Spirited Lopes take on Toreros at Clippers’ new arena

West Coast Hoops Showcase Saturday, December 28  |  4:30 p.m. (Phoenix time)  |  Intuit Dome |  Inglewood, Calif.
	SAN DIEGO TOREROS (3-9)	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES (8-4)
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LOS ANGELES – The holiday week’s overflowing spirit for Grand Canyon will try to be turned into lasting joy when the week ends under the twinkling lights of the Intuit Dome.

GCU will play in the first-ever college basketball event at the Los Angeles Clippers’ new arena in Inglewood, California, where it plays San Diego at 4:30 p.m. (Phoenix time). The Lopes-Toreros game, which will only be broadcast on radio and audio stream, will follow a 2 p.m. game between No. 14 Gonzaga vs. No. 22 UCLA.

The Lopes (8-4) went into Christmas with emotions as high as a sleigh ride after graduate forward Lök Wur’s turnaround baseline jumper beat Saint Louis at home Sunday. Now, they will try to slay San Diego (3-9) on Saturday and Bryant (6-8) at home Monday night to enter WAC play with a four-game winning streak.

“It’s been such an up and down in the last few months,” GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. “We started the year so hot: the anticipation of Tyon (Grant-Foster) coming back, the anticipation of getting Duke (Brennan) in the lineup. We played so well in that Baylor scrimmage and then Tyon coming back and the Arizona State game.

“Since then, I don’t think we’ve had the same swagger. I don’t think we’ve had the same edge for the most part. Beating a team like Saint Louis, and doing it how we did it, hopefully this brings a lot to our team and fills the tank up a little bit more and gets us excited for two games before conference.”

Breaking out of a 3-point shooting funk is enough to be excited. The Lopes made 35% of 3s on Sunday after hitting fewer than 30% in five consecutive games for the first time in their Division I era. GCU senior guard Ray Harrison went from 5 for 20 on 3s in that icy stretch to heating up for 4-for-6 accuracy on 3s on Sunday.

Wur (48.5%), sophomore guard Caleb Shaw (45.5%) and senior guard Collin Moore (42.4%) are all hitting more than 40% of their 3s this season, while senior forward JaKobe Coles and sophomore guard Makaih Williams are coming off seasons when they showed they are capable of that marksmanship level.

“We’ve got a lot of good shooters,” Harrison said. “But that’s just how the game goes sometimes. Sometimes you make shots, sometimes you don’t. But I feel like we would definitely want to hit shots more closer to March than October or December.”

After being moved to a reserve role two games ago, Moore also broke out Sunday for his fourth career 20-point game. He made three 3s and also tied his career high with three blocked shots, including a crucial stuff with 16.6 seconds remaining to give GCU possession with a one-point deficit.

“He’s definitely going to find his groove,” Harrison said of Moore. “I feel like his best basketball is ahead of him, to be honest. Him and Tyon. Whatever we’re going through as a team, I feel like we’re doing a good job with dealing with it, individually and player to player. But those two guys specifically are special players. There’s only one way for them to go at this point. We’re confident in that.”

Grant-Foster, last season’s WAC Player of the Year, also came off the bench in the past two games but remained in a shooting slump that has him at 30.3% from the field for the season. Since making 3 of 5 3-pointers against Norfolk State, Grant-Foster is 1 for 29 on 3s in the past seven games.

However, the 6-foot-7 graduate swingman is averaging career highs for rebounds per game (6.2) and steals per game (2.2) despite playing fewer minutes per game (28.4) than last season.

“It just shows his aggressiveness, finding the ball, doing a great job,” Drew said. “His three assists (vs. Saint Louis) was really good. The Christmas break will be good.

“We know Tyon can make shots. We all know it. I keep saying it, but the next game is going to be his breakout game. That’s how we approach our practices, and how we approach it with them. It’s going to be an exciting day when that happens.”

 Lope tracks

• GCU has won seven of its past nine games against West Coast Conference opponents.
• The Lopes and Toreros have not played since December 2018, when San Diego won 61-58 in San Diego. GCU is 0-3 in the series.
• This will be the Lopes’ third NBA arena stop of the season after also playing at the Atlanta Hawks’ State Farm Arena and the Phoenix Suns’ Footprint Center.
• San Diego, which is on a five-game losing streak, is coached by former UCLA and St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin and assisted by former Phoenix Suns head coach Earl Watson.
• Toreros 6-foot-1 junior guard Kjay Bradley, a San Diego City College transfer, leads the team with 15.3 points, 3.8 assists and 2.0 steals per game.
• San Diego has the fifth-worst 3-point shooting percentage (26.9%) and 12th-worst turnover average (15.7 per game) in the nation. GCU has held opponents to 26.8% shooting on 3s over the past six games.
• The Toreros are top 50 nationally in fastbreak points (14.6 per game) and blocks (4.7 per game).
• GCU is averaging a plus-7.4 rebound margin in the past six games, a stretch in which junior center Duke Brennan has grabbed seven or more boards in each game.
• Despite matching a season low with three steals against Saint Louis, the Lopes rank 22nd nationally with 9.8 steals per game. That contributes to their plus-3.6 turnover margin per game.
• GCU, which ranks 19th nationally for free throw attempts per game (25.2), has made fewer than 60% of free throws in three consecutive games for the first time since February 2017.