Injuries, slumps, breakouts: Grand Canyon builds momentum heading into WAC play

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Grand Canyon is still waiting for reigning WAC Player of the Year Tyon Grant-Foster to break out of a prolonged shooting slump.

But, in the meantime, others are making an impact. In a 112-66 final non-conference rout of Bryant on Monday night before a sellout of 7,214 fans, Makaih Williams broke out with the biggest game of his career.

Last year’s WAC Freshman of the Year at UT Arlington, Williams had his career-high 25 points by halftime, and took over during a long stretch in the second half that put the Bulldogs away, 61-23.

Williams finished with 31 points and had five of his team’s 16 steals. He also made 10 of 11 free throws on a night when the Lopes made 35 of 44 from the line. He was 9 of 16 shooting, 3 of 6 from distance. All of this came off the bench, after starting the last three games with Caleb Shaw, as Grant-Foster and Collin Moore came off the bench.

GCU was 3-0 with Williams and Shaw in the starting lineup, but, before the game, coach Bryce Drew told them that he was returning Grant-Foster and Moore to the starting lineup for the final non-conference game, before Saturday’s start of WAC play at home against Southern Utah.

Here are takeaways from Monday’s game and the adversity the Lopes worked through to get to 10-4 after coming off a 30-win season that saw them win their first NCAA Tournament game:

Williams’ breakout performance

This was why the Lopes were ecstatic to get Williams on campus in the offseason after he entered the portal. He led UT Arlington to the WAC Tournament championship game, which the Lopes won.

But it took almost all of the non-conference games for Williams to show his full potential. With Williams and Shaw on the court during a long stretch in the first half Monday, the Lopes pulled away from Bryant (6-9), which was playing its first game in eight days and making its longest road trip from Rhode Island,

“I had trust in myself,” Williams said. “We’re playing great right now. Some people are having ups and downs. I’ve been having downs…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/injuries-slumps-breakouts-grand-canyon-172310376.html

Author : AZCentral | The Arizona Republic

Publish date : 2024-12-31 17:23:00

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