GCU is not the NCAA tournament lock that it was at this time a season ago, but it appears to be peaking at the right time and still has a relatively clear path to the Big Dance.
The ‘Lopes rolled the ball out to an 11-5 start that lacked the connectivity expected from a team that returned about two-thirds of its scoring from a 2023-24 campaign that included the program’s first tournament win before it nearly knocked off eventual-Final Four team Alabama in the second round.
Since a loss to Utah Valley on Jan. 9, GCU has won eight of its last nine, including two straight road wins on a trip to Texas over Tarleton State and UT Arlington.
“I feel a lot better than I did last week,” coach Bryce Drew told Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta. “After wins, you sleep a little bit better, practices are a little bit better, obviously more energy in the building. Hard to go to Texas to play, some hard environments. Very thankful to come home 2-0.”
The team played its best five minutes of the season in coming back to beat UTA, and it led to “probably the best team celebration we had in the locker room after the game,” Drew said on Day 2 of Newsmakers Week.
“You want to play your best basketball in March, we’ve talked about that all year and we’re definitely trending that way right now after (the 8-1 stretch),” Drew said. “We’re excited (about) where we are. Saturday, it’ll be a big test to see if we can keep it going.”
The ‘Lopes have Cal Baptist, which is responsible for GCU’s last loss, tipping off at 6 p.m. MST on Saturday in Phoenix, the first of the final five regular-season games.
While an at-large bid is likely out of reach, the ‘Lopes are currently second in the WAC and could punch their ticket with three wins in the conference tournament.
That tournament starts on March 12 in Paradise, Nevada after the conference’s two last-place teams duke it out in St. George, Utah for the eighth and final spot in the tournament.
“I think we’re definitely built to be able to succeed in March. We have experience, we have positional size, we have guys that have done it before, and so they’re proven,” Drew said. “Obviously, the hardest part is getting there, but … everything we’re playing for is still ahead of us, and how you finish is what people remember, not how you begin.”
GCU’s Tyon Grant-Foster finding his mojo down the stretch
Reigning WAC Player of the Year Tyon Grant-Foster has turned his season around in the 8-1 stretch, scoring 16.1 points per game on much better efficiency (54.4% shooting overall, 30.8% from 3) with 2.5 assists to boot. He had previously struggled out of the gates averaging 13.7 points (32%, 17.2% from 3) and 1.9 assists per game.
Grant-Foster’s activity and level of engagement on both ends late in the UTA comeback were what encouraged Drew most, as he had showcased his two-way aptitude throughout last season’s postseason run.
“I think there’s a ton you could put into there,” Drew said of what keyed the turnaround for his star. “You could probably put in some expectations, you could probably put in some (of the fact) that he isn’t in the NBA right now but he came back to college for one more year, you could definitely put in some conditioning, I think, in there.
“And then also, as the season winds down, that urgency kicks in even more. And I know he wants to win. He wants to finish this year strong and he’s definitely on a path to rewrite the beginning of the year and write it different for the end.”
Grant-Foster was last year’s WAC Tournament MVP and had 101 points, 30 rebounds, five assists, nine steals and nine blocks across four postseason games.
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