Championships. Alessandro Lever and Roberts Blumbergs reminded the European basketball scene that two of Europe’s best young players can be found at GCU Arena.

Italy finished eighth thanks to Lever finishing in the tournament’s top 15 in points per game (13.9), free throw percentage (81.0), field goal percentage (48.0) and 3-point percentage (44.4) while averaging 5.1 rebounds per game.

Blumbergs’ Latvia may have missed out on this year’s top tier of the U20 European Championship, but Latvia was able to secure a Division A spot for 2019. Latvia finished third in Division B with Blumbergs averaging 11.0 points and 11.7 rebounds in bracket play. He was one of five players who averaged a double-double in the tournament.

STAFF ADDITIONS

Dan Majerle made three staff additions to his 2018-19 coaching staff, highlighted by the hiring of Associate Head Coach Louis Wilson from Utah State. Majerle added Wilson, Graduate Assistant Dylan Hidalgo from Pima Community College and Director of Operations Jesse Parker to his staff.

Wilson joins GCU after serving as an assistant coach at Utah State for the past three seasons. From 2010-2015 Wilson was the head coach at Adams State and left the school with the highest winning percentage in program history with a 95-46 record (.674). Wilson will be in charge of scheduling, player development, opponent scouting, game-day prepara-tion and bench coaching.

Hidalgo is entering his first season as the graduate assistant for the Lopes. Hidalgo will aid the coaching staff in player development, game and practice preparation, and day-to-day operations. Hidalgo previous-ly served as the assistant coach at Pima Community College in Tucson. Hidalgo played college basketball at Kanas Wesleyan University at the NAIA level.

Parker joins GCU after serving as the director of basketball operations at Utah State since 2013. Parker grew up in Kamas, Utah a town east of Salt Lake City. Parker is charged with a wide range of responsibilities including compliance, team travel, academic monitoring, practice plan-ning, game preparation and camps.

JACKSON

MARTIN

LEVER

BLUMBERGS

WILSON

HIDALGO

PARKER

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WIN-LOSS STATS

Splits in GCU’s 2017-18 wins vs. losses.

Category In Wins In Losses

Points per game 79.1 64.3

Opponent points per game 60.7 73.1

Field goal percentage .462 .371

Opponent field goal percentage .380 .443

3FG percentage .356 .259

Opponent 3FG percentage .264 .302

Free throw percentage .716 .669

Rebounds per game 39.9 36.0

Rebound margin 6.5 -6.0

Assists per game 17.2 13.5

Turnovers per game 13.2 13.3

Assist/Turnover ratio 1.3 1.0

Steals per game 6.3 6.0

Blocks per game 4.5 2.9

TOUGH SCHEDULE TOUGHENS LOPES

Grand Canyon’s most ambitious nonconference schedule turned even more formidable with the release of the Wooden Legacy tournament bracket.

GCU will face Seton Hall in a Nov. 22 first-round matchup at 7 p.m. (Phoenix time) at Cal State Fullerton, giving the Lopes four nonconference opponents that were NCAA tournament participants this year.

In all, the Lopes will face seven teams in 2018-19 that ended the 2017-18 season inside the RPI Top-100.

2017-18 RESULTS OF NONCONFERENCE OPPONENTS

Team RPI 2017-18 Record

Nevada (Mountain West) 13 29-8

Seton Hall (Big East) 31 22-12

New Mexico State (WAC) 47 28-6

South Dakota State (Summit) 48 28-7

Texas (Big 12) 52 19-15

Boise State (Mountain West) 57 23-9

Utah Valley (WAC) 91 23-11

NOTES

PROVING GROUNDS

Since Dan Majerle took the helm the Lopes are 9-4 in neutral site games and 12-7 in regular-season tournament action.

These games have provided opportunities for the Lopes to make a name for themselves. GCU has played the likes of Utah, San Diego State, Penn State and St. John’s in neutral site or regular season tournament games.

Nevada, Seton Hall and more will join the list in 2018-19 as GCU participates in the Wooden Legacy tournament and the Jerry Colangelo Classic.

WOODEN LEGACYNov. 22-25 Titan Gym | Fullerton, Calif. GCU vs. Seton Hall (first round), further matchups TBD

COLANGELO CLASSICSunday, Dec. 9 at 3:30 p.m. Talking Stick Resort Arena | Phoenix, Ariz. GCU vs. Nevada

FEELING AT HOME ON THE ROAD

Already recognized as college basketball’s biggest party, the GCU Havocs frequently extend their antics far beyond the walls of GCU Arena. The Havocs take their show on the road when possible and transform opposing and neutral-site venues into a decidedly pro-purple party.

Things were no different on Dec. 5 when GCU played in Talking Stick Resort Arena against St. John’s. An excess of 1,500 GCU students made their collective voice heard in front of a national TV audience in the BBVA Compass Valley of the Sun Showcase.

While the Havocs were certainly there for GCU’s matchup with St. John’s, they were in their seats early enough to cheer in-state ally, Arizona, to a big win over No. 7 Texas A&M. Arizona players took to Twitter following their win to compliment the Havocs on their antics to force key missed free throws down the stretch.

In a 2016 road contest against No. 19 Arizona in Tucson, Wildcats head coach Sean Miller noted he witnessed a McKale Center first.

“In my eight years, I’ve never seen a student section in McKale filled with the visitors,” Miller said. “They had a whole section. You could hear them cheering. You could just tell they’ve got a great spirit about what they’re doing, and that’s to Grand Canyon’s credit.”

“I always hear the Havocs, they’re my guys, they’re the best.” Majerle said after the narrow loss. “They travel well. We’re lucky to have them.”

A yearly road trip tradition has quickly developed with bus loads of Havocs making the 12-hour round trip journey to Las Cruces, N.M. for the program’s budding rivalry with WAC foe New Mexico State. A first-year appearance in the WAC Tournament also saw Havocs make the trek to Las Vegas and helped will the Lopes to an appearance in the WAC Championship game.

Plans are already underway for Havocs to travel to the Wooden Legacy in Fullerton, Calif., the Colangelo Classic in Downtown Phoenix, a nonconference game at San Diego, and other games throughout the 2018-19 season.

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NOTES

BAHAMAS TOUR

For the third time under head coach Dan Majerle, the Lopes preseason took place on foreign soil. This season, the team traveled to the Baha-mas for an event called “Summer of Thunder”. GCU faced Bahamian clubs, Providence Storm and Bahamas All-Stars in the final two games of a preseason tournament that included 10 American college teams featuring the likes of North Carolina, Kentucky and Notre Dame.

A roster of 13 which features seven newcomers got their first live action on Aug. 20 against the Providence Storms following two days of practice. The Lopes came out on top 88-73 with WAC Preseason Player of the Year, Alessandro Lever putting up 18 points and 16 rebounds in 22 minutes. The Lopes held Providence to 24 percent shooting.

GCU went on to win their final game against the Bahamas All-Stars 83-70 behind Carlos John-son’s 15 points. Johnson would put on a scoring clinic, netting 34 points in 21 minutes prior to the knowledge that he would be cleared to play the 2018-19 season.

The Lopes rounded out their trip by extending GCU’s heart for outreach by putting on a clinic for the juvenile rehabilitation center’s boys and a local school’s basketball team. Out of the 10 universities to participate in the annual preseason tournament, GCU was the first to visit the Penn Centre.

BROTHERLY LOVE

When Michael Finke made the decision to go to Grand Canyon over 80 other schools as a graduate transfer, he also made the decision to play with his younger brother, Tim for the first time since a recreational team when Michael was in high school. This is also the first time the broth-ers have gone to school together since the one year they were home-schooled by their mother 11 years ago.

Younger brother Tim, a four star recruit, signed with the Lopes in No-vember with no idea that his brother would be joining him next season.

The duo joins the likes of the Howard brothers at Kansas, and the Martin brothers at Nevada, whom the Lopes will square off against on Decem-ber 9 in the Jerry Colangelo Classic at Talking Stick Resort Arena.

BLACKSHER INKS NLI TO JOIN LOPES

For the second straight year, GCU made recruiting headlines with a four-star signing. Jovan Blacksher signed his letter of intent to play for the Lopes on Nov. 14, 2018 becoming one of the program’s most touted recruits yet joining the likes of Tim Finke.

The 6-foot point guard will do something that is a rarity by playing for two former NBA stars in Shadow Mountain head coach Mike Bibby and Lopes head coach Dan Majerle.

“Honestly, I can’t wait,” said Blacksher, a three-time state champion. “I’ve played in big games before and on ESPN. The crowds were good but they’re going to be really excited at GCU. If the whole environment gets more involved and makes it more inter-esting, everybody is going to be more pumped and want to go all out. I’m excited for that.”

As a junior, Blacksher averaged 15.9 points, 5.7 steals and 5.6 assists. The guard considered the likes of GCU, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Pacific and Washington State. Af-ter committing to GCU last summer, he was rated as a four-star prospect by ESPN.com.

Blacksher will become the third Shadow Mountain player to move to GCU joining Carlos Johnson and J.J. Rhymes. Blacksher teamed up with Rhymes for one season as a freshman at Shadow Mountain and has the potential to do so again for two more years after Rhymes redshirt season.

A frequent visitor of GCU, Blacksher has attended four of the last five Midnight Madness events and five GCU home games. He met former GCU standout DeWayne Russell who has a similar build but more of a scoring tendency.

“He’s a prototypical point guard that I’m going to love having on my team,” Majerle said. “He’s going to be a guy that you’re glad is on your team every gym you walk into. I expect him to make an impact his very first year.

“He plays at a very high level. He’s played against the greatest competition, both at Shadow Mountain and his AAU program. He’s a highly competitive kid. Defensively, he’s off the charts. Offensively, he can really be a playmaker – very smart with the ball, good shooter.”

T. FINKE

M. FINKE

BLACKSHER

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RECORD WHEN

SUPERLATIVESGCU HIGHSPoints 96 vs Arkansas State, Nov. 16 Field Goals Made 36 vs Delaware State, Nov. 10 Field Goal Attempts 70 at South Dakota State, Nov. 6 Field Goal Percentage .542 vs La Salle, Nov. 25 3 PT Field Goals Made 11 vs Seton Hall, Nov. 22 3 PT Field Goals Attempted 34 at South Dakota State, Nov. 6 3 PT Field Goal Percentage .375 vs Utah, Nov. 23 Free Throws Made 27 vs Arkansas State, Nov. 16 Free Throws Attempts 37 vs La Salle, Nov. 25 Free Throw Percentage .850 at South Dakota State, Nov. 6 Rebounds 52 vs Jacksonville, Nov. 12 Assists 18 2x last on, Nov. 22 Steals 11 vs Delaware State, Nov. 10 Blocked Shots 6 vs Delaware State, Nov. 10 Turnovers 18 vs La Salle, Nov. 25 Fouls 26 vs La Salle, Nov. 25

GCU LOWSPoints 69 vs Boise State, Dec. 1 Field Goals Made 19 vs Utah, Nov. 23 Field Goal Attempts 44 vs Utah, Nov. 23 Field Goal Percentage .343 at South Dakota State, Nov. 6 3 PT Field Goals Made 4 vs La Salle, Nov. 25 3 PT Field Goals Attempted 12 vs La Salle, Nov. 25 3 PT Field Goal Percentage .250 2x last on Nov. 12 Free Throws Made 10 vs Boise State, Dec. 1 Free Throws Attempts 16 vs Seton Hall, Nov. 22 Free Throw Percentage .524 vs Delaware State, Nov. 10 Rebounds 24 vs Utah, Nov. 23 Assists 8 at South Dakota State, Nov. 6 Steals 2 2x last on, Nov. 23 Blocked Shots 1 2x last on, Nov. 23 Turnovers 4 vs Jacksonville, Nov. 12 Fouls 16 vs Delaware State, Nov. 10

OPPONENT HIGHSPoints 82 2x last on, Nov. 23 Field Goals Made 28 2x last on, Nov. 22 Field Goal Attempts 69 vs La Salle, Nov. 25 Field Goal Percentage .622 vs Seton Hall, Nov. 22 3 PT Field Goals Made 8 2x last on, Nov. 23 3 PT Field Goals Attempted 25 vs La Salle, Nov. 25 3 PT Field Goal Percentage .500 vs Seton Hall, Nov. 22 Free Throws Made 23 vs La Salle, Nov. 25 Free Throws Attempts 33 vs Seton Hall, Nov. 22 Free Throw Percentage .821 vs La Salle, Nov. 25 Rebounds 48 at South Dakota State, Nov. 6 Assists 15 vs Seton Hall, Nov. 22 Steals 8 2x last on, Dec. 1 Blocked Shots 6 vs Jacksonville, Nov. 12 Turnovers 20 vs Delaware State, Nov. 10 Fouls 30 vs Arkansas State, Nov. 16

OPPONENT LOWSPoints 47 vs Delaware State, Nov. 10 Field Goals Made 15 vs Delaware State, Nov. 10 Field Goal Attempts 45 vs Seton Hall, Nov. 22 Field Goal Percentage .278 vs Delaware State, Nov. 10 3 PT Field Goals Made 5 3x last on, Nov. 25 3 PT Field Goals Attempted 15 2x last on, Dec. 1 3 PT Field Goal Percentage .227 vs Jacksonville, Nov. 12 Free Throws Made 9 vs Delaware State, Nov. 10 Free Throws Attempts 18 vs Delaware State, Nov. 10 Free Throw Percentage .500 vs Delaware State, Nov. 10 Rebounds 25 vs Jacksonville, Nov. 12 Assists 5 vs Boise State, Dec. 1 Steals 3 2x last on, Nov. 23 Blocked Shots 0 vs Delaware State, Nov. 10 Turnovers 11 vs La Salle, Nov. 25 Fouls 19 at South Dakota State, Nov. 6

GCU RECORD WHEN... 2018-19 D-1 ERA Grand Canyon University Arena 4-0 74-19 Home 4-0 74-20 Road 0-1 24-33 Neutral Site 1-2 10-6 Overtime games 0-0 2-2

Leading at the half 4-0 90-20 Behind at the half 1-3 14-40 Tied at the half 0-0 6-1

Scoring 0-59 points 0-0 2-21 Scoring 60-69 points 1-1 20-22 Scoring 70-79 points 1-2 39-13 Scoring 80-89 points 2-0 35-4 Scoring 90-99 points 1-0 11-0 Scoring 100-plus points 0-0 1-1

Game decided by 1-5 points 1-1 25-24 Game decided by 6-9 points 0-2 18-9 Game decided by 10-15 points 1-0 28-13 Game decided by 16 points or more 3-0 37-15

GCU out-rebounds the opponent 5-0 75-14 GCU is out-rebounded by the opponent 0-3 26-43 Same number of rebounds 0-0 7-4

Recording 50-plus rebounds 2-0 6-0 Recording 40-plus rebounds 2-0 30-4 Recording 35-39 rebounds 0-1 28-13 Recording 30-34 rebounds 0-0 27-17 Recording 25-29 rebounds 1-1 14-14 Recording 20-24 rebounds 0-1 1-11 Recording less than 20 rebounds 0-0 2-2

GCU with better shooting percentage 4-0 87-8 GCU with worse shooting percentage 1-3 21-53 Same shooting percentage 0-0 0-0 GCU shooting .500-plus FG pct. 2-0 35-4 GCU shooting .450-.499 FG pct. 2-0 32-7 GCU shooting .400-.449 FG pct. 1-1 28-17 GCU shooting less than .400 FG pct. 0-1 13-32

GCU with fewer TOs than opponent 3-2 67-20 GCU with more TOs than opponent 2-1 34-37 GCU with same number of TOs 0-0 7-4

GCU with fewer fouls than opponent 4-1 81-19 GCU with more fouls than opponent 0-1 18-36 Same number of fouls 1-1 9-6

Record coming off a win 3-1 67-36 Record coming after a loss 2-1 38-19

In November 4-3 22-14 In December 1-0 27-18 In January 0-0 27-10 In February 0-0 22-12 In March 0-0 10-7

vs. AP Poll ranked teams 0-0 0-5

Overtime games 0-0 2-2

Before 2 p.m. 0-0 Between 2 p.m. and 5:59 p.m. 1-0 6 p.m. or later 4-2

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NOTES

AROUND THE WACWA C P L AY ER S OF T HE W EEK

Nov. 12 Myles Carter (Seattle U)Nov. 19 Milan Acquaah (California Baptist)Nov. 26 Jake Toolson (Utah Valley)Dec. 3 Rob Shaw (Chicago State)Dec. 10 --Dec. 17 --Dec. 24 --Dec. 31 --Jan. 7 --Jan. 14 --Jan. 21 --Jan. 28 --Feb. 4 --Feb. 11 --Feb. 18 --Feb. 25 --March 4 --March 11 -- P RE SE A SON CO A CHE S P OL L

First TeamOSCAR FRAYER F GRAND CANYONA.J. Harris G New Mexico StateMatej Kavas G Seattle UALESSANDRO LEVER C GRAND CANYONConner Toolson G Utah Valley

Second TeamXavier Bishop G Kansas CityEli Chuha F New Mexico StateDamiyne Durham G CSU BakersfieldJake Toolson G Utah ValleyTerry Winn II F UT Rio Grande Valley

Projected Order of Finish1 New Mexico State (7) 632 GRAND CANYON (2) 583 Seattle U 454 Utah Valley 435 CSU Bakersfield 356 UT Rio Grande Valley 287 Kansas City 248 California Baptist 209 Chicago State 8

PA S T CH A MP I ONS

Year Regular Season Tournament2017-18 New Mexico State New Mexico State2016-17 CSU Bakersfield New Mexico State2015-16 New Mexico State CSU Bakersfield2014-15 New Mexico State New Mexico State

CONFERENCE STANDINGS

WA C O V E R A L LSCHOOL W-L PCT W-L PCT H A N STRKNM State 0-0 -- 7-1 .875 5-1 2-0 0-0 W5Seattle U 0-0 -- 9-2 .818 9-1 0-1 0-0 W6UT Rio Grande Valley 0-0 -- 7-4 .636 5-1 2-3 0-0 W2Grand Canyon 0-0 -- 5-3 .625 4-0 0-1 1-2 W2Utah Valley 0-0 -- 6-4 .600 4-0 0-4 2-0 L1CSU Bakersfield 0-0 -- 4-4 .500 2-0 0-3 2-1 W1California Baptist 0-0 -- 4-5 .444 2-1 2-2 0-2 L1Chicago State 0-0 -- 3-8 .273 3-0 0-7 0-1 W3Kansas City 0-0 -- 2-7 .222 1-1 1-5 0-1 W1

INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARDS

POINTS REBOUNDS ASSISTS STEALS

1 22.1Milan AcquaahCalifornia Baptist

1 8.4Baylee SteeleUtah Valley

1 6.1Rob ShawChicago State

1 2.4Javon LeviUT Rio Grande Valley

2 17.2Xavier BishopKansas City

2 8.0Dejon Davis California Baptist

2 5.6Terrell BrownSeattle U

2 2.3Lesley Varner IIUT Rio Grande Valley

3 15.8Jake ToolsonUtah Valley

3 7.9Carter Myles Seattle U

3 5.1Javon LeviUT Rio Grande Valley

3 2.2Milan AcquaahCalifornia Baptist

4 15.6Anthony HarrisChicago State

T-4 7.1James SuberCSU Bakersfield

4 4.6Rickey HoldenCSU Bakersfield

T-4 1.8Conner ToolsonUtah Valley

5 15.2Morgan MeansSeattle U

T-4 7.1Terrell BrownSeattle U

5 4.4TJ WashingtonUtah Valley

T-4 1.8Rob Whitfield Kansas City

TEAM LEADERBOARDS

SCORING/AVG DEFENSE MARGIN REBOUNDS

1 83.5 SU 1 67.5 NMSU 1 +13.7 SU 1 39.6 CBU

2 81.7 CBU 2 68.6 UTRGV 2 +12.9 NMSU 2 38.6 SU

3 80.4 NMSU 3 68.9 GCU 3 +9.5 GCU 3 38.2 NMSU

4 78.4 GCU 4 69.8 CSUB 4 +3.0 UVU 4 37.8 UVU

5 75.2 UVU 5 69.8 SU 5 +1.3 CBU 5 37.1 GCU

6 70.8 UMKC 6 72.2 UVU 6 +1.0 CSUB 6 35.8 UTRGV

7 70.8 CSUB 7 78.3 UMKC 7 +0.9 UTRGV 7 35.8 UMKC

8 69.5 UTRGV 8 80.3 CBU 8 -7.6 UMKC 8 35.4 CSUB

9 67.9 CSU 9 84.5 CSU 9 -16.6 CSU 9 34.9 CSU

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NOTES

STAT RANKINGSTEAM STATS IN TOP 50

Rank Category Stat

INDIVIDUAL STATS IN TOP 100

Rank Name Category Stat

NET TRACKERWEEKLY (FIRST NET RELEASED ON NOV. 26)

Nov. 26 199Dec. 3 184Dec. 10 --Dec. 17 --Dec. 24 --Dec. 31 --Jan. 7 --Jan. 14 --Jan. 21 --Jan. 28 --Feb. 4 --Feb. 11 --Feb. 18 --Feb. 25 --Mar. 4 --

OPPONENTS IN TOP 100

PREVIOUSLY PLAYED

TO BE PLAYEDNevada 10Texas 67San Diego 46

UNIFORM WATCH

PURPLE0-0

BLACK0-2

WHITE4-1

GRAY1-0

Home 0-0Away 0-0

Neutral 0-0

Home 0-0Away 0-1

Neutral 0-1

Home 3-0Away 0-0

Neutral 1-1

Home 1-0Away 0-0

Neutral 0-0

BY MONTHMonth PPG Opp. PPG Margin FG% Opp. FG% 3P% Opp. 3P% RPG APG

November 79.7 69.1 +10.6 .453 .427 .301 .331 38.3 14.4

December 69.0 67.0 +2.0 .481 .540 .304 .400 29.0 10.0

January

February

March

TOTALS 78.4 68.9 +9.5 .456 .440 .301 .338 37.1 13.9

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COLLEGE INSIDER MID-MAJOR TOP 25Rk. Team Record Points Previous Conference 1. Gonzaga (31) 8-0 775 1 West Coast 2. Buffalo 7-0 743 2 Mid-American 3. Furman 8-0 670 4 Southern 4. Belmont 6-1 603 3 Ohio Valley 5. Wofford 6-2 592 7 Southern 6. UNC Greensboro 7-2 584 5 Southern 7. Lipscomb 6-1 557 8 Atlantic Sun 8. South Dakota State 7-2 521 10 Summit 9. Toledo 7-1 492 16 Mid-American 10. Loyola Chicgao 5-3 468 9 Missouri Valley 11. Loyola Marymount 8-1 426 14 West Coast 12. Murray State 4-1 398 11 Ohio Valley 13. Charleston 7-2 305 24 Colonial 14. Stony Brook 7-1 297 25 America East 15. BYU 5-4 263 6 West Coast 16. Radford 6-1 261 NR Big South 17. Montana 4-2 244 13 Big Sky 18. UC Irvine 7-2 232 17 Big West 19. Louisiana 5-3 209 23 Sun Belt 20. Illinois State 6-3 197 19 Missouri Valley 21. Georgia Southern 5-2 181 12 Sun Belt 22. San Francisco 7-1 123 21 West Coast 23. Northern Kentucky 8-1 92 NR Horizon 24. Liberty 7-1 80 NR Atlantic Sun 25. New Mexico State 6-1 77 NR Western Athletic

UPDATED: Dec. 3, 2018

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Saint Mary’s 76, Kent State 75, Georgia State 60, Southern Illi-nois 52, Northeastern 48, Penn 47, Bradley 46, Yale 45, Harvard 38, Samford 37, San Diego 30, Vermont 25, Indiana State 20, Ball State 14, Rider 14, Eastern Michigan 13, Stephen F. Austin 8, Howard 8, Weber State 5, Wright State 5, Green Bay 4, Texas State 3, UC Santa Barbara 3, Drake 2, Seattle 2, Abilene Christian 1, Northern Colorado 1, Ohio 1, Umass Lowell 1.

AP TOP 25 POLLRk. Team Record Points Previous Conference 1 Gonzaga (43) 8-0 1,578 1 West Coast 2 Kansas (19) 6-0 1,539 2 Big 12 3 Duke (1) 7-1 1,463 3 ACC 4 Virginia (1) 7-0 1,367 4 ACC 5 Michigan 8-0 1,339 7 Big 10 6 Nevada 8-0 1,300 5 Mountain West 7 Tennessee 6-1 1,238 6 SEC 8 Auburn 6-1 1,154 8 SEC 9 Kentucky 7-1 1,070 10 SEC 10 Michigan State 6-2 915 9 Big 10 11 Florida State 6-1 871 15 ACC 12 Wisconsin 7-1 809 22 Big 10 13 Texas Tech 7-0 783 20 Big 12 14 North Carolina 6-2 782 11 ACC 15 Virginia Tech 6-1 675 13 ACC 16 Kansas State 6-1 629 12 Big 12 17 Buffalo 7-0 515 21 Mid-American 18 Iowa 6-1 417 14 Big 10 19 Ohio State 7-1 385 16 Big 10 20 Arizona State 7-0 384 NR PAC 12 21 Villanova 6-2 356 23 Big East 22 Mississippi State 6-1 243 25 SEC 23 Maryland 7-1 204 24 Big 10 24 Nebraska 7-1 176 NR Big 10 25 Furman 8-0 101 NR Southern

UPDATED: Dec. 3, 2018

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Purdue 100, Syracuse 62, Marquette 47, Iowa State 46, Texas 44, Creighton 42, St. John’s 39, Houston 30, North Carolina State 14, Indiana 13, Arizona 12, Louis-ville 11, Clemson 11, Radford 9, TCU 9, Notre Dame 3, Arkansas 3, Oregon 3, UCLA 3, Florida 2, Boston College 2, Davidson 1, Oklahoma 1.

TOP-25 POLLS

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#LOPESUP

LOPES IN THE PROS

ON THIS DATE

DECEMBER

9Grand Canyon defeated Grambling State 87-53 in GCU Arena on this date last season.

The win was GCU’s sixth win of the year and the second in the month of December.Four Lopes scored in double figures including Keonta Vernon (19), Josh Braun (13), Matt Jackson (12) and Shaw Carr (11). 12 different GCU players scored in the contest with seven making shots from beyond the arc.Forward Keonta Vernon led all scorers with 19 points and pulled down a six rebounds.

DeWAYNE RUSSELL KEONTA VERNON CASEY BENSON

HAKRO Merlins Crailsheim (Germany)At GCU: 2014-17

Toulouse Basket Club (France)At GCU: 2015-18

KD Hopsi Polzela (Slovenia)At GCU: 2017-18

This week: Had 12 points on 4-for-5 shooting in 30 minutes of action with three assists and three steals on Nov. 24.

This year: Has started two of his team’s seven games and averages 7.6 points on 46.2 percent shooting. He’s picking up 2.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.

This week: Had an off shooting night, going 2 for 9 from the field on Nov. 24, but collected seven rebounds.

This year: Is averaging 9.0 points and 5.9 rebounds in eight games of action this year at 24.9 minutes per game.

This week: Had six points, four rebounds and four assists at Sixt Primorska on Nov. 25.This year: Averaging 8.0 points and 3.4 rebounds in seven games played. Is averaging 3.9 assists compared to just 1.6 turnovers.

GRANDY GLAZE DANIEL ALEXANDER

Sudbury Five (Canada)At GCU: 2015-16

BC LF Lulea (Sweden)At GCU: 2013-15

This week: Scored 14 points to go along with six boards in a 116-112 win on Dec. 1.This year: Leads the National Basketball League of Canada in rebounds per game at 11.6. Is also scoring 11.2 points per game whil shooting 58.5 percent from the field.

This week: --This year: Is second on the team in scoring (12.4 points per game) and leads the club in rebounding at 6.1 rebounds per game through nine games this season.

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#LOPESUP

NOTES

SPECIALTY STATS

OpponentPaint Off Turnovers 2nd Chance Fast Break Bench

GCU OPP GCU OPP GCU OPP GCU OPP GCU OPP

at South Dakota State 24 38 9 4 8 18 6 0 12 2

vs. Delaware State 54 10 29 11 18 9 25 2 25 12

vs. Jacksonville 38 28 16 12 17 7 7 11 37 22

vs. Arkansas State 46 38 12 16 13 8 11 15 36 11

vs. Seton Hall 24 34 14 12 7 6 0 6 31 14

vs. Utah 18 20 15 16 6 11 0 0 16 18

vs. La Salle 38 24 12 11 6 18 4 0 43 12

vs. Boise State 28 38 14 11 12 9 3 13 39 13

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#LOPESUP

GCU Arena has provided the Lopes a definitive home-court advantage since opening its doors before the 2011-12 basketball season. With a seating capacity of 7,000 and a prime location on campus, the venue is regularly packed to the rafters with students and fans, providing an electric atmosphere ripe for success.

During the past seven seasons, the GCU men’s team has been dominant in the arena, posting an overall record of 104-22, including a pair of 15-1 seasons before starting the transition to Division I. The Lopes’ record playing a regular complement of Divi-sion I guests has been impressive as well, as GCU owns a 74-19 mark since 2013-14. The success on the court helped GCU to a pair of postseason tournament appear-ances in its first two years transitioning to the NCAA’s highest level.

With a push from the Havocs, a packed house is becoming a regular occurrence and has led to an incredible rise in attendance for the men’s team in the first four years since the GCU Arena opened. Home attendance has more than doubled since the arrival of the arena, with a per-game average of nearly 5,500 fans coming through the doors last year.

Student-athletes love the atmosphere while also enjoying first-class amenities. The facilities on the GCU campus are among the best in the conference and feature ev-erything student-athletes need to be successful right at their fingertips. From an on-site medical facility to the strength and conditioning area and locker room with a players’ lounge and study area, the Lopes have all the comforts of home just a short walk from student housing.

The facility originally broke ground in the summer of 2010 and was completed be-fore the start of the following basketball season. It is owned and operated by the university.

TO

P 1

0 C

RO

WD

S 7,521 Jan. 11, 2018 vs. New Mexico State7,502 Feb. 25, 2017 vs. UMKC7,493 Dec. 3, 2016 vs. Louisville7,479 Feb. 11, 2017 vs. New Mexico State7,413 Jan. 9, 2016 vs. New Mexico State7,412 Dec. 30, 2014 vs. Harvard7,397 Nov. 25, 2017 vs. San Diego7,394 Nov. 18, 2017 vs. Little Rock7,376 Feb. 24, 2017 vs. Chicago State7,320 Jan. 21, 2017 vs. Seattle U

THE HAVOCS

The Havocs are some of the most dedicated and rowdy fans in all of collegiate sports. Over 3,000 students strong, they turn GCU athletic venues into some of the rowdiest and hostile environ-ments in all of college sports. They use their unified group to help the community and volunteer with various non-profits and charitable organizations.

Known for their constant energy, support and pride, the Havocs support and en-courage all GCU athletic teams, promote school spirit and build Lope pride and tra-dition – while upholding the four pillars and values of GCU. With positive sportsman-ship and respect in mind, Havocs create an energetic environment for our fans and an intimidating atmosphere for opponents.WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

GCU ARENA

In college basketball, in my 40-plus years, this was the toughest crowd I’ve ever faced. Awesome... You’ve got something special here. Really special. Rick Pitino“Before every home game, scores of fans dance together in coordinated routines under strobe lights as techno music blasts throughout the building ... It’s a Miami nightclub in the desert. Myron Medcalf, ESPN.com

“The Havocs are the biggest party in college basketball.

SB Nation“GCU created college basketball’s rowdiest secret with stunning quickness ... home to possibly the best student section in college basketball. Andrew Joseph, USA Today“I can’t remember a more electric pregame atmosphere ... I’d hate to be a visiting player here.

Vince Marotta, Arizona Sports 98.7 FM“

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SCHEDULE: BY THE NUMBERS

10,721 Approximate number of miles set to be traveled this season

7 Number of games vs. opponents in 2017-18 RPI Top-100

16 Number of conference games - most since 2013-14

6 Opponents that participated in NCAA Tournament in 2017-18*

.520 2017-18 winning percentage of nonconference opponents

4 Neutral games in the Wooden Legacy and Colangelo Classic

* includes California Baptist (Division II), others TBA based on Wooden Legacy matchups

OVERALLTotal Games 31 Nonconference 14 Conference 16 Exhibition 1

BY LOCATION Home 14 Away 12 Neutral 4

BY MONTH November 7 December 6 January 7 February 7 March 3

BY STATE Arizona 15 California 6 Texas 2 Illinois 1 Iowa 1 Missouri 1 New Mexico 1 South Dakota 1 Utah 1 Washington 1

CONFERENCE Western Athletic 16 Mountain West 2 Atlantic Sun 1 Big 12 1 Big East 1 MEAC 1 Missouri Valley 1 Summit 1 Sun Belt 1 SWAC 1 West Coast 1

WHERE ARE THE LOPES?

LOPES ON THE ROAD RETURNS

Introduced to Grand Canyon fans three years ago, Lopes on the Road is back with more events in more cities than ever before.As part of a successful first three years, many GCU alumni, students, faculty and fans had the chance to cheer on the Lopes at multiple men’s basketball games. The events featured pregame tailgates and reception, allowing opportunities for attendees to meet and mingle with fellow Lopes. This year, Lopes on the Road will showcase four sports in 11 cities across the nation. Each registered attend-ee receives a complimentary ticket, concessions stand voucher and free GCU swag at check-in. To register, visit GCULopes.com/LopesOnTheRoad.

2018-19 SCHEDULEDate Sport Opponent LocationSunday, Sep. 23 Soccer (M) Incarnate Word San Antonio, TexasFriday, Oct. 5 Soccer (M) San José State San José, Calif.Sunday, Oct. 7 Soccer (M) Seattle U Seattle, Wash.Sunday, Dec. 2 Basketball (W) UC SB Santa Barbara, Calif.Saturday, Dec. 15 Basketball (M) Texas Austin, TexasSaturday, Dec. 29 Basketball (M) San Diego San Diego, Calif.Thursday, Jan. 10 Basketball (M) New Mexico State Las Cruces, N.M.Saturday, Jan. 26 Basketball (M) California Baptist Riverside, Calif.Thursday, Feb. 14 Basketball (M) Kansas City Kansas City, Mo.Saturday, Feb. 16 Basketball (M) Chicago State Chicago, Ill.Saturday, Ma 9 Basketball (M) Seattle U Seattle, Wash.Tuesday, April 23 Baseball Arizona Tucson, Ariz.

SCHEDULE NOTES

SOUTH DAKOTA STATEBrookings, S.D.

TEXASAustin, Texas

CHICAGO STATEChicago, Ill.

HOME GAMESPhoenix, Ariz.

This sign denotes an officialLopes on the Road gameFor more information, visitGCULopes.com/ LopesOnTheRoad

ROAD GAMES

SEATTLE USeattle, Wash.

UTAH VALLEYOrem, Utah

KANSAS CITYKansas City, Mo.

NORTHERN IOWACedar Falls, Iowa

CALIFORNIA BAPTISTRiverside, Calif.

SAN DIEGOSan Diego, Calif.

UTRGVEdinburg, Texas

CSU BAKERS-FIELDBakersfield, Calif.

NM STATELas Cruces, N.M.

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HEAD COACH DAN MAJERLE

THE MAJERLE FILE

HEAD COACH Sixth Season at Grand Canyon Alma Mater: Central Michigan, ‘88Coaching Overall ConferenceRecord W L W L 2018-19 - GCU 5 3 0 02017-18 - GCU 22 12 9 5 2016-17 - GCU 22 9 11 32015-16 - GCU 27 7 11 32014-15 - GCU 17 15 8 62013-14 - GCU 15 15 10 6 Career Totals 108 61 49 23

COACHING LEDGER2013-18 ....................... Grand Canyon (Head Coach)2008-13 ................ Phoenix Suns (Assistant Coach)

MILESTONE VICTORIES1st .................. Western New Mexico (Nov. 16, 2013)25th ....................... CSU Bakersfield (Jan. 10, 2015)50th .............................. Kansas City (Jan. 23, 2016)100th ............................. Utah Valley (Feb. 24, 2018)

1st road win .............CSU Bakersfield (Jan. 9, 2014)1st D-1 win ............... Savannah State (Nov. 22, 2013)1st postseason win ...S.C. State (CIT, March 14, 2016)1st WAC win ...... Texas-Pan American (Jan. 2, 2014)

NOTES

Dan Majerle, a former NBA All-Star and Olympian, enters his sixth season at the helm of GCU men’s basketball in 2018-19 after taking over the program on March 18, 2013, as the 13th head coach in Lopes history.It has been quite an impressive run in the Valley for the former Phoenix Suns star, broadcaster and assistant coach. In five years at GCU, Majerle has amassed 103 wins and four postseason berths on the sideline. His teams have posted the 22nd-best winning percentage (.717) in Division I over the past three seasons. In 2017-18, the Lopes came within one win of a NCAA tournament berth in their first season of full Division I postseason eligibility.Majerle has made his mark with teams that have won at least 22 games in each of the past three seasons and five top-three finishes in the WAC. Majerle also has attracted many high-profile opponents during his tenure, including Kentucky, Duke, Arizona, Nevada and a home-and-home series with Louisville.Behind Majerle’s presence and a rising team, GCU Arena has been among the fullest venues in college basketball in recent years. In 2017-18, GCU ranked 14th in Division I for attendance capacity percentage (99.6) and led the WAC with 6.973 fans per game. The average attendance has increased every season as a Division I program, including a spike of 3,343 fans for Majerle’s first season -- a 325 percent bump from the previous season. In 2016-17, GCU ranked in the top 10 for attendance among schools with less than a 10,000-seat capacity. Majerle completed his first year at GCU in 2013-14 by being named a finalist for the Joe B. Hall Award, which is given to the most outstanding first-year Division I head coach. He had guided the team to a 15-15 record in its first year of reclassification to Division I. The Lopes, tabbed to finish eighth in the WAC, used a 10-6 conference mark to claim third place. GCU also received a bid to its first Division I postseason tourney, the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.Before starting his tenure at GCU, Majerle spent five seasons (2008-13) as an assistant coach and four years as a broadcast analyst (2002-06) with the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. “Thunder Dan” is one of the most popular figures in Suns history, having been inducted into the Suns Ring of Honor in 2003 for his eight playing seasons (1988-95, 2001-02) with Phoenix.Majerle played 14 seasons in the NBA and averaged 11.4 points over 955 career games. He made three All-Star appearances and was named to the 1990-91 and 1992-93 All-Defensive second team. He led the league in 3-pointers made (192) in 1993-94.Majerle, the 14th overall selection in the 1988 NBA Draft by the Suns, was runner-up by one vote to the Indiana Pacers’ Detlef Schrempf for the NBA Sixth Man

Award in 1990-91, when he averaged 13.6 points and 5.4 rebounds. He averaged a career-best 17.3 points during the 1991-92 season, his first All-Star season.Majerle made his second consecutive trip to the All-Star Game in 1992-93, also a NBA Finals season for Phoenix, and finished tied for the league lead in 3-pointers with 167. He set a Suns record with eight 3-pointers made on Jan. 30, 1993, and did it again in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals against Seattle.Following the 1993-94 season, Majerle was named to Dream Team II, the U.S. squad that won gold at the 1994 World Championship in Ontario, Canada. This was Majerle’s second time representing his country. Before his NBA rookie season, he was part of the U.S. team that won the bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, where he played for coaching great John Thompson. That same year, he was named the Olympic Athlete of the Year.He was chosen as a starter for his third All-Star Game in 1994-95 after averaging 17.4 points in the first half of the season, becoming the first reserve to be voted as an All-Star starter since fan balloting began in 1975.Majerle, originally from Traverse City, Mich., played collegiately at Central Michigan, where he averaged more than 20 points in three of his four seasons and was an All-Mid-American Conference selection each year. During his senior season, he averaged 23.7 points and 10.8 rebounds while hitting 52.2 percent from the field. He completed his career at CMU ranked second for career points, steals and field goal percentage.Since 2003, the Suns have handed out the Dan Majerle Hustle Award to the player who most personifies the hustle and determination displayed by Majerle in his playing career.

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RECORD: OVERALL HOME AWAY NEUTRAL

2018-19 Grand Canyon BasketballGrand Canyon Combined Team Statistics (as of Nov 27, 2018)

All Games

All Games 3-0 0-1 1-24-3Conference 0-0 0-0 0-00-0Non-conference 3-0 0-1 1-24-3

## Player gp-gs min avg fg-fga fg% 3fg-fga 3fg% ft-fta ft% off def tot avg pf dq a to blk stl pts avgTotal 3-Point F-Throw Rebounds

25 Alessandro Lever 7-7 171 24.4 34-62 .548 7-16 .438 26-35 .743 8 28 36 5.1 24 1 5 10 2 1 101 14.402 Trey Drechsel 7-7 174 24.9 26-53 .491 8-22 .364 13-18 .722 4 25 29 4.1 17 0 22 19 2 8 73 10.410 Damari Milstead 7-0 142 20.3 22-55 .400 3-12 .250 25-31 .806 4 11 15 2.1 10 0 22 9 0 9 72 10.323 Carlos Johnson 7-5 158 22.6 25-63 .397 3-22 .136 18-23 .783 13 16 29 4.1 19 0 7 17 2 4 71 10.143 Michael Finke 7-7 176 25.1 22-46 .478 7-21 .333 12-16 .750 15 24 39 5.6 10 0 8 5 0 0 63 9.004 Oscar Frayer 7-7 175 25.0 21-53 .396 7-28 .250 7-12 .583 11 21 32 4.6 17 0 13 11 8 3 56 8.024 Tim Finke 7-2 139 19.9 14-29 .483 6-13 .462 8-13 .615 7 24 31 4.4 13 1 10 4 1 2 42 6.042 Gerard Martin 7-0 110 15.7 10-17 .588 4-9 .444 8-9 .889 3 9 12 1.7 17 0 7 7 1 8 32 4.605 Matt Jackson 7-0 92 13.1 11-19 .579 2-5 .400 7-13 .538 8 10 18 2.6 10 0 5 4 2 3 31 4.412 Roberts Blumbergs 5-0 59 11.8 4-18 .222 2-14 .143 4-4 1.000 1 11 12 2.4 6 0 2 3 3 1 14 2.815 Raef Gerdes 1-0 2 2.0 0-1 .000 0-1 .000 1-2 .500 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1.035 Quinn Smith 1-0 2 2.0 0-1 .000 0-0 .000 0-0 .000 0 0 0 0.0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0TM TEAM 7 8 15 1 2

Grand Canyon 7 1399 189-417 .453 49-163 .301 129-176 .733 81 187 268 38.3 145 2 101 90 21 39 558 79.7Opponents 7 1399 164-384 .427 44-133 .331 112-167 .671 63 168 231 33.0 166 3 76 100 21 43 484 69.1

Team Statistics GCU OPPSCORING 558 484

Points per game 79.7 69.1Scoring margin +10.6 -

FIELD GOALS-ATT 189-417 164-384Field goal pct .453 .427

3 POINT FG-ATT 49-163 44-1333-point FG pct .301 .3313-pt FG made per game 7.0 6.3

FREE THROW-ATT 129-176 112-167Free throw pct .733 .671F-Throws made per game 18.4 16.0

REBOUNDS 268 231Rebounds per game 38.3 33.0Rebounding margin +5.3 -

ASSISTS 101 76Assists per game 14.4 10.9

TURNOVERS 90 100Turnovers per game 12.9 14.3Turnover margin +1.4 -Assist/turnover ratio 1.1 0.8

STEALS 39 43Steals per game 5.6 6.1

BLOCKS 21 21Blocks per game 3.0 3.0

Attendance 20815 6877Home game-Avg/Game 3-6938 1-1933Neutral site-Avg/game 3-1648

Date Opponent Att.Score11/08/18 at South Dakota State L 74-79 193311/10/18 DELAWARE STATE W 89-47 712211/12/18 JACKSONVILLE W 76-59 657211/16/18 ARKANSAS STATE W 96-72 712111/22/18 vs Seton Hall L 75-82 126611/23/18 vs Utah L 66-75 208911/25/18 vs La Salle W 82-70 1589

* Conference game

Score by periods 1st 2nd Total

Grand Canyon 257 301 558

Opponents 212 272 484

2018-19 OVERALL

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RECORD: OVERALL HOME AWAY NEUTRAL

Grand Canyon Combined Team StatisticsAll Games

All Games 16-3 3-7 3-222-12Conference 6-1 3-4 0-09-5Non-conference 10-2 0-3 3-213-7

## Player gp-gs min avg fg-fga fg% 3fg-fga 3fg% ft-fta ft% off def tot avg pf dq a to blk stl pts avgTotal 3-Point F-Throw Rebounds

25 Alessandro Lever 34-27 724 21.3 140-309 .453 26-81 .321 108-141 .766 42 107 149 4.4 90 3 40 59 14 12 414 12.202 Joshua Braun 34-34 999 29.4 118-317 .372 64-188 .340 89-120 .742 47 83 130 3.8 69 2 48 49 17 26 389 11.411 Casey Benson 34-34 994 29.2 97-258 .376 40-117 .342 96-126 .762 27 116 143 4.2 68 1 152 63 4 25 330 9.704 Oscar Frayer 33-28 873 26.5 121-251 .482 41-112 .366 35-64 .547 56 115 171 5.2 80 1 41 48 24 41 318 9.624 Keonta Vernon 34-34 781 23.0 125-242 .517 0-4 .000 62-111 .559 78 149 227 6.7 116 9 46 42 39 26 312 9.212 Roberts Blumbergs 33-7 437 13.2 56-152 .368 17-78 .218 41-55 .745 31 68 99 3.0 42 1 26 34 8 11 170 5.210 Damari Milstead 26-0 245 9.4 30-64 .469 10-19 .526 48-57 .842 3 16 19 0.7 21 0 28 28 2 11 118 4.500 Shaq Carr 18-2 286 15.9 27-53 .509 3-8 .375 22-24 .917 7 24 31 1.7 27 0 48 33 4 5 79 4.401 Fiifi Aidoo 32-4 393 12.3 46-115 .400 18-65 .277 14-19 .737 16 23 39 1.2 41 0 33 22 7 15 124 3.942 Gerard Martin 34-0 569 16.7 40-99 .404 19-64 .297 12-27 .444 18 78 96 2.8 64 2 45 29 6 19 111 3.305 Matt Jackson 32-0 420 13.1 39-99 .394 10-37 .270 14-23 .609 23 68 91 2.8 41 0 29 25 4 14 102 3.215 Cheick Sy-Savane 6-0 14 2.3 3-9 .333 3-5 .600 0-0 .000 1 0 1 0.2 4 0 0 1 0 0 9 1.513 Ibrahima Sankare 9-0 34 3.8 4-8 .500 0-0 .000 5-7 .714 2 6 8 0.9 4 0 1 3 1 5 13 1.421 Kerwin Smith 15-0 66 4.4 8-13 .615 0-0 .000 3-7 .429 7 11 18 1.2 14 0 3 7 4 1 19 1.322 Nehemiah Allen 5-0 11 2.2 1-2 .500 0-1 .000 1-2 .500 0 0 0 0.0 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.603 Parker Dale 3-0 4 1.3 0-1 .000 0-0 .000 1-2 .500 1 0 1 0.3 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0.3TM TEAM 46 41 87 2 6

Grand Canyon 34 6850 855-1992 .429 251-779 .322 551-785 .702 405 905 1310 38.5 687 18 540 450 134 211 2512 73.9Opponents 34 6850 767-1906 .402 161-580 .278 518-734 .706 359 879 1238 36.4 747 17 328 511 81 203 2213 65.1

Team Statistics GCU OPPSCORING 2512 2213

Points per game 73.9 65.1Scoring margin +8.8 -

FIELD GOALS-ATT 855-1992 767-1906Field goal pct .429 .402

3 POINT FG-ATT 251-779 161-5803-point FG pct .322 .2783-pt FG made per game 7.4 4.7

FREE THROW-ATT 551-785 518-734Free throw pct .702 .706F-Throws made per game 16.2 15.2

REBOUNDS 1310 1238Rebounds per game 38.5 36.4Rebounding margin +2.1 -

ASSISTS 540 328Assists per game 15.9 9.6

TURNOVERS 450 511Turnovers per game 13.2 15.0Turnover margin +1.8 -Assist/turnover ratio 1.2 0.6

STEALS 211 203Steals per game 6.2 6.0

BLOCKS 134 81Blocks per game 3.9 2.4

Attendance 132495 74716Home game-Avg/Game 19-6973 10-6120Neutral site-Avg/game 5-2703

Date Opponent Att.Score11/10/17 FLORIDA A&M W 67-51 720211/13/17 ROBERT MORRIS W 75-61 683311/18/17 LITTLE ROCK W 76-51 739411/20/17 NORFOLK STATE W 85-60 688911/25/17 UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO L 62-72 739712/02/17 UC RIVERSIDE W 68-56 684412/05/17 vs Saint John's (NY) L 60-68 890712/09/17 GRAMBLING STATE W 87-53 682912/11/17 NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY W 64-59 627612/13/17 at Boise State Lo2 80-85 462812/18/17 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE W 71-38 646412/21/17 LONGWOOD W 86-56 700612/23/17 at Louisville L 56-74 1684112/27/17 vs Morgan State W 100-74 154412/30/17 at Illinois L 58-62 1376201/06/18 at Seattle University W 73-57 2156*01/11/18 NEW MEXICO STATE L 59-70 7521*01/13/18 UT RIO GRANDE VALLEY W 84-71 7222*01/18/18 at Chicago State W 86-58 463*01/20/18 at UMKC W 86-69 1440*01/23/18 WILLIAM JESSUP W 96-80 695201/27/18 at Utah Valley L 56-68 4881*02/01/18 UMKC W 79-62 7005*02/03/18 CHICAGO STATE W 89-55 7244*02/08/18 at UT Rio Grande Valley L 81-83 1038*02/10/18 at New Mexico State L 70-74 12989*02/17/18 at CSU Bakersfield L 58-71 3002*02/22/18 SEATTLE UNIVERSITY W 76-64 6925*02/24/18 UTAH VALLEY W 60-59 7179*03/03/18 CSU BAKERSFIELD W 81-68 7372*03/08/18 vs UMKC W 77-7403/09/18 vs Utah Valley W 75-6003/10/18 vs New Mexico State L 58-72 306503/14/18 MERCER L 73-78 5941

* Conference game

2017-18 OVERALL

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INDIVIDUALScored 25 Points Alessandro Lever, 29, 3/8/18, vvs UMKC (WAC Quarterfinal) Scored 30 Points Alessandro Lever, 30, 2/22/18, vs Seattle Scored 35 Points DeWayne Russell, 42, 12/3/16, vs. LouisvilleScored 40 Points DeWayne Russell, 42, 12/3/16, vs. Louisville Two players had 20 points Lever (25) and Braun (22), 1/23/18, vs. William JessupTwo players had 25 points Glaze (29) and Magee (29), 12/13/15 vs. OmahaThree players had 20 points Never happened

Scored 20 points in two straight games Alessandro Lever (2), 3/3/18 - 3/8/18Scored 20 points in three straight games Alessandro Lever (3), 1/18/18 - 1/23/18Scored 20 points in four straight games Alessandro Lever(4), 1/18/18 - 1/27/18Scored 20 points in five straight games Never happenedScored 30 points in two straight games Never happened Scored double figures in 10 straight games DeWayne Russell (33), 3/1/16 - 3/4/17 Scored double figures in 15 straight games DeWayne Russell (33), 3/1/16 - 3/4/17 Scored double figures in 20 straight games DeWayne Russell (33), 3/1/16 - 3/4/17

Five players scored in double figures vs. Boise State (5), 12/1/18Six players scored in double figures vs. Arkansas State (6), 11/16/18Four players scored 15 or more points Never happened Double-double Alessandro Lever, 11/25/18, 17pts, 10reb, vs La Salle (Wooden) Double-double (points / assists) Casey Benson, 1/23/18, 12 pts, 10asts, vs William JessupDouble-double in two straight games Keonta Vernon, 1/11/18 - 1/13/18Double-double in three straight games Grandy Glaze (4), 2/6/16 – 2/18/16Double-double in four straight games Grandy Glaze (4), 2/6/16 – 2/18/16Two players with double-double Vernon (24p/15r) & Frayer (12p/12r), 1/28/17 at Chicago StateTriple-double Never happened

20 points, 10 rebounds Alessando Lever, 2/20/18, 30 pts, 10reb, vs. Seattle U20 points, 10 assists DeWayne Russell, 21pts, 11 ast, 1/7/17 vs. Utah Valley

Made 10 FG in a game Alessandro Lever (10), 1/23/18 vs. William JessupMade 12 FG in a game DeWayne Russell (14), 12/3/16, vs. LouisvilleMade 15 FG in a game Never happened

Attempted 15 FG in a game Trey Drechsel (16) 11/6/18, at South Dakota State Attempted 17 FG in a game Alessandro Lever (19) 3/8/18, vs. UMKC (WAC Quarter) Attempted 20 FG in a game Joshua Braun (21) 2/23/17, vs. Chicago State

Made five 3-pointers in a game Casey Benson (5) 2/8/18, at UTRGVMade six 3-pointers in a game Joshua Braun (9) 2/23/17, vs. Chicago StateMade seven 3-pointers in a game Joshua Braun (9) 2/23/17, vs. Chicago StateMade eight 3-pointers in a game Joshua Braun (9) 2/23/17, vs. Chicago StateMade nine 3-pointers in a game Joshua Braun (9) 2/23/17, vs. Chicago StateAttempted 10 3-pointers in a game Joshua Braun (11) 2/10/18, at New Mexico StateAttempted 12 3-pointers in a game Joshua Braun (19) 2/23/17, vs. Chicago State

Made a 3-pointer in 10 straight games Josh Braun (21), 1/7/17 – 11/25/17Made a 3-pointer in 15 straight games Josh Braun (21), 1/7/17 – 11/25/17Made a 3-pointer in 20 straight games Josh Braun (21), 1/7/17 – 11/25/17

Made 10 free throws Alessandro Lever (10), 3/8/18, vs UMKC (WAC Quarter)Made 15 free throws in a game Josh Braun (17), 1/16/16 vs. Utah ValleyMade 16 free throws Josh Braun (17), 1/16/16 vs. Utah ValleyMade 17 free throws Josh Braun (17), 1/16/16 vs. Utah ValleyAttempted 15 free throws Alessandro Lever (17), 3/8/18, vs UMKC (WAC Quarter) Attempted 18 free throws Josh Braun (19), 1/16/16 vs. Utah ValleyAttempted 19 free throws Josh Braun (19), 1/16/16 vs. Utah ValleyAttempted 20 free throws Jerome Garrison (20), 1/23/14 vs. Idaho

12 rebounds Oscar Frayer (15), 3/8/18 vs UMKC (WAC Quarterfinal) 13 rebounds Oscar Frayer (15), 3/8/18 vs UMKC (WAC Quarterfinal) 14 rebounds Oscar Frayer (15), 3/8/18 vs UMKC (WAC Quarterfinal) 15 rebounds Oscar Frayer (15), 3/8/18 vs UMKC (WAC Quarterfinal) 16 rebounds Killian Larson (20), 2/22/14 at Idaho20 rebounds Killian Larson (20), 2/22/14 at Idaho

10+ rebounds in two straight games Keonta Vernon (2), 1/11/18 – 1/13/1810+ rebounds in three straight games Grandy Glaze (3), 3/14/16 – 3/23/1610+ rebounds in four straight games Grandy Glaze (4), 2/6/16 – 2/18/16Two players had 10 rebounds Vernon (15) & Frayer (12), 1/28/17 at Chicago StateThree players had 10 rebounds Never happened

6 assists Trey Dreschel (6), 11/10/18, vs Delaware State7 assists Casey Benson (7), 3/14/18, vs Mercer (CBI)8 assists Casey Benson (8), 12/9/17, vs. Grambling St.9 assists Casey Benson (9), 1/20/18, at UMKC10 assists Casey Benson (10), 1/23/18, vs. William Jessup 11 assists DeWayne Russell (11), 1/7/17, vs. Utah Valley12 assists DeWayne Russell (12), 12/13/15 vs. Nebraska-Omaha

4 blocks Oscar Frayer (4), 1/23/18 vs William Jessup 5 blocks Daniel Alexander (5), 2/8/14 vs. CSU Bakersfield6 blocks Never happened

4 steals Damari Milstead (5), 11/16/18, vs. Arkansas State5 steals Damari Milstead (5), 11/16/18, vs. Arkansas State6 steals Gerard Martin (7), 11/28/16, vs. SIUE

Played every minute DeWayne Russell / Josh Braun (40), 3/4/17 at CSU BakersfieldFouled out Tim Finke & A. Lever 11/23/18 vs Utah (Wooden) Two players fouled out Tim Finke & Alessandro Lever 11/23/18 vs Utah (Wooden)

LAST TIME...

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Scored 90+ points vs. Arkansas State (96), 11/16/18Scored 90+ points (WAC) at Chicago State (90), 1/21/16Scored 100+ points vs. Morgan State (100), 12/23/17Scored 100+ points (WAC) Never happened Scored 110+ points Never happenedScored 110+ points (WAC) Never happened

Scored less than 50 points at Kentucky (45), 11/14/14Scored less than 50 points (WAC) Never happened

Allowed 90+ points vs. Nebraska-Omaha (108), 12/13/15Allowed 90+ points (WAC) Never happenedAllowed 100+ points vs. Nebraska-Omaha (108), 12/13/15Allowed 100+ points (WAC) Never happened

Shot 60% from the field vs. William Jessup (65.4%), 1/23/18Shot 65% from the field vs. William Jessup (65.4%), 1/23/18Shot 70% from the field Never happenedShot less than 30% from the field at CSU Bakersfield (28.8%), 3/4/17

Allowed 60% shooting Never happenedAllowed 65% shooting Never happenedAllowed 30% or less shooting vs Delaware State (27.8%), 11/10/18Allowed 25% or less shooting vs. Coppin St. (24.5%), 11/25/16 Shot 90%+ from FT line (min. 10 FTA) vs. Seattle (90.5%, 19-for-21), 2/2/18Shot 100% from FT line (min. 10 FTA) vs. N. Arizona (100%, 11-for-11), 3/28/15Shot 50% or less from FT line (min. 10 FTA) at Louisville (50%, 6-for-12), 12/23/17

Attempted 40 free throws vs. Nebraska-Omaha (40), 12/13/15Attempted five or less free throws vs. Jackson State (5), 3/17/16Made 30 free throws vs. Nebraska-Omaha (31), 12/13/15

Made 10 3-pointers vs. Seton Hall (11), 11/22/18Made 12 3-pointers vs. Morgan State (13), 12/27/17Made 15 3-pointers Never happenedMade 16 3-pointers Never happenedMade 17 3-pointers Never happened

Scored 90+ points in consecutive games Never happened Scored 90+ points in three consecutive games Never happenedScored 100+ points in consecutive games Never happened Won game by 30 points or more vs. Delaware State (42), 11/10/18Won game by 35 points or more vs. Delaware State (42), 11/10/18Won game by 40 points or more vs. Delaware State (42), 11/10/18Won game by 45 points or more vs. Western New Mexico (50), 11/16/13Won game by 50 points or more vs. Western New Mexico (50), 11/16/13Lost game by 30 points or more at Duke (35), 11/12/16Lost game by 40 points or more at Louisville (48), 12/5/15

Won game decided by one point vs Utah Valley (W 60-59), 2/24/17Lost game decided by one point vs. Chicago State (L 56-55), 1/31/15Two consecutive games decided by one point Never happened Two consecutive games decided by five points or less 2 games, 2/22/18 - 2/24/18Three consecutive games decided by five points or less 3 games, 1/31/15 – 2/7/15

Came back from 15-point deficit vs UMKC (WAC Quarterfinal) (16), 3/8/18Came back from 18-point deficit at UTRGV (19), 2/6/16Came back from 20-point deficit vs. CSU Bakersfield (20), 2/8/14

Pulled down 45 rebounds vs. Jacksonville (52), 11/12/18Pulled down 50 rebounds vs. Jacksonville (52), 11/12/18Pulled down 55 rebounds Never happened

Back-to-back 50 rebound games vs. Delaware State and Jacksonville 11/10-12/18

Out-rebounded opponent by 15+ vs. Jacksonville (+27), 11/12/18Out-rebounded opponent by 20+ vs. Jacksonville (+27), 11/12/18Out-rebounded opponent by 25+ vs. Jacksonville (+27), 11/12/18

Won an overtime game at Chicago State (2OT), 1/28/17Lost an overtime game at Boise State (2OT), 12/13/17Won an overtime game (WAC) at Chicago State (2OT), 1/28/17Lost an overtime game (WAC) Never happenedPlayed two overtimes at Boise State (2OT), 12/13/17Played consecutive overtime games Never happened

Committed 20+ turnovers at Louisville (21), 12/23/17Committed less than 10 turnovers vs Mercer (CBI) (8), 3/14/18Committed less than 8 turnovers at South Dakota State (6), 11/6/18Committed less than 5 turnovers vs. New Mexico State (4), 1/9/16

Scored 40+ in a half vs. La Salle (51, 2nd), 11/25/18Scored 45+ in a half vs. La Salle (51, 2nd), 11/25/18Scored 50+ in a half vs. La Salle (51, 2nd), 11/25/18

TEAM

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7974

RAPID RECAP:South Dakota State extended the nation’s longest active home winning streak to 21 games by defeat-ing the Lopes 79-74 in each team’s regular-season opener at Frost Arena.

The Lopes led by as much as six points in the first half, tested the Jackrabbits to within two for the first half and fell behind by 13 points with 5:15 remaining in the game.

The Lopes had a late 9-0 run to pull within four with 3:35 to play when Johnson made free throws for two of his GCU debut’s 17 points, all coming in the second half.

Jackrabbits sophomore guard David Jenkins hit back-to-back contested 3-pointers but GCU stayed alive with a 3-point play from sophomore center Alessandro Lever, limited to nine points after first-half foul trouble, and a Tim Finke backcourt steal that set up a Gerard Martin layup cutting the deficit to three (75-72) with 25.8 seconds remaining.

After GCU nearly pressed South Dakota State into a backcourt turnover, Jackrabbits guard David Jenkins made two free throws with 18.3 seconds to go and the Lopes never got a chance to tie in the final seconds.

Drechsel, a graduate transfer from Western Washington, moved into the starting lineup for his Division I debut and showed no nerves on the road with a team-high 17 points.

The starters induced six turnovers in the first seven minutes to build a lead that extended to 20-14 when Martin hit a 3-pointer with 11:10 remaining in the half. But GCU went scoreless for four minutes and fouled often, only to be saved by South Dakota State’s poor free throw shooting (9 for 16).

Daum and Jenkins, last year’s Summit League Freshman of the Year, expectedly led South Dakota in scoring but a surprise starter, freshman Matt Detlinger, hurt GCU by adding nine first-half points. Daum finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds while Jenkins scored a game-high 31.

DAN MAJERLE POSTGAME QUOTES:(opening statement) “Obviously we are disappointed with the loss but this is a great test for our team. Coming here to a really good team that doesn’t lose on this floor and is very well coached. With the players they have, (Mike) Daum and Jenkins, it was a mighty test for us. I’m disappointed but I’m encouraged with my team. I have some new guys that I got a first look at in a regular season game. We have a lot of work to do but I think we are going to be pretty good. This was just a good college basketball game. We hung in there, they dominated us on the boards, they were more aggressive taking it to the basket. We relied on the three a little too much, but we are a very good shooting team. We didn’t show it tonight. 34 threes are probably a little too many, but we can shoot it and we have throughout all of our practices and our exhibition games. I’m not going to sit up here and say it was too many three’s because we’ve been knocking them down. We just have to have a good mixture of taking the ball to the basket. The second half we were a little bit more aggressive. This was a good first test, I’m disappointed we lost but that’s a good team.”

(on if it was a pick your poison kind of thing with Mike Daum and David Jenkins) “We knew we had to deal with it, we were switching and Jenkins did a good job of driving our bigs which we knew he would do. Daum is just an unbelievable player, he had 20 points on 20 shots, but I think we did a pretty good job on that. Jenkins hurt us. (Tevin) King, the point guard did a fantastic job on the boards having 12. 32, (Matt) Dentlinger to come in and get 11 points for a freshman. They have a good team. We knew that coming in and our guys are disappointed, they wanted to live up to the challenge and we just fell short. It’s a good learning lesson for our team and we will get stronger from it.”

(on the guys still pushing when they were down 13 late) “I think our guys are learning. Carlos (Johnson) is brand new, had a terrible first half, kind of figured it out in the second half. Alé is a really good player, he was kind of non-existent in that first half, kind of got into some foul trouble. It’s going to be a whole different year for because he kind of snuck up on people last year and now he’s picked to be the Player of the Year as a sophomore and everyone is going to be gunning at him. He will figure it out, he’s a hard worker. I thought Michael Finke played well at the beginning, kind of got lost there at the end but I’m excited to have him. Oscar got hurt but he got to fly around a bit. We have a lot to work on but I’m excited about my team.”

(on the energy in the arena and the challenges) “I come from Grand Canyon and the energy in our building is unbelievable so that doesn’t faze us at all. This is obviously a very nice place to play but we get 7500 standing room only that just go bonkers. I told our guys that this is a great challenge. A couple of years ago we went to San Diego State and beat a rowdy crowd there that never loses. This is a challenge that you look at down the road and this is what you play basketball for. Against good teams on the road, 20 game winning streak, win the Summit, all of that stuff. You look forward to that kind of stuff and that’s why I thought it was a great test. Crowds don’t faze our guys because we sell out exhibition games, midnight madness, so our guys understand that and enjoy it and it’s part of basketball but this is a fun place. They do a great job and the coach does and unbelievable job and I was glad we got to play it.”

(on Trey Dreschel having confidence) “He came from a good program and he’s worked hard. His challenge is the point guard position. He’s been a two guard and he’s done a good job at that. He’s one of those guys who kind of second guessed. If they’re going under he should just jump up and shoot it and make it. He did a good job in the post. That’s another guy like Carlos who is just going to learn. I really feel he’s just going to get better and better as the season goes on and this is just the first game I’ve had with those guys. It’s my job as a coach to learn from this team and come WAC season, be playing at all cylinders and that’s about Carlos and Michael and Trey, those guys.”

(on being outrebounded by 13 by a smaller team) “That was one of our concerns, we have really good size but are we tough enough to rebound and guarding the basketball? We got absolutely kicked on the boards. That’s a big concern we’ve had, our bigs have to get tougher. We’re big but we are not very athletic. Carlos is athletic, Oscar is athletic, Trey is a big guard, so those guys can rebound but Michael and Alé are big but they’re not very athletic, so they have to find a way to box out and rebound a little bit outside of their space but just be stronger and get some rebounds. We did a really bad job of that. Matt Jackson and Roberts Blumbergs, both those guys are more finesse bigs so those guys have to find a way to get a lot tougher or we are going to continue to struggle on the boards.”

Official Box Score -- Game Totals -- Final StatisticsGrand Canyon vs. South Dakota State11/8/2018 11:52 a.m. at Brookings, S.D. (Frost Arena)

## Player FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA Off Def Tot PF TP A TO Blk Stl MinTotal 3-Ptr ReboundsGrand Canyon 74 (0-1)

25 Alessandro Lever F 3-7 0-2 3-3 1 2 3 3 9 0 0 0 0 2443 Michael Finke F 4-9 2-6 0-0 1 3 4 1 10 0 0 0 0 2602 Trey Drechsel G 6-16 4-9 1-2 0 3 3 1 17 4 2 0 2 3204 Oscar Frayer G 2-8 1-4 4-5 4 4 8 3 9 0 2 3 1 3123 Carlos Johnson G 5-12 1-4 6-6 3 2 5 2 17 0 1 0 1 2305 Matt Jackson 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 3 0 0 0 1 1 1311 Damari Milstead 2-8 0-3 1-2 0 1 1 0 5 0 0 0 1 812 Roberts Blumbergs 0-5 0-5 0-0 0 4 4 2 0 1 0 0 1 1324 Tim Finke 0-1 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 2 0 3 1 0 1 1142 Gerard Martin 2-4 1-1 2-2 1 1 2 4 7 0 0 0 1 19

TEAM 1 0 1Totals 24-70 9-34 17-20 13 22 35 21 74 8 6 4 9 200

FG %3FG %

FT %

1st Half: 12-371st Half: 6-191st Half: 6-6

32.4%31.6%100.0%

2nd Half: 12-332nd Half: 3-152nd Half: 11-14

36.4%20.0%78.6%

Game: 24-70Game: 9-34Game: 17-20

34.3%26.5%85.0%

DeadballRebounds

2

## Player FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA Off Def Tot PF TP A TO Blk Stl MinTotal 3-Ptr ReboundsSouth Dakota State 79 (1-0)

24 Mike Daum F 9-20 1-3 1-3 6 7 13 2 20 4 1 0 1 3932 Matt Dentlinger F 4-5 0-0 3-6 3 4 7 3 11 0 2 0 0 3601 Skyler Flatten G 3-8 2-5 1-2 0 4 4 3 9 1 1 2 1 3702 Tevin King G 3-6 0-1 0-0 1 11 12 4 6 1 6 1 1 3605 David Jenkins G 8-16 4-7 11-15 0 5 5 3 31 1 2 0 0 3610 Alou Dillon 1-3 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 1 0 523 Owen King 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 0 0 634 Alex Arians 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 2 0 0 2 0 0 5

TEAM 2 1 3 1Totals 28-58 7-17 16-26 14 34 48 19 79 8 16 4 3 200

FG %3FG %

FT %


43.3%30.0%56.3%


53.6%57.1%70.0%

Game: 28-58Game: 7-17Game: 16-26

48.3%41.2%61.5%

DeadballRebounds

4

Officials: Darryl Smith, Mark Riggs, Luke SchumerTechnical Fouls: Grand Canyon-None. South Dakota State-None.Brookings, S.D. (Frost Arena) Attendance: 19332018-19 Season Opener

Last FG - GCU 2nd-00:26,SDK 2nd-00:39.Largest lead - GCU by 6 1st-11:17, SDK by 13 2nd-05:15

Score Tied - 8 timesLead Changed - 10 times

GCU led for 11:46. SDK led for 25:15. Game was tied for 02:59.

1268924GCUBench

FastBreak

OffT/O

InPaintPoints

2ndChance

SDK 38 4 18 0 2

Score by Period 1st 2nd TotalGrand Canyon 36 38 74South Dakota State 38 41 79

GRAND CANYON

TUESDAY NOV. 66 P.M.

BROOKINGS, S.D.

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE

‹ 23 ›


#LOPESUP

8947

RAPID RECAP:The Lopes routed Delaware State 89-47 Saturday night at GCU Arena for the program’s 16th consecutive victory in a regular-season home opener and the second-largest victory margin of the program’s Division I era.

For anyone who missed GCU senior point Trey Drechsel’s impressive Division I debut on Tuesday, the transfer from Western Watshington dazzled again by leading the Lopes in points (15), rebounds (eight), assists (six) and steals (four) in 25 minutes on Saturday.

GCU (1-1) outplayed Delaware State (0-2) in the first half but blew the game open after the Hornets opened the second half with a 3-pointer that cut the Lopes lead to 39-30.

GCU scored the next 18 points, shutting out Delaware State for nearly five minutes with six of the points coming from Drechsel to follow up his 17-point debut on Tuesday. The Lopes never stopped pulling away, taking the lead to 42 after a late pair of 3-pointers by Carlos Johnson.

Like Tuesday’s loss, GCU senior center Alessandro Lever got into early foul trouble Saturday and left after being whistled twice in the first three minutes. Lever wound up with 14 points in 14 minutes for the game, scoring 10 of them in the Lopes’ dominant 50-20 second half.

GCU swingman Oscar Frayer added another 15 points, making six of 11 shots but proving to be just as valuable on defense with three blocked shots, a steal and five rebounds.

The Hornets got into foul trouble and allowed 55 percent GCU first-half shooting in the first half, when the Lopes led 39-27 at halftime.

Like Tuesday, GCU junior guard Carlos Johnson did all of his scoring in the second half. After scoring 17 in his GCU debut, Johnson scored 13 on Friday. Freshman Tim Finke scored his first points as a Lope and finished with nine points, giving GCU six players with nine points or more.

DAN MAJERLE POSTGAME QUOTES:(opening statement) “Good win. I thought our guys played hard. I put them through the paces the last three days after that loss to a very good South Dakota State team. Our guys responded the way a coach would want them to. So, that’s great. Hopefully it’s not just a one-game thing and they realize that’s the kind of effort they have to play with. So, very proud of our guys, I thought they played very well. It was great, but let’s hope they learned their lesson and they continue to play with that kind of effort every night.”

(on effort from players) “I didn’t even look at the stat sheet. I thought rebounding-wise in the second half, you could just tell out there the effort was better. There was a concerted effort to rebound, I saw the guys trying to box out, I saw guys in the right position defensively when they’re away from the ball, I saw the effort and that’s all I really care about. You know, we’re still not shooting the ball real well. Especially in the first half, free throws, threes, but I told those guys I think that’ll come. I’m more concerned about the effort, the toughness and playing hard. And they took a step forward tonight, so that’s the only stats I really look at. We’re talented, we’ve got a lot of guys who can play, I just have to have guys that play with effort and they did that tonight. That’s what I’m most happy about.”

(on defensive effort and invidual performances) “Your offense is always better if your defense is good. You get steals, you get outrun, you get rebounds. It’s hard to score and run off of made baskets, so if you get stops and you can get outrun, you know, it’s always easier. I thought our second group and our switching defense, they do a pretty good job at that. Protected the rim a lot better tonight, which is big. But, as I said, it’s just the effort. Ale (Lever) got in foul trouble early in the second half, we tried to go to him. I thought Oscar (Frayer) was a lot better. Tre (Drechsel) continues to play really well. I’m happy for Tim Finke, he’s going to start figuring it out, and as I told him, he’s going to be good offensively, but for right now all he’s got to do is play hard, play defense, rebound and just bring his intensity and he’ll start figuring his offense. And he did a good job tonight. So, across the board I was very happy.”

(on turnovers) “A couple careless turnovers, and they weren’t so much live ball turnovers which isn’t terrible. A couple travels and some bad passes. But, we’ve done a good job in the first two games at not having live ball turnovers where teams go down and score where we can’t get back on defense. So, it was more of just careless passes and a couple travels and things like that. So, I think our turnovers are going to be pretty good this year. We spend a lot of time in practice making sure we have good ball security.”

(on second half) “Yeah, you know, first half we got a pretty good lead when we headed in, so we said we’ve got to go out in the second half and bury them. You know, we’ve got a deep team, we’ve just got to keep throwing waves at them, all ten guys. We came out with good intensity and we’ve just got to find a way for Carlos (Johnson) to play well in the first half and we’ll be fine. He gets it going in the second half a little bit, but he’s a good player he’s just got to figure it out. Right now, he’s just having a hard time figuring out how he’s going to fit in as far as scoring, when he should shoot and when he should attack. But he’s a good basketball player, he’ll figure it out.”

(on Gerard Martain) “I think Gerard (Martin) played 13 minutes, and he’s out there and looks like he played 40. That’s how hard he plays. He’s all over the place, takes charges, switches, yells, screams, you know he’s the heart and soul of the team, he’s been here for five years. We’re going to miss him when he leaves because he’s what I’m about. It’s about playing hard, being a good teammate and he leads that second group with his intensity.”

Official Box Score -- Game Totals -- Final StatisticsDelaware State vs. Grand Canyon11/10/2018 8:00 p.m.

## Player FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA Off Def Tot PF TP A TO Blk Stl MinTotal 3-Ptr ReboundsDelaware State 47

15 Ameer Bennett F 2-4 0-0 4-8 2 5 7 4 8 0 3 0 1 324 Pinky Wiley G 6-10 3-4 1-2 1 2 3 3 16 1 6 0 2 305 Jonathan Mitchell G 0-2 0-0 0-2 1 2 3 3 0 0 0 0 1 2121 Saleik Edwards G 3-20 3-15 2-2 0 2 2 2 11 1 4 0 2 3232 Myles Carter G 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 60 Justin Ryder 0-4 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 243 Montrell Horsey 3-9 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 2 7 2 2 0 1 2010 Ronald Lucas 0-2 0-0 2-4 0 2 2 4 2 0 3 0 0 1713 Fahim Jenneto 1-3 1-2 0-0 0 2 2 4 3 1 2 0 0 1723 Jordan Bushrod 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

TEAM 4 6 10Totals 15-54 8-22 9-18 8 23 31 24 47 6 20 0 7 200

FG %3FG %

FT %


0.0%0.0%0.0%


0.0%0.0%0.0%

Game: 0-0Game: 0-0Game: 0-0

0.0%0.0%0.0%

DeadballRebounds

3

## Player FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA Off Def Tot PF TP A TO Blk Stl MinTotal 3-Ptr ReboundsGrand Canyon 89

4 Oscar Frayer F 6-11 2-5 1-2 2 3 5 0 15 3 1 3 1 2525 Alessandro Lever F 7-9 0-0 0-1 2 3 5 2 14 0 2 0 0 1443 Michael Finke F 3-6 0-3 1-2 2 6 8 0 7 0 0 0 0 272 Trey Drechsel G 6-10 0-2 3-3 1 7 8 1 15 6 2 0 4 2523 Carlos Johnson G 5-13 2-6 1-4 1 5 6 4 13 1 4 0 1 245 Matt Jackson 1-3 0-0 2-3 2 1 3 1 4 0 1 0 1 1411 Damari Milstead 0-3 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 5 1 0 1 1712 Roberts Blumbergs 1-4 0-3 0-0 1 3 4 3 2 0 2 2 0 1315 Raef Gerdes 0-1 0-1 1-2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 224 Tim Finke 4-4 1-1 0-2 1 6 7 1 9 1 0 1 0 2135 Quinn Smith 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 242 Gerard Martin 3-4 1-2 2-2 1 1 2 2 9 1 0 0 3 14

TEAM 1 0 1Totals 36-69 6-24 11-21 14 37 51 16 89 17 13 6 11 198

FG %3FG %

FT %


0.0%0.0%0.0%


0.0%0.0%0.0%


0.0%0.0%0.0%

DeadballRebounds

6

Officials:Technical Fouls: Delaware State-None. Grand Canyon-None. Attendance: 7122

Last FG - DST 2nd-04:03,GCU 2nd-02:29.Largest lead - DST None, GCU None


DST led for 00:00. GCU led for 00:00. Game was tied for 00:00.

12291110DSTBench

FastBreak

OffT/O

InPaintPoints

2ndChance

GCU 54 29 18 25 25

Score by Period 1st 2nd TotalDelaware State 27 20 47Grand Canyon 39 50 89

DELAWARE STATE

SATURDAY NOV. 107 P.M.

PHOENIX, ARIZ.

GRAND CANYON

‹ 24 ›


#LOPESUP

7659

RAPID RECAP:The bench entered seven minutes into the game with score tied and put together an 18-3 run that sent the Lopes on their way to another home win, a 76-59 blowout of Jacksonville.

GCU sophomore reserve point guard Damari Milstead sparked the spurt with some of his best two-way play of the season. He scored more points in less than five minutes of the run (seven) than he had in the first two games combined (five).

Also off the Lopes bench, sophomore power forward Roberts Blumbergs finished the run and scored eight consecutive GCU points, including two corner 3-pointers that had GCU lead 30-14 with 5:52 remaining in the first half. He had missed eight of nine shots entering Monday’s game.

GCU led 41-22 at halftime with 22 of those points coming from the bench and a 27-9 dominant edge on the boards. The Lopes stretched that to their largest lead, 47-22, early in the second half on a 3-point play from junior guard Carlos Johnson, who has scored all 33 of his points this season in the second half.

However, the starters let Jacksonville get back into the game and the Dolphins kept chipping away at the lead to be within 11 (66-55) with 4:51 to play. The Lopes did not allow a point again until 46 seconds remained in the game.

It helped that GCU restored the reliable scoring sophomore center Alessandro Lever, who was the only GCU player to score in double figures. Lever scored 15 points in 26 minutes on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and 6-of-6 shooting from the free throw line. He scored 14 points in 14 minutes in Saturday’s win against Delaware State.

The Lopes grabbed 21 offensive rebounds, leading to a 17-7 advantage in second-chance points. Junior reserve forward Matt Jackson and freshman guard Tim Finke shared the rebounding lead with eight apiece while each also scored seven points. The Lopes’ bench outscored Jacksonville’s subs 37-22.

DAN MAJERLE POSTGAME QUOTES:(opening statement) “A win’s a win. It was an ugly one, but we won it. I thought first half we were pretty good. Second half came out and they turned up the pressure a little bit. We didn’t match the pressure. We missed too many layups, we weren’t strong with the ball, too many turnovers, too many missed shots. Hopefully we’ll grow from it. Against Delaware State I thought our second half was great, this second half was really not very good. As I said, we won the game and we’ll take it. Just get back in the gym, start working and get better.”

(On bringing guys in early off the bench) “That second group gave us a boost. I probably should’ve brought them in earlier in the second half but that first group has to learn how to play too. Unless I just decide to play all 10 guys 20 minutes. That starting group is supposed to be the starting group so, sometimes they have to push through. Can’t always just yank them when things aren’t going right. Especially this early in the season. I wanted to see how they respond. The second group came in in the second half and I don’t think they were much better. Damari (Milstead) was good in the first half, Trey (Dreschel) struggled, Damari stepped up and had a really good first half, played well. We have to keep that focus in that aspect, but the second half just wasn’t very good. Rebounding wise I thought we were really good. We had 21 offensive rebounds, out rebounded them by 25, 26 rebounds so that’s better. But the turnovers the last two games, 13 and 15, that’s too many.”

(On what he liked about Damari Milstead and Tim Finke in the backcourt) “Damari under con-trol, took some shots, got to the basket and that’s what he does. Tim just plays hard, sometimes he’s out of control because he plays so hard. He’s a freshman so it’s helter skelter but he’s good and he’ll figure it out. Tim will play extended minutes a lot. Damari, when he gets his chance to go in, that’s what he’s got to do. I know he sat on the bench for a long time but that’s what happens when you want to see if your first group can get it done. I thought first half he was really good.”

(On if Alé is starting to get reestablished) “I’m trying. He’s got to be able to hold onto the ball. Alé is just like everyone else, he’s missing layups, he’s not securing the ball on rebounds. I told him this is a tough year for him. It’s not going to be ‘who’s this kid?’ They know. Every time he’s down there they are going to be slapping the ball and he’s got to fight through it. I’m on him harder than anybody. If I can’t yell at my best player, who am I going to yell at? He’s got to get better. Right now, I’ll be honest with you, he’s not very good. He’s not finishing around the basket, he’s getting the ball slapped out of his hands, he’s just not very strong and that’s one thing he’s really got to work on. He’ll do it, he’s a hard worker but it’s my job to be hard on him.”

(on how to keep the team mindset in the present) “Every day, like I said we’ve got to go at it. And this isn’t a shot for any guy that I recruit, I told them what to expect. It’s not fun play in the Y this is high pressure, we need to win. I’m going to be on you non-stop, you know what you signed up for. These guys understand what they are playing in front of, what they are playing for, what I expect. So, this is not a surprise to any of those guys, I don’t care if they are young or old, they know, and I’ve made it very clear. I sat with them before they signed and said here’s the pressure and here’s what’s going to happen. As a basketball player that’s what you should love, and they know that I coach them hard, they know that I love them too. They understand not so much see how I talk to you but understand what I’m saying. Because I tell them all the time, if I chew you out, then I swear the next minute it’s gone, and I forgot, and I’m focused on the next play, and they should do the same. That’s just being a coach, that’s all there is to it, just got to deal with it. If I can yell at Alé, and I yell at him more than anyone on that team, if I can yell at Alé I can yell at anybody.”

(on if he expected better shooting) “I have, and it’s not there right now. We can’t make a layup right now, so I don’t know what to tell you. Rob made two threes which is great, he makes them all the time in practice. So eventually it will come, we’ve just got to keep working. We can shoot the ball, believe me we can, if not here right now, it’s not even close right now, I don’t know what to do. We’re just going to keep working, we work on layups every day and we keep missing them, so it’s something we’ll keep working on.”

(on Matt Jackson being healthy) “Yeah, he moves well, Matt’s just got to be a little more confident, he’s got to get stronger too, but Matt’s healthy he’s a big part of what we do. He comes in with that second group and we’re able to switch everything, he can get down and guard. So yeah Matt I’m glad, he went through a lot of injuries and tough times, and I’m glad he’s back.”

Official Box Score -- Game Totals -- Final StatisticsJacksonville vs. Grand Canyon11/12/2018 8:00 p.m.

## Player FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA Off Def Tot PF TP A TO Blk Stl MinTotal 3-Ptr ReboundsJacksonville 59

14 Jace Hogan F 3-7 0-0 2-2 1 3 4 3 8 2 2 1 0 323 David Bell C 2-3 0-0 0-1 1 1 2 4 4 0 3 1 0 121 JD Notae G 3-10 2-8 5-6 0 1 1 2 13 2 5 0 2 3210 Aamahne Santos G 0-8 0-5 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 4 0 0 2 3223 Tyreese Davis G 4-10 0-2 4-5 2 4 6 1 12 2 1 2 3 290 Tanner Rubio 4-8 3-6 0-0 0 3 3 1 11 1 0 0 0 222 Corey Romich 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 15 DeAnthony McCallum 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 3 0 1 0 0 1 1111 Jalyn Hinton 5-6 0-0 1-4 2 4 6 3 11 1 1 2 0 2613 Bryce Workman 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2

TEAM 1Totals 21-54 5-22 12-20 6 19 25 20 59 13 13 6 8 199

FG %3FG %

FT %


0.0%0.0%0.0%


0.0%0.0%0.0%


0.0%0.0%0.0%

DeadballRebounds

4,1

## Player FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA Off Def Tot PF TP A TO Blk Stl MinTotal 3-Ptr ReboundsGrand Canyon 76

4 Oscar Frayer F 3-8 1-5 1-2 3 4 7 5 8 2 2 0 0 2325 Alessandro Lever F 4-8 1-1 6-6 1 2 3 4 15 1 2 0 0 2643 Michael Finke F 3-5 1-2 0-0 4 2 6 1 7 1 1 0 0 232 Trey Drechsel G 3-9 0-1 0-1 2 3 5 3 6 2 3 1 1 2223 Carlos Johnson G 1-9 0-4 1-1 2 1 3 3 3 2 2 0 1 225 Matt Jackson 3-6 0-1 1-3 4 4 8 0 7 0 1 0 0 1411 Damari Milstead 4-9 0-1 1-2 1 2 3 0 9 3 0 0 1 2012 Roberts Blumbergs 2-3 2-3 2-2 0 3 3 0 8 0 0 0 0 1524 Tim Finke 2-5 0-1 3-4 1 7 8 2 7 3 2 0 0 2342 Gerard Martin 2-3 0-1 2-2 0 2 2 2 6 0 2 0 1 13

TEAM 3 1 4Totals 27-65 5-20 17-23 21 31 52 20 76 14 15 1 4 201

FG %3FG %

FT %


0.0%0.0%0.0%


0.0%0.0%0.0%


0.0%0.0%0.0%

DeadballRebounds

3

Officials:Technical Fouls: Jacksonville-None. Grand Canyon-None. Attendance: 6572

Last FG - JU 2nd-04:49,GCU 2nd-00:27.Largest lead - JU None, GCU None


JU led for 00:00. GCU led for 00:00. Game was tied for 00:00.

221171228JUBench

FastBreak

OffT/O

InPaintPoints

2ndChance

GCU 38 16 17 7 37

Score by Period 1st 2nd TotalJacksonville 22 37 59Grand Canyon 41 35 76

JACKSONVILLE

MONDAY NOV. 127 P.M.

PHOENIX, ARIZ.

GRAND CANYON

‹ 25 ›


#LOPESUP

9672

RAPID RECAP:Grand Canyon kept its GCU Arena record immaculate by wiping the floor with Arkansas State in a 96-72 blowout Friday night, giving GCU the fourth-most home wins in Division I over the past four seasons.

GCU’s 52 home wins trail only St. Mary’s (55), Oregon (53) and Louisville (53). The Lopes continued a streak of blowouts on a three-game homestand that sets up GCU to head next week to the Wooden Legacy tournament in Fullerton, Calif., where it will face Seton Hall in the first round on Thursday.

After 42- and 17-point victories on Friday and Monday, GCU (3-1) used an Oscar Frayer-fueled burst of 16-3 to close the first half and pull away from the Red Wolves (1-2). Like Monday’s win against Jacksonville, the Lopes bench was crucial to fend off an early threat from the visitors.

The Lopes used a lineup featuring both point guards, senior Trey Drechsel and sophomore Damari Milstead, with Frayer, junior reserve power forward Matt Jackson and senior power forward Michael Finke to keep Arkansas State to 1-of-10 shooting and a shot-clock violation over nearly the final six minutes of the first half.

Finke, the graduate transfer from Illinois, had his best game as a Lopes with 11 of his 15 points coming in the second half, when GCU gradually expanded its lead into the 20s. He was one of six Lopes players who scored in double figures (Milstead 14, Frayer 13, Drechsel 10, Carlos Johnson 10 and Alessandro Lever 10) for the first time in the program’s Division I history.

Milstead also set a career high with five steals, helping the Lopes get into transition. He was a major cog in a bench that scored 46 points.

GCU shot 49.2 percent form the field and capitalized on getting inside for 46 points in the paint and Arkansas State fouls that led to 27-of-33 Lopes free throw shooting.

DAN MAJERLE POSTGAME QUOTES:(opening statement) “I thought it was a really good win. That’s a team that plays really hard. We had no answer for (Ty) Cockfield, we knew he was a really good player. He got it going. Sometimes you’ve just got to withstand it and we did a great job in the second half at scoring. We couldn’t stop them but we found a way to win the game. Rebounding wise, again, we did a terrific job. We were hustling, we took some charges and we just found a way to win. And that team plays really hard so I was really happy with our win. I thought, again, Damari (Milstead) came in and played extremely well. It was good to see Carlos (Johnson) get it going early, un-fortunately got into foul trouble. Matt (Jackson) came in, put Gerard (Martin) in late, I thought did a really good job. So, I’m happy with that win, that’s a get-away game for us. Our last game here for a while, we go to Wooden Classic and play Seton Hall. So, we’re excited about that and this is a good way to send us off.”

(On playing two point guards to close the half) “Well, when Damari (Milstead) is playing well, Trey (Drechsel) is a good player and he’s absolutely a better player when he’s off the ball. But he’s going to be a point guard for us too. So, you’ll see some of that lineup with those two guys, Trey with his size can guard and when we white or switch, that’s a good lineup for us. So, sometimes with the pressure you just want two guards in there, plus Carlos (Johnson) was in foul trouble, Tim (Finke) took a mean shot to the chin, I think he was feeling it a little bit. So, we just went with that lineup for a little bit and I thought it worked out.”

(On three pointers) “I guess we can’t shoot. I’ve been wrong the whole time, we cannot shoot the ball. So, just being aggressive, and like I said Damari (Milstead) did a good job, Michael (Finke) played well. I still think we can shoot the ball, but I don’t know, maybe not.”

(On talk of the upcoming Wooden Legacy) “I didn’t talk about it, and they better not have. Of course, our guys know that it’s about us getting better and we weren’t happy with the last game in the second half. And we knew this team was going to come in and fight, and they did. So, I was very happy with our effort. I’ve talked about playing with a lot of poise. We’re still turning the ball over, some bad mistakes there. Still not communicating defensively, but I thought the enthusiasm and the effort was a lot better tonight. If we play that hard all the time, we’ll be okay.”

(On Oscar Frayer in the first half) “Just getting him the ball and, you know, flying in there and the way he can jump is very electric, it’s fun to watch. We’re going to have to find a way for him to be able to dribble or catch, because he can’t do either of those two. But Oscar’s my guy, I love him and he brings a lot of energy, he plays hard defense. He lost number zero a lot because of communication, but when he gets around the basket and we throw lobs to him, he’s pretty electrifying.”

(On Michael Finke in the second half) “Well it’s not how I can use him, it’s how he’s going to use himself. There was nothing that we did, I’m not worried about Michael. I’m not worried about any of our guys. They’ll figure out how to play. When you get new guys it takes a while for a coach to figure you out, it takes a while for new players. He’s been in one system for four years, and now he’s here. He’s got to figure out the system and where he’s going to get his shots and when to be aggressive. So, I’m not worried about him, I think he’s going to continue to get better and better. We’ve got to get Ale (Lever) going, I don’t know what’s wrong with that kid. He’s just having a hard time finishing. Maybe, like I said, he’s thinking too much. But he’s got to find a way to play a little harder and finish around the basket and just get out of his own head.”

(On the players pushing through the entire game) “Yeah, I thought it was good and I gave guys extended minutes, which I’m going to do sometimes if somebody’s playing well, I’ll keep them out there. Damari (Milstead) played an extended minute roll, that was good. Carlos (Johnson) played a long time in the first half, Oscar (Frayer) played a long time there for a while. So, if guys are playing well, other guys are going to have to suck it up, when they have a chance to come in they’re going to have to produce. I told the guys at half time, when you’re a bench player, I’ve been a sixth man that you don’t have time to warm up, you have time in there to get in there and go. I told them you don’t see a cheetah stretch, you’ve got to get in there and go. We don’t have a minute for you guys to get loose, you’ve got to be ready to go as soon as you step on the floor. I thought for the most part our guys did a great job of that. I was very happy with our game. Now I’ll watch the film tonight and probably not be happy, but right now I’m very happy with them.”

Official Box Score -- Game Totals -- Final StatisticsGrand Canyon vs. South Dakota State11/8/2018 11:52 a.m. at Brookings, S.D. (Frost Arena)


25 Alessandro Lever F 3-7 0-2 3-3 1 2 3 3 9 0 0 0 0 2443 Michael Finke F 4-9 2-6 0-0 1 3 4 1 10 0 0 0 0 2602 Trey Drechsel G 6-16 4-9 1-2 0 3 3 1 17 4 2 0 2 3204 Oscar Frayer G 2-8 1-4 4-5 4 4 8 3 9 0 2 3 1 3123 Carlos Johnson G 5-12 1-4 6-6 3 2 5 2 17 0 1 0 1 2305 Matt Jackson 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 3 0 0 0 1 1 1311 Damari Milstead 2-8 0-3 1-2 0 1 1 0 5 0 0 0 1 812 Roberts Blumbergs 0-5 0-5 0-0 0 4 4 2 0 1 0 0 1 1324 Tim Finke 0-1 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 2 0 3 1 0 1 1142 Gerard Martin 2-4 1-1 2-2 1 1 2 4 7 0 0 0 1 19

TEAM 1 0 1Totals 24-70 9-34 17-20 13 22 35 21 74 8 6 4 9 200

FG %3FG %

FT %


32.4%31.6%100.0%


36.4%20.0%78.6%

Game: 24-70Game: 9-34Game: 17-20

34.3%26.5%85.0%

DeadballRebounds

2

## Player FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA Off Def Tot PF TP A TO Blk Stl MinTotal 3-Ptr ReboundsSouth Dakota State 79 (1-0)

24 Mike Daum F 9-20 1-3 1-3 6 7 13 2 20 4 1 0 1 3932 Matt Dentlinger F 4-5 0-0 3-6 3 4 7 3 11 0 2 0 0 3601 Skyler Flatten G 3-8 2-5 1-2 0 4 4 3 9 1 1 2 1 3702 Tevin King G 3-6 0-1 0-0 1 11 12 4 6 1 6 1 1 3605 David Jenkins G 8-16 4-7 11-15 0 5 5 3 31 1 2 0 0 3610 Alou Dillon 1-3 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 1 0 523 Owen King 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 0 0 634 Alex Arians 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 2 0 0 2 0 0 5

TEAM 2 1 3 1Totals 28-58 7-17 16-26 14 34 48 19 79 8 16 4 3 200

FG %3FG %

FT %


43.3%30.0%56.3%


53.6%57.1%70.0%

Game: 28-58Game: 7-17Game: 16-26

48.3%41.2%61.5%

DeadballRebounds

4

Officials: Darryl Smith, Mark Riggs, Luke SchumerTechnical Fouls: Grand Canyon-None. South Dakota State-None.Brookings, S.D. (Frost Arena) Attendance: 19332018-19 Season Opener

Last FG - GCU 2nd-00:26,SDK 2nd-00:39.Largest lead - GCU by 6 1st-11:17, SDK by 13 2nd-05:15


GCU led for 11:46. SDK led for 25:15. Game was tied for 02:59.

1268924GCUBench

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OffT/O

InPaintPoints

2ndChance

SDK 38 4 18 0 2

Score by Period 1st 2nd TotalGrand Canyon 36 38 74South Dakota State 38 41 79

ARKANSAS STATE

FRIDAYNOV. 167 P.M.

PHOENIX, ARIZ.

GRAND CANYON

‹ 26 ›


#LOPESUP

7582

RAPID RECAP:The Lopes would not go away throughout the Wooden Legacy first-round game, tying the score repeatedly and keeping the Pirates’ lead in single digits before taking its first lead with 2:07 to go and leading again with 1:33 to go. But a 9-0 Seton Hall run stole back the lead from GCU and ended an 82-75 Pirates win Thursday night at Titan Gym.

The Lopes trailed 69-62 before a scoring spurt that began with senior power forward Michael Finke battling for a tie-up on the offensive boards. Sophomore point guard Damari Milstead, who scored a team-high 21 points off the bench, sparked the comeback and that freshman guard Tim Finke continued with a 3-pointer that cut Seton Hall’s lead to 69-68.

The momentum spilled over a Pirates time out and the Lopes took their first lead of the game when Tim Finke found his big brother, Mike, for a 3-pointer and a 73-72 lead. After Seton Hall re-tied the game, Milstead put GCU back ahead with a pullback floater in the lane and a 75-73 edge with 1:33 to play.

The Lopes got an ensuing miss from Seton Hall (2-2) but the Pirates rebounded to start the game-deciding 9-0 run.

Seton Hall shot 62.2 percent from the field with guard Myles Powell scoring 40 points, which tied James Harden’s tournament record.

GCU committed three turnovers in the first 2:37 of the game and dug a 10-2 hole to start the game.

Milstead gave the Lopes the largest lift off the bench, scoring 12 of those 15 points by penetrating the paint and hitting a pair of 3-pointers.

Despite Powell and Seton Hall’s 65 percent first-half shooting, the Lopes tied the game on three occasions in the first half and only trailed 40-37 at the break. The Lopes defense was creating havoc with 10 Seton Hall turnovers in the first half.

DAN MAJERLE POSTGAME QUOTES:(opening statement) “Disappointed. We are at the point of our program’s six years as a Division I team that we expect to win every game. We knew this was going to be extremely tough, Seton Hall is a very good team. Very well coached, lot of talent but this is a game that we wanted to come in and win. Our guys are disappointed, I’m happy with our effort, it was just too much (Myles) Powell. He just had one of those games where we knew he was able to do it. We concentrated on him, we tried different coverages, but he just continued to make big shots after big shots and we couldn’t stop him. Credit to our guys, we fought in, we were right there. Had a layup there close to the end that just didn’t go down, could’ve changed the game. Got to give them all the credit. They played great and Powell is a heck of a player and we just didn’t have an answer for him”

(On what they talked about at halftime about trying to defend Myles Powell) “Just can’t be one guy, he’s got to see a bunch of bodies. That’s what we talked about before the game and we tried to blitz him in the second half where we just doubled him off of ball screens. Good players find ways to make plays and he absolutely did that. Hats off to him but I was happy with our effort. Our guys fought back and had a chance to win it. Hopefully we can learn from this and continue to get better. I was very happy with Alessandro, he got in foul trouble early, came in and had a really good game. He’s just a sophomore but I’m learning about my other guys, Michael Finke, Tim Finke, the freshman hit a big shot, played a lot of minutes in the second half. I though Damari came off the bench as a point guard and really gave us some quality minutes and points. As a coach I’m still learning about these guys and my players.”

(On what he liked about Damari Milstead tonight) “Just the way he played. Trey turned the ball over the first two times he had it. He made one shot, made a lot of defensive lapses and errors. Trey’s a good player he just has to play better. Damari came in and gave us a spark and played. Our team, I have 10 guys that play and no matter who starts, if the guys playing he’s going to play well. I thought Gerard came in and gave us good minutes defensively, Tim too with his hustle. Damari just continues to get better and better and that’s what he’s supposed to do. He was a freshman that played sparingly last year and now he’s a sophomore and getting better.”

(On if the Havocs having an arena rocking is a common occurrence) “Oh, man if you can ever get to Phoenix and watch one of our games it’s that time 100. We rock the place at 7,500 standing room only. We have, this is not a hyperbole, if not the best student fanbase in the country, it’s one of the best. They travel, and they care about our team and we don’t take it for granted. We love it and they just do a great job. That’s one of the best things about Grand Canyon is the support we get from the Havocs and the people that came here are unbelievable.”

(on if he expected Myles Powell to be that explosive) “I didn’t think he would get 40 but I knew he was explosive. We watched a lot of film on him and we knew he was a guy that can really get it going. We tried to change coverage on him and he hit a bunch of deep three’s and took it to the basket and it was just one of those games. Your stars have to be stars and he was a star tonight. We tried to do everything we could but he just continued to make those kinds of shots. Am I surprised he got 40? Yeah. Am I surprised he played really well? No because we knew that was going to happen. We just have to do a better job collectively as coaches and as a team to not let that happen. But he got it rolling.”

(on if this was the most authoritative he has seen Alè in the post this year) “Yeah, that was the old Alè from last year. He had a lot of confidence from last year, made some outside jumpers. Best thing is he got into some foul trouble and didn’t foul out. Was good down in the post. I’m happy for him. He works hard and he’s going to have to play like that for us to be good. That’s the best I’ve seen him this year but that’s the Alè of old.”

(on how the quick turnaround will help down the stretch for the rest of the year) “It’s going to be good because we don’t have to think about this game very often. Our kids are very disappoint-ed, they wanted to win this thing. To get close and be beat by a good team, as coaches we will be up all-night watching film not only of this game but either Utah or Hawai’i. Our guys have to come ready tomorrow and just play better. This is like the WAC tournament. This is what we will have to do in the WAC tournament and it’s what we did last year. We are going to have to bounce back from the disappointment and find a way to win a game.”

* - points scored by the other team (wrong basket)

Official Box Score -- Game Totals -- Final StatisticsSeton Hall vs. Grand Canyon11/22/2018 7:00 p.m. at Titan Gym

## Player FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA Off Def Tot PF TP A TO Blk Stl MinTotal 3-Ptr ReboundsSeton Hall 82 (2-2)

01 Michael NZEI F 2-3 0-0 0-2 0 1 1 3 4 1 2 0 1 3623 S. MAMUKELASHVILI F 2-3 0-0 1-2 1 7 8 4 5 1 3 1 0 2600 Quincy McKNIGHT G 3-7 0-0 5-6 1 4 5 4 11 4 0 0 2 3013 Myles POWELL G 12-16 5-7 11-14 0 7 7 0 40 4 1 0 2 3822 Myles CALE G 3-5 0-0 2-7 0 3 3 3 8 5 3 0 2 3102 Anthony NELSON 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 1214 Jared RHODEN 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 615 Taurean THOMPSON 5-7 1-2 1-2 1 1 2 4 12 0 1 2 0 1533 Shavar REYNOLDS 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 335 Romaro GILL 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 3

TEAM 0 2 2Totals 28-45 6-12 20-33 3 27 30 23 82 15 12 3 7 200

FG %3FG %

FT %


65.2%50.0%58.3%


59.1%50.0%61.9%

Game: 28-45Game: 6-12Game: 20-33

62.2%50.0%60.6%

DeadballRebounds

7,1


04 Oscar Frayer F 1-6 1-5 1-2 1 2 3 3 4 4 1 0 0 2125 Alessandro Lever F 7-14 2-5 4-4 0 6 6 4 20 2 0 1 1 2643 Michael Finke F 4-9 3-6 0-0 3 2 5 2 11 3 1 0 0 2902 Trey Drechsel G 1-3 1-3 0-0 0 2 2 4 3 1 2 0 0 1823 Carlos Johnson G 1-4 0-2 2-2 0 0 0 3 4 2 1 1 0 1905 Matt Jackson 3-4 1-2 0-1 0 0 0 1 7 0 0 1 1 1511 Damari Milstead 7-12 2-4 5-7 0 0 0 2 21 4 3 0 0 2512 Roberts Blumbergs 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 824 Tim Finke 1-1 1-1 0-0 1 5 6 0 3 1 0 0 0 2042 Gerard Martin 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 3 3 3 0 0 2 0 0 19

TEAM *2 1Totals 25-56 11-30 12-16 5 20 25 22 75 18 11 3 2 200

FG %3FG %

FT %


41.9%37.5%83.3%


48.0%35.7%70.0%

Game: 25-56Game: 11-30Game: 12-16

44.6%36.7%75.0%

DeadballRebounds

2

Officials: Michael Greenstein, Rick Batsell , Kerby SittonTechnical Fouls: Seton Hall-None. Grand Canyon-None.Titan Gym Attendance: 1266* - points scored by the other team (wrong basket)

Last FG - SHU 2nd-00:02,GCU 2nd-01:33.Largest lead - SHU by 10 2nd-09:10, GCU by 2 1st-18:55


SHU led for 36:00. GCU led for 01:25. Game was tied for 02:35.

14661234SHUBench

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InPaintPoints

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GCU 24 14 7 0 31

Score by Period 1st 2nd TotalSeton Hall 40 42 82Grand Canyon 37 38 75

SETON HALL

THURSDAYNOV. 226 P.M.

FULLERTON, CALIF.

GRAND CANYON

‹ 27 ›


#LOPESUP

7566

RAPID RECAP:The Lopes made it even more difficult by playing from behind for the near entirety of both games Thursday and Friday. Unlike Thursday’s loss to Seton Hall, GCU did not rally to a lead against Utah. The Lopes pulled within one point with 9:52 to go Friday but faded to a 75-66 loss to the Utes at Titan Gym.

Despite a 16-point deficit in the first half, the Lopes worked their way into the game with the help of some of sophomore center Alessandro Lever’s 16 points and four 3-pointers from freshman guard Tim Finke (14 points) in his first start.

But after a baseline jumper from GCU senior forward Matt Jackson cut Utah’s lead to 48-47 with 9:52 to go, the Lopes missed seven of their next eight shots. Utah (3-2) stretched the lead back to dou-ble-digits with the shooting of senior guard Sedrick Barefield, who scored 26 points after entering the game with a 10.0 scoring average.

Utah shot 50 percent from the field while GCU shot 41.9 percent while taking more 3-point shots (9 for 24) than 2-point shots (10 for 20) for the second consecutive game.

The Lopes allowed their opponent to get off to a 10-2 start for the second consecutive night. This time, it was even easier with Utah getting four layups. But it only got worse, as Utah later used 14 unanswered points to take a 24-8 lead with 9:10 remaining in the first half. At that point, the Lopes were 2 for 13 from the field and settling frequently for 3-point shots (2 for 10).

Junior guard Carlos Johnson, coming off the bench Friday, broke the drought of 5:31 by getting fouled on a drive for two free throws and then finishing a fastbreak for a three-point play. Lever scored all nine of his first-half points in the final 7:31 of the half, helping cut Utah’s lead with a better defensive effort.

The Utes went 1 for 5 with three turnovers down the stretch, allowing the Lopes to go into halftime trailing 35-29 after a 10-2 run. After Seton Hall shot 62 percent to beat GCU on Thursday, Utah shot 52 percent in the first half with the help of a 9-0 advantage on second-chance points because of its

dominance on the boards (18-7).

DAN MAJERLE POSTGAME QUOTES:(on the Utah game) “I’m disappointed, you know, we came out a little flat for whatever reason. We couldn’t shoot it and defensively we were really bad. Utah was good and we did a bad job, so we dug ourselves a hole. And then we decided to start working a little harder and start to guard a little better and fought our way back into it. But Utah played well. (Sedrick) Barefield had a heck of a game, made a lot of nice shots, especially at the end of the buzzer on a lot of them. But I give all the credit to Utah, bounced back from a tough game last night, came out to play and basically just played better and harder than we did. Which was disappointing, because we were a desperate team also. We weren’t happy with the way we played last night and nothing’s changed.”

(on what impressed him) “Just his poise, we knew he was a good player. He can attack, he can get to the basket, pull up, shoot jump shots. Just seems like there’s somebody, just a back-court guy that’s going to have a nice game against us every night. The other night it was (Myles) Powell with 40. So, we have a hard time guarding right now. He’s the guy that hurt us tonight. He’s a good player, we knew that coming in, and he took advantage of us. We just couldn’t guard him. 9-16, 4-8 from the three. Just played an all-around good game with 38 minutes. It was just a good, productive, solid evening for him. We just have to do a better job of finding him and making him do things he doesn’t want to do.”

(on Alessandro Lever) “Well, it’s not going to help us if the rest of our offense doesn’t shoot well. Right now, our offense is a throw it to Ale and hope he gets hot, pop him on the three-pointer and hope he makes it. We just have to have guys that can shoot a little bit better, that can penetrate and kick. Alessandro is a terrific player, has been all of last year and he’s starting to play better now. So that’s good for him, but we’ve got to get guys around him to support him because he’s going to start getting double teamed and we can’t rely on him every night to have good nights.”

Official Box Score -- Game Totals -- Final StatisticsGrand Canyon vs. Utah11/23/2018 7:00 p.m. at Titan Gym


04 Oscar Frayer F 2-5 1-3 0-0 1 3 4 2 5 2 2 0 0 2725 Alessandro Lever F 4-8 1-3 7-12 0 3 3 5 16 0 4 1 0 3143 Michael Finke F 1-3 1-2 2-3 1 2 3 2 5 1 1 0 0 2202 Trey Drechsel G 3-5 2-4 2-2 0 3 3 1 10 3 2 0 0 2124 Tim Finke G 4-9 4-8 2-2 0 2 2 5 14 0 1 0 0 3205 Matt Jackson 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 811 Damari Milstead 2-7 0-1 2-2 2 0 2 3 6 4 1 0 1 2223 Carlos Johnson 2-4 0-1 4-5 1 1 2 1 8 0 2 0 0 2242 Gerard Martin 0-2 0-2 0-0 1 0 1 2 0 2 1 0 1 15

TEAM 0 2 2Totals 19-44 9-24 19-26 7 17 24 21 66 12 14 1 2 200

FG %3FG %

FT %


40.0%27.3%76.9%


45.8%46.2%69.2%

Game: 19-44Game: 9-24Game: 19-26

43.2%37.5%73.1%

DeadballRebounds

3

## Player FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA Off Def Tot PF TP A TO Blk Stl MinTotal 3-Ptr ReboundsUtah 75 (3-2)

03 Donnie Tillman F 5-7 2-4 2-2 1 4 5 2 14 0 2 0 0 3811 Both Gach F 1-2 0-1 8-8 0 3 3 2 10 3 4 0 1 2220 Timmy Allen F 3-6 0-0 1-2 0 2 2 2 7 0 2 0 1 2434 Jayce Johnson F 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 5 0 0 0 0 0 1402 Sedrick Barefield G 9-16 4-8 4-5 1 1 2 2 26 3 1 0 0 3801 Jr., Charles Jones 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 405 Parker Van Dyke 2-5 2-5 0-0 0 1 1 1 6 4 1 0 1 1813 Novak Topalovic 1-3 0-0 0-0 3 3 6 0 2 0 1 1 0 1021 Riley Battin 3-5 0-1 4-5 2 2 4 3 10 2 0 0 0 2431 Brandon Morley 0-3 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 4 0 0 2 1 0 8

TEAM 2 2 4Totals 24-48 8-20 19-22 9 22 31 21 75 12 13 2 3 200

FG %3FG %

FT %


56.0%37.5%80.0%


43.5%41.7%88.2%

Game: 24-48Game: 8-20Game: 19-22

50.0%40.0%86.4%

DeadballRebounds

1

Officials: Kerry Sitton, Ed Crenshaw, Tom ShortTechnical Fouls: Grand Canyon-None. Utah-None.Titan Gym Attendance: 2089

Last FG - GCU 2nd-00:24,UTAH 2nd-01:08.Largest lead - GCU None, UTAH by 16 1st-09:18


GCU led for 00:00. UTAH led for 39:22. Game was tied for 00:38.

16081518GCUBench

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UTAH 20 16 11 0 18

Score by Period 1st 2nd TotalGrand Canyon 29 37 66Utah 35 40 75

GRAND CANYON

FRIDAYNOV. 236 P.M.

FULLERTON, CALIF

UTAH

‹ 28 ›


#LOPESUP

8270

RAPID RECAP:Grand Canyon did not feel good about its first two finishes at the Wooden Legacy but the Lopes closed the tournament with authority on Sunday.

GCU (4-3) used a 17-0 run that kept La Salle scoreless for nearly nine minutes of the first half to leave Titan Gym with an 82-70 victory.

The Lopes opened the tournament by contending but losing to Seton Hall and Utah but responded with an active defense that forced La Salle into frequent perimeter misses and strips on the interior during the first half. The Explorers were 4 for 25 from the field when they feel behind 25-9 with 4:30 until halftime but they used GCU fouls to help close the gap to 31-20 by halftime.

La Salle (0-7) found its offense to start the second half with guard Isiah Deas getting some of his 20 points. But unlike other previous scoring guards who have hurt GCU, Deas was not efficient, going 7 for 25 from the field. La Salle’s leading scorer, senior guard Pookie Powell, had similar struggles with 4-for-14 shooting.

GCU senior center Alessandro Lever recorded his third career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds and shared the scoring lead with sophomore point guard Damari Milstead, whose 17 points keyed GCU’s 43-12 advantage in bench scoring. Junior guard Carlos Johnson added 16 points and seven rebounds off the bench.

La Salle shot 30.4 percent from the field, recovering slightly in the second half and staying in the game with 23-for-28 free throw shooting.

DAN MAJERLE POSTGAME QUOTES:(opening statement) “Happy to win. It was a good victory for us. That’s a tough team to play against with their pressure and they just keep coming at you. They play extremely hard, so I was proud of our guys. It wasn’t pretty, but it was good to get a win. That’s a tough team to play against, so I was happy for our guys. They’ve been working really hard and we’ve had some disappointing games here. We’ve been close, but this was a good one for us.”

(on how to limit being down early) “Well we wanted to concentrate on our defense, because we haven’t been good defensively, the way that we want to play. So that’s been really a talking point the last day or so of what we did wrong and in the first two games defensively, we wanted to make sure that we came out and locked-down defensively and got better and got back to the way we want to play. I thought our guys really concentrated on that in the first-half especially. I knew with their pressure that we weren’t going to be able to run many plays. We just have to get out in the open court and move the basketball. Our best offense was getting stops, and getting out and running.”

(on how to prepare for the pressure and traps) “Yeah it’s hard to prepare, especially this early in the year. We haven’t seen that. We will see a little bit of that in our league, but this is the first time that we’ve seen that. Then after playing two back-to-back games, and having yesterday off, we didn’t practice, we just went through a walk-through and went through film. So you really can’t prepare. You just have to tell the guys what to expect and it’s really hard for them because their not going to see it until they get out on the floor. So it’s difficult, so that’s why it’s a good win for us.”

(on Alessandro Lever) “Isn’t he cute? Isn’t he so cute. Just a little kid from Italy. No, he has been great. Ale’s (Lever) been, you know he was, he was great last year as a freshman. A lot has been put on his shoulders. You know he’s WAC Preseason Player of the Year, so I put a lot of pressure on him. I yell at him, I scream at him, cause I want him to do really well, but he’s not only a great player, but a great person, a great kid and a great ambassador for our school. We’re proud to have him and he gets better every game. He goes the way our team goes. He’s a good scorer and can really rebound the basketball and the best thing about him is the type of person he is. Just happy to have him.”

(on how important the tournament was for the rest of the season) “It’s good. We always want to play great competition and for us to play Seton Hall was great, and Utah, a PAC-12 school, but ever since I’ve been in this program, we’ve always scheduled tough. We’ve played Louisville three times, we’ve played Duke, we’ve played Kentucky, we’ve played Indiana, we’ve played all the big teams, so this year I really wanted to schedule hard. I mean our next games, Boise State, we’re playing Nevada, we’re at Texas, we’re at Northern Iowa, we’re at San Diego. We have a really hard stretch, but thats the way we want to schedule. Hopefully that’ll get us tougher and we’ll be prepared for when our WAC season starts. It’s going to be a tough stretch, it’s going to be hard to win some games, but that’s what I wanted our guys to do. Get them tougher and it’s important for us to win the WAC and win the WAC tournament and go to the NCAA’s. That’s they way we’re going to get there. That’s the way we wanted to prepare.”

Official Box Score -- Game Totals -- Final StatisticsLa Salle vs. Grand Canyon11/25/2018 5:00 p.m. at Titan Gym

## Player FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA Off Def Tot PF TP A TO Blk Stl MinTotal 3-Ptr ReboundsLa Salle 70 (0-7)

04 Miles BROOKINS F 4-7 0-1 2-2 6 4 10 3 10 2 0 1 1 3224 Jared KIMBROUGH F 1-3 0-0 3-6 2 2 4 4 5 0 0 0 2 1200 Pookie POWELL G 4-14 0-5 7-7 0 2 2 4 15 0 2 0 1 3310 Isiah DEAS G 7-25 3-12 5-7 1 3 4 4 22 1 1 0 1 3625 Traci CARTER G 1-4 0-1 4-4 0 4 4 5 6 5 3 0 1 3401 David BEATTY 2-6 2-4 0-0 2 1 3 5 6 1 3 0 1 2703 Jamir MOULTRIE 1-4 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 2 2 0 2 0 0 1111 Ed CROSWELL 1-4 0-0 0-0 1 3 4 1 2 0 0 0 1 914 Andrew LAFOND 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+31 Cian SULLIVAN 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 0 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 6

TEAM 2 2 4Totals 21-69 5-25 23-28 16 22 38 29 70 9 11 1 8 200

FG %3FG %

FT %


20.7%18.2%85.7%


37.5%21.4%81.0%

Game: 21-69Game: 5-25Game: 23-28

30.4%20.0%82.1%

DeadballRebounds

2


04 Oscar Frayer F 1-5 0-2 0-1 0 2 2 2 2 0 3 1 0 2025 Alessandro Lever F 6-7 1-1 4-6 1 9 10 4 17 0 1 0 0 3143 Michael Finke F 2-6 0-2 4-6 2 4 6 2 8 2 1 0 0 1902 Trey Drechsel G 4-5 1-2 1-3 0 2 2 4 10 2 5 1 0 3024 Tim Finke G 1-6 0-2 0-0 1 3 4 2 2 2 0 0 1 2005 Matt Jackson 1-1 0-0 3-4 0 1 1 3 5 2 0 0 0 1011 Damari Milstead 3-5 1-1 10-12 0 3 3 3 17 2 3 0 0 2323 Carlos Johnson 6-11 0-1 4-5 1 6 7 3 16 2 4 1 1 2842 Gerard Martin 2-2 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 3 5 2 1 1 1 19

TEAM 0 4 4Totals 26-48 4-12 26-37 5 35 40 26 82 14 18 4 3 200

FG %3FG %

FT %


50.0%28.6%25.0%


60.0%40.0%75.8%

Game: 26-48Game: 4-12Game: 26-37

54.2%33.3%70.3%

DeadballRebounds

6

Officials: Kerry Sitton, Rick Batsell, Ed CrenshawTechnical Fouls: La Salle-None. Grand Canyon-None.Titan Gym Attendance: 15891st half 17:47- LS #4 Flagrant 1

Last FG - LAS 2nd-00:10,GCU 2nd-02:10.Largest lead - LAS by 1 1st-12:32, GCU by 16 1st-04:26


LAS led for 01:35. GCU led for 37:18. Game was tied for 01:00.

120181124LASBench

FastBreak

OffT/O

InPaintPoints

2ndChance

GCU 38 12 6 4 43

Score by Period 1st 2nd TotalLa Salle 20 50 70Grand Canyon 31 51 82

LA SALLE

FRIDAYNOV. 256 P.M.

FULLERTON, CALIF.

GRAND CANYON

‹ 29 ›


#LOPESUP

6967

RAPID RECAP:After losing a double-overtime crusher at Boise State last season, Grand Canyon won a 69-67 thriller against Boise State on Saturday night at GCU Arena.

GCU scored on its final six possession of the game and held its collective breath as Boise State ran out of time before taking a potential tying shot one year after the Broncos made a desperation 3-pointer to tie at the end of regulation against the Lopes.

Boise State took a 9-4 lead to start the game. After a Broncos 36-35 first half, Boise State opened the second half with a 7-0 start in the first three minutes and kept GCU scoreless for five minutes.

After trailing 46-35, the Lopes went on a 12-1 run with all reserves doing the scoring, GCU had not led since 30-27 until senior forward Gerard Martin took a charge and junior guard Carlos Johnson scored on a spin move for a 57-56 lead with 6:00 to go.

A Damari Milstead steal set up an Oscar Frayer go-ahead free throw with 1:13 to play but Boise State retook the lead with 58.1 seconds to go with a follow by R.J. Williams, who led Boise State with 23 points and seven rebounds.

The Lopes answered out of a time out by setting up senior Alessandro Lever to back down his defender and score a post move, his first field goal of the game to give GCU a 66-65 lead with 40.9 seconds to go.

The Lopes kept the lead on free throws, but Boise State took possession trailing 69-67 with 5.2 sec-onds go but Broncos guard Pat Dembley ran out of clock dribbling upcourt before attempting a shot.

GCU put five scorers in double figures with the Lopes bench outscoring Broncos reserves 39-13.

GCU created four Boise State turnovers and blocked a shot during a stretch that included 10 unan-swered points for a 26-22 lead with 6:11 to go. Drechsel played the first 13:20 of the game, scoring nine with sharp, assertive perimeter shooting.

DAN MAJERLE POSTGAME QUOTES:(on what the feeling was in the locker room post-game) “Guys were extremely happy which they should be. That’s a very good Boise State team, really good. Well coached, been a good program for a long time. We knew this was going to be a tough game and our guys battled and found a way to win one. We’ve been losing a couple of those lately. Found a way to get a stop and a big basket. Just happy. Guys have worked hard, and we have a long way to go but they’ve worked hard. That second group really scrapped and had some great performances. It’s what it’s about, just finding a way to win. Good team win.”

(on what the second group brings) “They go a little smaller, we switch, and they go down and guard. That’s their identity. That’s what they do. They’ve done it since day one. Their job is to come in and change the game and they needed to change the game in a hurry and they got us out of that hole. Matt and Gerard, there’s something to be said about guys who have been here five years. They are big culture guys, know how I work, know how this team works. They did an unbelievable job, everybody did. Hopefully guys like Michael, Tim and Alè and those guys are going to have to bounce back because we are going to need them. That’s team basketball, guys stepping up and playing well.”

(on what it’s like to have so many weapons off the bench) “I don’t know if their weapons, more like bodies. We have to play better no if’s and’s or but’s about it. But there’s a lot of guys we throw out there to give different looks which is nice. I’m happy for Matt. Matt’s been injured and battled through a bunch of stuff. Gerard, I said is a culture guy and he gives his all every day in practice. Damari has worked hard. I’m just happy for everybody. The guys who didn’t get it done tonight are going to need to bounce back because we are going to need them the next game.”

(on Damari Milstead and Carlos Johnson) “Carlos has struggled early but he’s starting to round into shape and starting to figure out how to play. Be aggressive, take the ball to the basket. He’s a hard matchup when he takes the ball to the basket and then he can start pulling up a bit. He’s figuring it out. Damari has been here for a year and a half now. He’s a big part of coming off the bench, give us another ball handler, good on-ball defender and smart. So, I’m happy for all of those guys.”

(on if he saw the concentration that he preached in practice) “Did you see 23 steal the ball every time? We actually covered that. Every film I watched we said Williams is going to shoot the gap and steal every entry pass to your man and we gave away three or four of those tonight. So, we are getting better but those are the little things that are going to hurt you. I tell our guys players have to be players and you have to make plays and tonight they made plays.”

(on what the value is on closing out a game like this) “The value is that we have a heck of a stretch coming and we don’t want to lose at home. I don’t care against who. We knew this was going to be a hard game, but we don’t ever want to disappoint this crowd with the support we get night in and night out. We want to make sure we win games here. That’s the most important thing to me. When you’re going on a road trip where we’re playing Nevada, Texas and Northern Iowa then go to San Diego, that’s tough enough. So, you have to win your home games that’s for sure. That’s a good way to get a feeling of closing out a close game. Especially battling back. It looked fire straights there first half and the second half they started out strong and we had to dig ourselves out again.

(on Alè struggles) “This was a hard game for him and Michael. Guarding smaller guys and Alè just couldn’t get in a rhythm. There was such a big hole I had to make a lineup change. I tell those guys all the time the guys who are getting it done on the floor deserve to play. This is about GCU nobody else. But you’re going to give Alè a chance down the stretch because he’s our best player. He’s our best offensive player. He made a big bucket down there, backed the guy down and made a huge shot.”

F

G

G

G

G

NO. Name Min

FG 3P FT Rebounds FoulsTP AS TO ST

Blocks+/-

M-A M-A M-A OR DR TOT PF FD BS BA

11 Zach Haney 18:57 2-3 0-0 0-0 3 2 5 1 1 4 0 2 0 0 0 -7

0 Marcus Dickinson 36:01 5-7 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 1 0 0 5

3 Justinian Jessup 21:20 2-8 1-4 0-0 0 2 2 5 0 5 1 3 2 1 0 10

13 Pat Dembley 27:23 4-8 2-5 1-2 0 2 2 4 2 11 1 4 0 0 0 2

23 RJ Williams 37:26 11-14 0-0 1-4 2 5 7 2 5 23 2 4 5 1 1 0

33 David Wacker 21:03 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 2 1 5

5 Malek Harwell 15:49 1-3 1-1 4-4 1 0 1 3 2 7 0 1 0 0 1 -4

21 Derrick Alston 22:01 2-6 1-3 1-2 0 3 3 3 3 6 0 1 0 1 0 -21

Team 0 4 4 0 1

Totals 27-50 6-15 7-12 7 21 28 22 17 67 5 17 8 5 3 -2

Technical Fouls: NONE

Shooting By Period

1st FG% 16-28 57.1%

3PT% 4-8 50.0%

FT% 0-1 0%

2nd FG% 11-22 50.0%

3PT% 2-7 28.6%

FT% 7-11 63.6%

GM FG% 27-50 54.0%

3PT% 6-15 40.0%

FT% 7-12 58.3%

Dead Ball Rebounds: 1, 0

F

F

F

G

G

NO. Name Min

FG 3P FT Rebounds FoulsTP AS TO ST

Blocks+/-

M-A M-A M-A OR DR TOT PF FD BS BA

4 Oscar Frayer 27:16 4-7 2-4 1-5 1 4 5 0 4 11 0 1 2 0 0 -16

25 Alessandro Lever 15:04 1-4 0-2 1-2 0 2 2 0 1 3 2 1 0 0 0 -16

43 Michael Finke 12:59 3-5 0-2 0-0 1 0 1 2 0 6 0 2 0 0 0 -18

2 Trey Drechsel 26:22 4-10 1-5 1-2 0 3 3 4 4 10 3 1 0 0 1 4

24 Tim Finke 11:44 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 -11

11 Damari Milstead 28:16 4-9 1-3 4-5 1 0 1 1 4 13 3 2 2 0 2 13

23 Carlos Johnson 26:37 5-9 1-2 3-4 1 2 3 3 4 14 1 3 1 0 0 18

42 Gerard Martin 26:46 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 4 3 2 1 1 0 2 1 18

5 Matt Jackson 24:56 4-6 2-4 0-0 1 5 6 3 1 10 0 0 0 1 1 18

Team 3 2 5 0 0

Totals 26-54 7-23 10-18 9 20 29 17 22 69 10 12 5 3 5 2

Technical Fouls: NONE

Shooting By Period

1st FG% 15-30 50.0%

3PT% 4-13 30.8%

FT% 1-2 50%

2nd FG% 11-24 45.8%

3PT% 3-10 30.0%

FT% 9-16 56.3%

GM FG% 26-54 48.1%

3PT% 7-23 30.4%

FT% 10-18 55.6%

Dead Ball Rebounds: 6, 0

Boise St. - 67 Record: 2-5

Grand Canyon - 69 Record: 5-3

BSU GCU

Biggest lead 11 (2nd 15:12) 6 (1st 5:05)

Best Scoring Run 12 (2nd 15:12) 10 (1st 6:11)

Lead Changes 11

Times Tied 7

Time with Lead 29:26 06:15

Points from BSU GCU

Turnovers 11 14

Paint 38 28

Second Chance 9 12

Fast Breaks 13 3

Bench 13 39

Period by Period Scoring

1st 2nd TOT

BSU 36 31 67

GCU 35 34 69

Official Basketball Box Score - Final

Boise St. at Grand Canyon12/01/18 GCU Arena, Phoenix, Ariz.

2018-19 Men's Basketball

Game Time: 7:00 PM

Game Duration: 2:04

Attendance: 7,317

Officials: Casey McClellan, Gregory Nixon, Marques Pettigrew

BOISE STATE

SATURDAYDEC. 17 P.M.

PHOENIX, ARIZ.

GRAND CANYON

‹ 30 ›


#LOPESUP

2018-19 / CAREER AVERAGESGP PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 3PT%

18-19 0/0Career 0/0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

MISCELLANEOUSPTS REB AST DOUBLE- LED GRAND CANYON IN...

10+ 20+ 10+ 5+ DOUBLE PTS REB AST STL BLK18-19Total

CAREER HIGHS

PTS --

REB --

AST --

STL --

BLK --

MIN --

NOTES » Finished as the storied Hutchinson CC (Kansas) program’s No. 7 all-

time scorer with 1,295 points over two seasons. » Earned first team NJCAA and NABC All-America honors along with

being named the Jayhawk Conference and Region 6 Player of the Year. » Helped the Blue Dragons to a 35-2 record and an NJCAA Division I

National Championship as a freshman in 2016-17. » Helped state championship teams at Shadow Mountain HS (Phoenix)

as a sophomore in 2014 and senior in 2016. » Was a two-year Shadow Mountain teammate of Carlos Johnson.

0J.J. RHYMESGuard Jr. • 6-4 • 205 Phoenix, Ariz.


18-19 0/0Career 60/2 11.4 2.3 2.5 1.0 0.3 34.9 79.6 28.0


10+ 20+ 10+ 5+ DOUBLE PTS REB AST STL BLK18-19Total 11 5 1

CAREER HIGHS

PTS 19, vs. Maryland, 2/15/17

REB 4, 4x, last vs. Brown, 12/30/17

AST 6, vs. Lewis, 12/19/17

STL 2, 5x, last vs. Sacred Heart, 11/24/17

BLK 2, vs. Dayton, 12/17/16

MIN 34, at Purdue, 2/1/17

NOTES » Set to redshirt the season after transferring from Northwestern. » Hit a go-ahead basket with 1:30 left in OT and sealed the win with a

pair of free throws over Michael Finke’s Illinois team on Dec. 1, 2017. » As a freshman in 2016-17, was the Wildcats’ fifth-leading scorer and

top freshman scorer at 6.9 points per game. » Part of a squad that led Northwestern to its first NCAA Tournament

appearance in the program’s 112-year history. » Was the Washington Gatorade Player of the Year in 2015-16 after

averaging 33.8 points and 6.0 rebounds.

1ISIAHBROWNGuard Jr. • 6-2 • 175 Lynnwood, Wash.


18-19 8/8 10.4 4.0 3.1 1.0 0.3 47.6% 70.0% 33.3%Career 72/69 12.5 6.2 3.4 1.2 0.2 43.2 80.3 32.4


10+ 20+ 10+ 5+ DOUBLE PTS REB AST STL BLK18-19 5 1 2 1 5 3 2Total 46 12 9 9 6 2 1 5 3 2

CAREER HIGHS

PTS 32, vs. Concordia, 11/30/17

REB 17, vs. Concordia, 11/30/17

AST 10, vs. Douglas, 11/15/17

STL 5, at MSU Billings, 1/13/18

BLK 2, 2x, last vs. Alaska Anchorage, 2/4/16

MIN 40, 5x, last vs. Saint Martin’s, 3/2/18

NOTES » Reached double figures in four of the five wins this season. » Second on the team in minutes played averaging 25 minutes per game. » Appeared in 64 career games for Division II Western Washington with

61 starts, averaging 12.8 points. » Earned first team All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference honors as a

redshirt junior in 2017-18 after starting all 29 games and averaging 14.9 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.9 assists.

» Recorded a career-high 32 points in a Nov. 30, 2017 win over Concordia and had another 30-point game against Tampa on Dec. 17, 2017.

2TREY DRECHSELGuard R-Sr. • 6-6 • 205 Woodinville, Wash.


18-19 0/0Career 16/0 0.8 0.4 0.2 0.0 0.1 57.1 100.0 66.7



CAREER HIGHS

PTS 5, vs. UC Riverside, 11/26/17

REB 3, vs. Maryland E. Shore, 12/17/16

AST 1, 3x, last vs. Alabama A&M, 12/21/17

STL --

BLK 1, vs. UC Riverside, 11/26/17

MIN 6, vs. Central Arkansas, 12/13/16

NOTES » Immediately eligible after joining the Lopes as a graduate transfer. » Saw action in 15 games over his three years with the Michigan

program including a redshirt season in 2015-16. » Part of a Michigan squad that advanced to the NCAA Championship

game in 2017-18 and qualified for the tournament in all three seasons. » Hudsonville HS all-time leading scorer with 1,047 career points. » Older brother, Blake, played basketball and baseball at Central Mich. » Father, Greg, played basketball at Ferris State from 1988 to 1992.

3BRENT HIBBITTSForward R-Jr. • 6-8 • 210Hudsonville, Mich.


18-19 8/8 8.4 4.6 1.6 0.6 1.0 41.7% 47.1% 28.1%Career 72/61 8.8 4.8 1.1 1.1 0.8 43.8 58.8 30.8


10+ 20+ 10+ 5+ DOUBLE PTS REB AST STL BLK18-19 3 1 3 1 1 4Total 32 1 5 1 3 8 14 4 25 28

CAREER HIGHS

PTS 23, at New Mexico State, 2/10/18

REB 15, vs. UMKC, 3/8/18

AST 5, vs. Utah Valley, 3/9/18

STL 4, 3x, last at UTRGV, 2/8/18

BLK 4, 2x, last vs. William Jessup, 1/23/18

MIN 42, at Chicago State, 1/28/17

NOTES » Team leader in blocks with 11 and is third in rebounding with 4.8 per game. » Named to the Preseason All-WAC team, earning first-team honors in

the coaches poll and second-team recognition in the media poll. » Last year, was the Lopes fifth-leading scorer at 9.6 points per game. » Named to the All-WAC Defensive Team in 2017-18. » Became known as GCU’s human highlight reel, earning WAC Top Play

honors on seven occasions as a sophomore in 2017-18. » Had a putback dunk at Illinois go viral on Dec. 30, 2017, being featured

on SportsCenter and Bleacher Report.

4OSCARFRAYERForward Jr. • 6-7 •190 Oakland, Calif.


18-19 8/0 5.1 3.0 0.6 0.4 0.4 60.0% 53.8% 44.4%Career 95/16 4.2 2.9 0.8 0.3 0.2 41.3 63.5 33.1


10+ 20+ 10+ 5+ DOUBLE PTS REB AST STL BLK18-19 1 2 1 1 1Total 10 1 4 3 8 13

CAREER HIGHS

PTS 13, vs. Utah Valley, 1/16/16

REB 8, 3x, last vs. Jacksonville, 11/12/18

AST 5, 2x, last vs. Utah Valley, 2/24/18

STL 2, 5x, last at Chicago State, 1/18/18

BLK 2, vs. South Carolina State, 3/14/16

MIN 30, vs. Great Falls, 12/6/14

NOTES » Played a season-high 25 minutes against Boise State , the most since last

season against Utah Valley on Feb. 24. » Returned to the floor last season after going 597 days without playing

in a college game due to five surgeries for hip and back issues. » Scored in double figures four times throughout his junior season

including a season-high 12 points against Grambling State on Dec. 9. » Scored a career-best 13 points after draining three 3-pointers in a win

against Utah Valley as a sophomore on Jan. 16, 2016.

5MATTJACKSONForward R-Sr. • 6-8 • 230 Melbourne, Australia


18-19 8/0 10.6 2.0 3.1 1.4 0.0 40.6% 80.6% 26.7%Career 34/0 6.0 1.0 1.6 0.6 0.1 43.8 82.8 41.2


10+ 20+ 10+ 5+ DOUBLE PTS REB AST STL BLK18-19 4 1 1 5 3Total 6 1 1 7 7 1

CAREER HIGHS

PTS 21, vs. Seton Hall, 11/22/18

REB 4, 2x, last vs Arkansas State, 11/16/18

AST 4, last vs. Seton Hall, 11/22/18

STL 5, vs Arkansas State, 11/16/18

BLK 1, 2x, last vs. Utah Valley, 2/24/18

MIN 27, vs Arkansas State, 11/16/18

NOTES » Averaging 25 minutes, 14.2 points, and two steals in the last five games

off the bench. » Saw action in 26 games during his freshman campaign, averaging 9.4

minutes and 4.5 points. » Led team with 52.6 percent 3-point shooting (minimum 10 attempts),

going 10 for 19 on the season. » Also led team in free throw percentage (minimum 25 attempts), going

48 for 57 (84.2 percent) on the season. » Had a streak of 22 consecutive free throw makes from Dec. 9 to Feb. 1.

11DAMARIMILSTEADGuard So. • 6-2 • 190 Hayward, Calif.


18-19 5/0 2.8 2.4 0.4 0.2 0.6 22.2% 100.0% 14.3%Career 38/7 4.8 2.9 0.7 0.3 0.3 35.3 76.3 20.7


10+ 20+ 10+ 5+ DOUBLE PTS REB AST STL BLK18-19 1Total 4 1 1 2 3 1 4 4

CAREER HIGHS

PTS 25, vs. UT Rio Grande Valley, 1/13/18

REB 8, 3x, last vs. William Jessup, 1/23/18

AST 6, vs. Norfolk State, 11/20/17

STL 3, vs. Grambling State, 12/9/17

BLK 2, 2x, last vs. Delaware State, 11/10/18

MIN 31, vs. Norfolk State, 11/20/17

NOTES » Scored a season-high eight points and two blocks against Jacksonville. » As a freshman, appeared in 33 games and averaged 5.2 points. » Had first double-digit scoring game with 14 points against Norfolk

State on Nov. 20, 2017. » Scored a season-high 25 points against UT Rio Grande Valley on Jan.

13, 2018. Set GCU’s D-1 mark for points in a game by a true freshman. » Played on the Latvian National Team. » Learned about U.S. culture after living with an American family whose

father, Flo Hartenstein, played basketball at Oregon.

12ROBERTSBLUMBERGSForward So. • 6-10 • 220 Ventspils, Latvia

PLAYER CAPSULES

‹ 31 ›


#LOPESUP


18-19 1/0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 50.0 0.0Career 1/0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 50.0 0.0



CAREER HIGHS

PTS 1, vs Delaware State, 11/10/18

REB --

AST --

STL --

BLK --

MIN 2, vs Delaware State, 11/10/18

NOTES » Played two minutes and made a free throw in GCU debut. » Helped Summit Christian Academy (Mo.) to a 67-33 mark during his

four-year career. » Averaged 15.0 points as a senior for the team’s second-highest

scoring average. Shot 38.6 percent from 3-point range. » Shared the court as a senior with younger brother Jared, a freshman.

The brothers represented the Eagles’ top two rebounders in 2017-18. » Father, Daniel, played basketball at Wartburg College from 1983 to

1987. Ranks in the program’s top 10 for career blocks (65).

15RAEFGERDESForward Fr. • 6-7 • 185 Lee’s Summit, Mo.


18-19 0/0Career 0/0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0



CAREER HIGHS

PTS --

REB --

AST --

STL --

BLK --

MIN --

NOTES » Transfered to The Walker School (Ga.) for his senior season, returning

from injury to score 24 points including the game-winning free throw in the team’s come-from-behind playoff victory on Feb. 16, 2018.

» Earned All-Region honors. » As a freshman at Pace Academy (Ga.), shared the court with his older

brother Elijah, a senior, in 2014-15. Both earned All-Region 6 honors. » Was a teammate of Wendell Carter Jr., the No. 7 pick in the 2018 draft. » Father, Rick, played professional baseball for five organizations.

22CALEBHOLIFIELDGuardFr. • 6-2 • 185Duluth, Ga.


18-19 8/5 10.6 4.0 1.0 0.6 0.3 41.7% 77.8% 16.7%Career 56/9 5.9 2.6 0.6 0.3 0.2 43.3 65.0 21.0


10+ 20+ 10+ 5+ DOUBLE PTS REB AST STL BLK18-19 5 2 1 2 2Total 13 1 1 2 1 2 2

CAREER HIGHS

PTS 19, vs. Arizona State, 2/16/17

REB 12, vs. Arizona State, 2/16/17

AST 3, at UCLA, 3/1/17

STL 2, at Arizona State, 1/25/17

BLK 1, 9x, last vs. Seton Hall, 11/22/18

MIN 35, vs. Arizona State, 2/16/17

NOTES » Averaging 12.7 points and 25.3 minutes per game in the previous three

games off the bench, after starting the first five games of the season. » Scored 10 or more points in four of the first seven games. » Ruled immediately eligible after transferring from Washington. » Saw action in all 31 games as a freshman for the Huskies in 2016-17.

Averaged 5.9 points and 3.0 rebounds, second-most points per game among the team’s freshmen behind Markelle Fultz.

» Appeared in only 17 games during his sophomore season in 2017-18 under first-year head coach Mike Hopkins.

23CARLOS JOHNSONGuardJr. • 6-3 • 215 Centralia, Ill.


18-19 8/3 5.3 3.9 1.3 0.3 0.1 45.2% 61.5% 42.9%Career 8/3 5.3 3.9 1.3 0.3 0.1 45.2 61.5 42.9


10+ 20+ 10+ 5+ DOUBLE PTS REB AST STL BLK18-19 1 2 2 1Total 1 2 2 1

CAREER HIGHS

PTS 14, vs Utah, 11/23/18

REB 8, vs Jacksonville, 11/12/18

AST 3, 2x, vs Jacksonville, 11/12/18

STL --

BLK 1, vs Delaware State, 11/10/18

MIN 32, vs Utah, 11/23/18

NOTES » Set career highs in minutes (32), points (14), 3-point field goals (4), in his first

career start against Utah in the Wooden » A four-star recruit, became most touted signing in program history. » Regarded as Illinois’ No. 2 recruit by ESPN.com as a high school player. » Tallied 2,015 career points to become Champaign-Urbana’s all-time

leading scorer. » Helped lead the Maroons to a 3A regional title in all three seasons at

the school after transferring for his sophomore season. » Earned All-Area first team honors all four years of high school.

24TIM FINKEGuardFr. • 6-6 • 195 Champaign, Ill.


18-19 8/8 13.0 4.8 0.9 0.1 0.3 53.0% 73.0% 38.9%Career 41/34 12.4 4.5 1.1 0.3 0.4 47.4 76.2 34.4


10+ 20+ 10+ 5+ DOUBLE PTS REB AST STL BLK18-19 6 1 1 3 2 1 2Total 23 10 4 2 14 10 1 5 11

CAREER HIGHS

PTS 30, vs. Seattle U, 2/22/18

REB 10, 3x, last vs. Seattle U, 2/22/18

AST 4, 2x, last vs. Chicago State, 2/3/18

STL 2, vs. Utah Valley, 3/9/18

BLK 2, 2x, last vs. Utah Valley, 3/9/18

MIN 37, 2x, last vs. Utah Valley, 2/24/18

NOTES » Recorded fourth career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds

verses La Salle. » Selected as the WAC Preseason Player of the Year. » Named to the 21-member watch list for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Center of the Year award. » In 2017-18, earned All-WAC first team honors and was named the

conference’s Freshman of the Year. » Led GCU with 12.2 points per game with an uptick to 15.8 during WAC. » Played on the Italian 18U and 20U national teams.

25ALESSANDROLEVERCenter So. • 6-10 • 230 Bolzano, Italy


18-19 1/0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0Career 1/0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0



CAREER HIGHS

PTS --

REB --

AST --

STL --

BLK --

MIN 2, vs Delaware State, 11/10/18

NOTES » Played two minutes in GCU debut verses Delaware State. » Set for first season with GCU program. » Played his senior season at Maranatha Christian Academy (Minn.)

where he was named the team’s biggest “gym rat.” » Played his junior season at Robbinsdale Armstrong (Minn.).

35QUINNSMITHGuard Fr. • 6-6 • 205 Brooklyn Park, Minn.


18-19 8/0 4.3 1.9 1.0 1.0 0.4 57.9% 88.9% 44.4%Career 107/57 4.3 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.3 38.1 62.7 32.1


10+ 20+ 10+ 5+ DOUBLE PTS REB AST STL BLK18-19 1 3 2Total 9 1 1 7 10 22 19

CAREER HIGHS

PTS 17, vs. Central Michigan, 12/03/15

REB 10, vs. Seattle U, 1/21/17

AST 7, 3x, last vs. Seattle U, 1/21/17

STL 7, vs. SIUE, 11/28/16

BLK 2, 3x, last vs. Little Rock, 11/18/17

MIN 40, 3x, last at Chicago State, 1/28/17

NOTES » Recorded double digits minutes in every game this season. » As a junior in 2017-18, came off the bench and saw action in all 34

games. » Earned WAC All-Defensive Team honors as a sophomore in 2016-17

after leading the Lopes with 42 steals. » Career-high came as a redshirt freshman at Central Michigan on Dec.

3, 2016 where he knocked down five 3-pointers. » A two-time conference champion at Scots College in Sydney with a

20.0 scoring average.

42GERARDMARTINGuardR-Sr. • 6-7 • 225 Manly, Australia


18-19 8/8 8.6 5.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 49.0% 75.0% 30.4%Career 101/58 8.0 4.2 0.9 0.2 0.2 47.1 62.6 35.8


10+ 20+ 10+ 5+ DOUBLE PTS REB AST STL BLK18-19 2 1 1Total 36 3 4 1 3 1 1

CAREER HIGHS

PTS 24, vs. Western Carolina, 12/5/15

REB 16, at Minnesota, 1/23/16

AST 5, at Iowa, 2/18/17

STL 3, at Northwestern, 2/7/17

BLK 3, vs. DePaul, 11/17/17

MIN 36, at Minnesota, 1/23/16

NOTES » Played his 100th career collegiate game against La Salle. » Appeared in 89 career games at Illinois, averaging 8.9 points and 4.3

rebounds with 47.3 percent shooting. » A three-time All-Academic Big Ten selection. » Scored in double figures in 13 games with two 20-point performances

last year. Had nine points including a late 3-pointer in an Illini win over the Lopes in Champaign, Ill. on Dec. 30, 2017.

» Finished prep career ranked fourth all-time at Centennial HS (Ill.) with 1,425 points.

43MICHAELFINKEForwardR-Sr. • 6-10 • 235 Champaign, Ill.

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