Pace, quality improvement for the game against Hilltoppers

Saturday November 9th | 6 p.m. | Global Credit Union Arena | Phoenix, Arizona.
	WESTERN KENTUCKY HILL TOPPER (0-1)	at	GRAND CANYON LOPES (1-0)
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The season is quickly approaching the teams and Western Kentucky will reach the Grand Canyon even quicker.

With a season-opening win among its best, GCU picks up the pace and looks for stature and speed Saturday night when Western Kentucky visits Global Credit Union Arena for a 6 p.m. game.

The Lopes, who will be missing the starters Duke Brennan And Tyon Grant Fosterwill face a Hilltoppers team that had the fastest pace in the country last season and won the Conference USA tournament to reach the NCAAs.

“When we miss shots and miss shots, they're going to try to apply pressure and try to get quick shots,” GCU head coach said Bryce Drew said. “They will increase the tempo by applying pressure after basket shots. Our boys have to react very quickly.”

Western Kentucky lost its season opener 91-84 at home to Wichita State on Monday, but the Hilltoppers' style of play was similar to last season, with three starters back from a 22-12 team. Western Kentucky averaged 2.1 possessions per minute in the opening game, exceeding last season's pace, but its performance was marred by 6-for-25 shooting from 3-point range. The Hilltoppers also went 5 for 25 for 3 in an exhibition game against UAB.

Senior guard Don McHenry, who was on the Preseason All-Conference USA team along with his Western Kentucky teammate Tyrone Marshall Jr., scored 21 points and was not the team's leading scorer. Babacar Faye, a 6-foot-8 forward who averaged 7.5 points last season, nearly doubled his career high with 28 points against Wichita State.

“It’s a great game for our guys to start the year against an NCAA Tournament team with a lot of experience,” GCU head coach said Bryce Drew said. “It will be a great opportunity again for some of our younger guys to get minutes and make an impact.”

The younger Lopes took on expanded roles as GCU opened the season with an 89-79 home win over Cal State Fullerton on Monday night. Brennan was sidelined with an arm injury and Grant-Foster will start his season in the next game against Arizona State. This moved the graduate Lök Wur and freshman sophomore Makaih Williams in starting positions for freshmen Austin Mason, Styles Phipps And Sammie Yeanay All made their collegiate debuts in the first half on Monday.

Williams may only be a second-year player, but he started 30 games for UT Arlington last season and was WAC Freshman of the Year. The 6-foot-2 guard started Monday with one turnover in the backcourt and three missed shots before finding his rhythm and posting 10 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Foul trouble limited Williams' playing time to 25 minutes and put more strain on Phipps, the point guard at St. Mary's High School in Phoenix. Phipps had five points, three rebounds and a steal in 17 minutes. Maurer, a 7-foot freshman, played 11 minutes and Yeanay, a 6-8 freshman, played seven minutes to help the shorthanded frontcourt along with the sophomore guard Caleb Shaw In his GCU debut, he played fourth at times.

“I thought the new guys gave us some really good minutes in their first college game,” Drew said. “Tyon will be back next week, but these guys have had a chance to develop a lot over the last few weeks without him playing. Hopefully the experience will help us in this game and in the future.”

“They're trying to get guys in space and empower them to make plays,” Western Kentucky head coach Hank Plona said of the Lopes in his Monday postgame press conference. “We're expecting a very turbulent environment down there and we're playing against a team that made it to the last 32. So it will be a huge challenge for us.”

Grant-Foster's juco coach leads tops

No one knows the style GCU will face Saturday night better than Grant-Foster, who was coached by Plona for two years at Indian Hills Community College in Iowa.

Plona, ​​an assistant coach for Western Kentucky last season, took over the Hilltoppers when last season's head coach Steve Lutz took the helm at Oklahoma State this offseason. Plona coached Grant-Foster in 2018-19 and 2019-20 at Indian Hills, where Plona's teams went 225-35.

Grant-Foster went from a freshman averaging 8.2 points per game to a sophomore averaging 16.5 under Plona.

“That’s my guy,” Grant-Foster said. “We are very close to this day. We always stay in touch. He has a special place in my heart. He believed in me and gave me a chance. He always told me the truth. He always told me that if I did the right things, I would be an NBA player.

Plona joked that he was looking forward to seeing Grant-Foster since he won't be playing Saturday night as he sits out one final game upon his return from early entry in the NBA Draft.

“He was always unique and special in my eyes,” Plona said of Grant-Foster in his press conference. “When I saw him play the summer before the start of his freshman year, I thought he was the one now – he was the kid who, man, was full of potential and had an optimistic attitude and a positive attitude. I always thought from that moment on, 'Because we got him six years ago, he has a chance to be an NBA player and he's an elite individual and has developed through all of this.

“Some of the things he's been through is most guys talk about keeping their heads down. Man, they'd struggle to move on or they'd be like, 'Why me?' He is a strong-willed, optimistic and positive young man. He is like family to me.

Lope's tracks

• GCU's chief security guard Ray Harrison is one of seven Division I players with at least 2,000 career points, but has played the fewest games (123) of the seven.
• This is the first of two games the Lopes will play as part of a scheduling initiative between the WAC and Conference USA. GCU will also visit Conference USA preseason favorite Louisiana Tech on December 16th.
• The Lopes have won 17 straight games at Global Credit Union Arena, tying the seventh-longest active home winning streak in the country.
• Western Kentucky's 6-foot-11 center Blaise Keita, a transfer from Nebraska, did not play in the Hilltoppers' opener due to a bruised knee.
• Saturday's game marks the first-ever meeting between GCU and Western Kentucky.
• GCU is one of 37 programs to qualify for three of the last four NCAA Tournaments.