The contractual buyout for the home-and-home series to avoid coming to one of the nation’s loudest, craziest, wackiest college basketball venues was $150,000.
San Diego State opted to play.
It paid for not paying.
The 79-73 loss Tuesday night at Grand Canyon University will most certainly knock the No. 25 Aztecs from the Associated Press rankings, but the real damage may be in perception. You lost to a WAC team that’s been Division I for only a decade and was 0-9 against ranked opponents?
Coach Brian Dutcher said he wanted to challenge himself with the nonconference schedule, and this might have been the biggest – or perhaps, most ill-advised. The rest of the country knows it’s almost impossible to win at BYU and Gonzaga, where the Aztecs also play this season; it doesn’t yet understand GCU Arena and the 3,500-strong Havocs student section, and their hunger for national relevance.
Maybe it will now, thanks to an ESPNU telecast that showed a talented team and its maniacal fan base taking it to a program that played for the national championship earlier this year.
“When we recruited a lot of these guys, we talked about this game,” Grand Canyon coach Bryce Drew said. “We talked about things we wanted to accomplish this year, and this was definitely one of those things. Having a chance to have a ranked team in your building is special.
“The only way you get respect is by earning it. Our guys are aware of that.”
The Aztecs (7-2) trailed by 13 points inside five minutes to go after being down 14 at UC San Diego four nights earlier – another nonconference road game in a raucous atmosphere that, unlike conference, no one forced them to schedule. This time, there was no comeback, no buzzer-beater for a dramatic victory, no escape.
The penalty: a drop of 12 spots in the Kenpom from No. 19 before UCSD to 31 now, the equivalent of three seed lines in the NCAA Tournament and headed toward bubble territory.
“It’s loud, it’s energetic,” Dutcher said of the relentless wall of noise that was already in full voice 45 minutes before tip-off and stormed the court at the final buzzer. “They give their team energy. I think if we play this at Viejas and it’s a close game, maybe we come out on the other end.
“There’s a reason home teams are hard to beat in college basketball. And this is a team that’s been to the NCAA Tournament two of the last three years. This is a good team on their home floor, and we played well but not well enough to win.”
Grand Canyon coach Bryce Drew talks to an official during the first half.
(Rick Scuteri / Associated Press)
The Aztecs overcame a seven-point halftime deficit – and a 2-3 zone – to briefly take the lead, but the team that ranked second nationally in defensive efficiency last season couldn’t stop the Antelopes at the other end, allowing them to score on six straight possessions and 13 of 17. As proficient as the Aztecs were at times on offense, they simply couldn’t keep up.
The Antelopes shot 48 percent – a blistering 60 percent in the second half – and outrebounded the visitors 40-32.
“We just have to keep getting better on the defensive end,” said Jaedon LeDee, words you don’t usually hear from the SDSU camp. “It’s just something we have to work on. We have a lot of new guys. We got spoiled with Nathan (Mensah) and AG (Aguek Arop) and all those guys last year. It’s just a process.”
Added Dutcher: “We have to get better on defense. Who are we? We’re San Diego State. We defend and we rebound.”
LeDee had another double-double (24 points, 10 rebounds) and drew eight of Grand Canyon’s 21 fouls, but he had little help. No one else had more than 11 points, shooting a combined 34.8 percent. The Aztecs also were 15 of 24 from the line, including 0 of 4 by Friday night’s hero Lamont Butler.
And this wasn’t a UCSD team ranked in the 200s by the Kenpom metric, where you could afford to bring your B game. The Antelopes (7-1) and their five power-conference transfers are No. 73 in Kenpom and 56 in the NCAA’s NET.
Grand Canyon’s big three delivered: Ray Harrison had 23 points, many with defenders draped on him and one a banked-in 3; Tyon Grant-Foster, who spent a season at Kansas and missed the last two with life-threatening heart issues, recovered from a slow start to finish with 18 points and five assists (after having five total in the previous seven games), and Gabe McGlothan added 15 points and 13 rebounds.
The Aztecs actually had more offensive boards than GCU, 13-10. The Antelopes, however, had the edge in second-chance points, 16-9.
“I’m pleased with our offense,” Dutcher said. “I think we’re running good stuff. But we can’t manufacture everything with our set play calls and what we run. We have to get a long rebound and get a basket, we have to get a second-chance opportunity. I thought they got more of those than we did.”
Grand Canyon guard Collin Moore dunks over San Diego State guard Micah Parrish.
(Rick Scuteri / Associated Press)
Things seemed to going well, or as well as they can in a bandbox 7,000-seat arena filled with 3,000-plus amped-up students. The Aztecs weathered the early storm and 3 of 16 shooting to take the lead midway through the first half with a 9-0 run.
The Antelopes responded with a 2-3 zone and closed the half with a 9-0 run of their own for a 35-38 lead.
The Aztecs finally cracked the zone, LeDee converting a three-point play, then draining a 3 from the right corner. Another corner 3, this one by Reese Waters (11 points), put SDSU ahead with 15:47 to go – the 10th lead change of the game – and Drew burned another timeout, leaving him with one.
He never needed it. The Aztecs kept scoring, but so did his Antelopes – on six straight possessions to recapture a lead they never relinquished. Grant-Foster delivered back-to-back dagger 3s to push the margin to 69-56, and that was that.
Soon the students were storming the court and chanting “GCU, GCU,” reveling in the statement win missing from a program that reached full-fledged Div. I status in 2017-18. Drew was in the middle of the mosh pit, celebrating with them.
“What a great night for our school and the commitment they’ve made to basketball through the years,” Drew said. “The energy our crowd brings and them being out there and then staying with us after, man, what a great feeling. What a great experience for our team and for our students, too, to share that moment together.”
Notable
Next up: Saturday at home against UC Irvine (7:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1) … The Aztecs are now 1-4 against Grand Canyon, the only WAC school they don’t have a winning record against. They are 0-2 at Grand Canyon … The venue was officially renamed starting Tuesday from GCU Arena to Global Credit Union Arena – or still GCU Arena. Get it? … The officiating crew: Michael Irving, Brooks Wells and Mike Littlewood. Wells worked a double overtime game in Corvallis, Ore., the night before … The game was followed by a fireworks show outside and a party on the campus’ quad …
Waters went 6 of 6 from the line, meaning he is now a perfect 36 for 36 this season … With 10 points, Micah Parrish surpassed 1,000 points for his career … Redshirt sophomore Demarshay Johnson Jr. was the first big off the bench for SDSU instead of freshman Miles Heide. But Johnson was hit in the throat and Heide quickly replaced him … Sophomore Miles Byrd returned after not suiting up against UC San Diego last Friday with a hip problem and finished with two points, three rebounds and two steals in nine minutes … GCU entered the night leading the nation in free throw attempts at 30.1 per game, and attempted 31 against the Aztecs.
