By Stephen Vilardo, SuperWest Sports activities
Welcome to the Mountain West, Antelopes!
The 2025-26 Grand Canyon males’s basketball group is making fairly the doorway into their new convention this season.
MW was a step up in competitors and physicality for Bryce Drew and his GCU squad, however they’ve dealt with the problem effectively up to now.
That success has been abundantly evident within the again half of January.
Grand Canyon upset Utah State on the seventeenth, when the Aggies have been ranked fifteenth within the NET, changing into the highest-ranked NET sufferer the Lopes have ever taken down.
They did it by locking down the sharp-shooting Aggies and limiting them to only 36.2% from the ground.
GCU adopted up that efficiency in maybe this system’s biggest back-to-back regular-season wins by beating San Diego State 4 days later.
These two wins got here in the midst of a two-and-a-half-week stretch that noticed the Antelopes go 5-1, together with a win over Boise State, making a logjam atop the league standings.
The win streak got here to an finish in extra time at Nevada on Tuesday night time.
(Facet notice on that matchup in Reno with Steve Alford’s Wolf Pack: It marked the primary time {that a} pair of Indiana Mr. Basketballs coached towards one another collegiately.)
GCU was a bit shorthanded, with starters Brian Moor Jr. and Caleb Shaw each out with accidents, however nonetheless gave the Pack all they might deal with within the OT loss.
The dearth of depth was evident within the field rating because the Lopes bench was outscored 41-2 by Nevada. GCU’s starters performed 92% of the sport’s minutes.
Grand Canyon’s bench has been an enormous motive for the group’s success this yr. The Lopes are 11-1 when their bench outscores the opposition.
The loss tightened the highest of the league standings much more, as 5 groups now sit inside two video games of one another.
One other key to the success of Grand Canyon in convention play has been the play of Makaih Williams.
The junior guard has been a bench performer for essentially the most half, and has seen his scoring common in league play bounce to fifteen.9 factors per recreation in comparison with 10.7 in nonconference contests.
The play of Jaden Henley can also’t be ignored. The senior guard transferred to GCU this season and has been impactful. He at the moment leads the group in scoring at 17.2 factors per recreation, whereas additionally gathering 5.5 rebounds per outing.
His scoring common ranks fifth-highest within the convention, and his rebounding whole is tenth within the league, among the many finest for backcourt gamers.
The largest issue within the Antelopes’ success to this point this season has been their stifling protection, limiting opponents to only 40.9% from the sector. During the last 11 video games, they’ve held opponents to 38.8% capturing from the ground.
Grand Canyon’s efficient FG protection is tied for twenty fourth finest within the nation at 46.7%, permitting opponents solely 23.1 made FGs per recreation. That ranks them within the Prime 25 in that class nationally.
We nonetheless have loads of basketball left to play, however the Lopes have accomplished an awesome job of adjusting to the Mountain West, giving themselves a chance to make some noise down the stretch.
And as the remainder of the league is discovering, World Credit score Union Area has confirmed to be a troublesome place to play. The Lopes are 9-2 at house this season, together with a non-conference win over USC.
In solely their first season, Grand Canyon appears to be like to have some endurance among the many finest within the Mountain West.
writes about numerous matters for SuperWest sports activities, together with stats and data, faculty sports activities, and motorsports. He additionally based and runs the Sports activities and Leisure Analysis Heart (SERC).
