UNM Men’s Basketball Looks to Flex Home-Court Muscle Against Grand Canyon’s Big Bodies
GCU’s seven footer Efe Demirel attempts to block Boise State’s Javann Buchannan’s shot in GCU’s 75-58 win on Jan. 7. Photo courtesy of GCU Athletics.
The Mountain West conference’s newest rivalry tips off Tuesday night in the Pit, where UNM looks to remind Grand Canyon why coming to Albuquerque remains one of the league’s toughest road trips.
The Lopes (10-5) have started strong in their first season in the Mountain West conference and stand at 3-1 in league play. They are on a two-game win streak, having won 75-58 at Boise State on Wednesday, followed by a 76-58 victory at home against San Jose State on Saturday.
GCU’s best statistic is its team defense.
The Lopes are 29th in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency and 11th in the nation in defensive rebounding percentage, meaning they grind out long defensive possessions and hold teams to one shot.
GCU’s size and physicality pressure the permiter but clog the lane, making rim shots difficult; like Boise State, the Lopes typically start four players 6-foot-6 or taller.
GCU forces teams to shoot shots in the mid-range or at the 3-point line. The blue shaded area in the paint shows that Grand Canyon allows less shot attempts in the lane compared to the national average. Graphic courtesy of CBB Analytics.
Freshman Efe Demirel (7-foot-1) provides rim protection and a strong interior presence for the Lopes. Demirel also brings some offense by running the floor and rolling to the rim. He averaged 13.5 points and seven rebounds over GCU’s two game winning streak.
“He’s really physical. He’s a problem for us just with his size and physicality,” Eric Olen said Monday when previewing Grand Canyon. "We saw that a little bit with Boise (State) where their frontcourt was really able to protect the basket and their physicality impacted us. I think Grand Canyon is similar…”
Graduate transfer forward Nana Owusu-Anane (6-8) is the top ranked defensive player in the Mountain West Conference according to Evan Maya’s Defensive Bayesian Performance Rating (DBPR), which quantifies a player's defensive value, showing points per 100 possessions.
Owusu-Anane is also GCU’s leading rebounder with 9.1 per contest, and chips in 9.7 points per game behind a respectable 33% from the 3-point line (15 of 45).
Grand Canyon features the fourth-leading scorer in the Mountain West conference in UNLV transfer Jaden Henley (6-7), who averages 17.2 points per game. He was GCU’s first ever Mountain West conference player of the week after having back-to-back 20-point games against Wyoming and IU Indy. Henley also leads the team in steals with 28 on the season.
Junior guard Makahi Williams (6-2) is instant offense of the bench for GCU averaging 12.3 points while also shooting 80% from the free throw line.
Williams’ 3-point shooting percentage has dropped to 32% since the first three games, but he’s a streaky shooter that can knock a few down if left open.
Redshirt-Junior forward Caleb Shaw (6-6) and junior forward Dusty Stromer (6-6) round out the scoring production for Grand Canyon as both lead the team in 3-point shooting percentage. Shaw replaced Stromer in the starting lineup 9 games into the season and scores 8.5 points per game shooting 39% from deep (20 of 51).
Stromer shoots 34% from long-range, but is coming off a 4 out of 6 from the 3-point line against SJSU on Saturday and is 46% from deep since conference play started.
Injury Report
Chris Howell continues to be sidelined with what is believed to be an oblique injury. A timetable for his return is uncertain.
Both Owusu-Anane and Stromer exited GCU’s game against San Jose State with twisted ankles. Owusu-Anane came back into the game, while Stromer did not return. Drew said they would need to be monitored and their status remains uncertain.
Keys to the Game
1. Score in the paint—UNM went 17-of-40 with shots inside the paint in its Dec. 30 loss to a bigger and more physical Boise State team. The Lobos will have to find ways to pull the seven-footer Demirel away from the paint, get him and Owusu-Anane in foul trouble, and finish at the rim when they get there.
2. Force turnovers and run—The Lobos have scored 43 points off turnovers in their last two games. “I thought we did well in both the last games with creating some turnovers and we’ve done a nice job of converting that into transition,” Olen said. “That’s something we always want to do… We’d like to build on that but Grand Canyon is a good basketball team…” GCU has had 5 games with 15 turnovers or more this season, which could provide the Lobos with some opportunities to steal the ball, get out in transition, and avoid GCU’s half-court defense.
3. Keep Buljan out of foul trouble—Eric Olen usually roles the dice when Buljan is in foul trouble, but the Lobos will need his point and rebounding production against the bigger Lopes. He can’t afford any cheap fouls in this one.
