Grand Canyon heads to Las Vegas to enjoy San Francisco, Colorado
Grand Canyon leaves its arena for the initially time this basketball year and will locate out how it adapts at a neutral internet site in Las Vegas to participate in top quality opponents San Francisco and Colorado.
The Antelopes (4-1), who have not played due to the fact dropping to Arizona Condition 71-70 on Sunday, will play San Francisco (5-4) on Sunday, then Colorado (4-1) on Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
It is really portion of the Far West Common.
San Francisco, coached by previous Phoenix Sunnyslope Significant standout guard Todd Golden, beat Virginia 61-60 early in the time when the Cavaliers were being rated No. 3 in the country. They defeat Nevada by 25 details a week ahead of the Antelopes beat Nevada by 10.
The Dons are coming off street losses to Pac-12 groups California (72-7) and Oregon (74-64).
They lost at the buzzer at Cal.
“They’ve performed a genuinely rough plan so their document is not indicative to how well they have been actively playing,” Drew said.
Drew said the things that Golden is working it similar to what Kyle Smith ran at San Francisco and at Columbia. Golden was an assistant under Smith at Columbia in the 2013-14 time and served as an affiliate head mentor below Smith at USF for a few yrs ahead of staying named as head coach in late March.
Drew confronted Columbia when he was the head coach at Valparaiso.
“They’re managing a lot of the entries that they ran at Columbia, truly excellent stuff,” Drew mentioned. “They’ve completed a good position and Todd picked up exactly where Kyle still left off. Extremely veteran staff. They’ve performed a lot of games due to the fact they know who they are.
“I think they’re the second-greatest workforce in the West Coastline Convention (upcoming to Gonzaga) on how they’re playing right now. It will be a extremely difficult test for us.”
GCU has experienced its longest extend amongst game titles simply because its Tuesday activity was canceled thanks to a COVID-19 problem on NAIA SAGU American Indian College’s crew.
Guards Jovan Blacksher and Mikey Dixon and large men Alessandro Lever and Asbjorn Midtgaard, alongside with wing Oscar Frayer, will have to be on prime of their match with the level of competition in advance.
“They shoot the ball well from outdoors, all five positions,” Drew said of USF. “They’ll distribute it out. I feel their expertise and techniques are actually outstanding. They do a fantastic job of discovering their shooters when they are open.”
This will be GCU’s initial time in a “peaceful” gym, Drew claimed.
GCU was ready to preserve some of the pre-COVID activity atmosphere with about 300 pupils authorized in and the pep band playing, together with the audio amplified from the speakers.
“I think it will be superior ahead of we perform Tarleton on the road in (Western Athletic Meeting) convention,” Drew reported.
Drew reported the gamers have shown adaptability considering that the summer months workouts.
“They know that adapting and being flexible are two actually crucial pieces to this time,” Drew claimed. “So significantly they have carried out definitely perfectly adapting and shifting to practice. Even when our sport was canceled, they did a truly superior career at observe that night time.”
Sunday’s sport
Grand Canyon (4-1) vs. San Francisco (5-4), 5 p.m., at T-Cellular Arena in Las Vegas: This sport was scheduled as section of the Jerry Colangelo Basic at the Suns Arena, but, mainly because of COVID-19, the classic was canceled this 12 months. If GCU wins, it would tie its second-very best start out in 8 seasons as an NCAA Division I member. San Francisco is coming off back again-to-again losses to Pac-12 teams California and Oregon on the street. It beat Virginia early in the year when Virginia was ranked No.4 in the nation.
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