PHOENIX – Many in the college basketball world refer to March as “madness,” but for Grand Canyon men’s basketball, the more fitting word to describe the month is “dominance.”
The 2025 Lopes will compete in their third consecutive NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament after winning the WAC championship for the fourth time in five years, thanks in large part to this year’s graduating class. The Lopes face No. 4 Maryland in the first round Friday.
The Lopes seniors make up five of the team’s top seven leading scorers. Seniors JaKobe Coles (14.8), Tyon Grant-Foster (14.5) and Ray Harrison (11.6) are the top three leading scorers.
On March 6, behind Coles’ 19 points, GCU defeated Utah Tech 90-68 on Senior Night, sending the Trailblazers to their 13th consecutive loss and extending GCU’s winning streak to six games. Coles added five rebounds, while Harrison finished with 13 points and four steals.
Lopes coach Bryce Drew made an immediate impact on the program after replacing Phoenix Suns legend Dan Majerle in 2020. Drew coached Grand Canyon to its first WAC championship in school history, earning their first trip to the Big Dance, where the No. 15 Lopes fell to No. 2 Iowa.
Two years later, during the 2022-23 season, GCU was the preseason favorite to win the WAC but had a largely poor regular season and finished fifth in the WAC standings. GCU then turned a corner and won four straight games to capture the WAC championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament, where Gonzaga defeated them in Denver. Harrison finished the game with 20 points.
Last season, the Lopes finished with a school-record 30–5 mark and won the program’s first NCAA Tournament game. As the 12-seed, the Lopes defeated fifth-seeded Saint Mary’s. The current GCU seniors, then juniors, combined for 55 of the team’s 75 total points in their nine-point victory over the Gaels.
PHOTO 8 (727), 9 (562) (Ray, Collin, Lok)
In the 2nd round, GCU lost to eventual Final Four qualifier Alabama after GCU had taken a lead with less than six minutes remaining behind Grant-Foster’s 29 points.
On Senior Night, GCU highlighted the players who were monumental in putting GCU on the national map and turning them into a force to be reckoned with when the three-time defending WAC tournament champs take the floor Friday.
Let the madness, or dominance. begin.
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