Lever helps Antelopes end their skid
Before Saturday’s final non-conference game, Grand Canyon coach Dan Majerle took a team photo.
There were only nine players in the locker room.
He hopes to maybe frame it down the road, especially if these nine can play with “Hoosiers,” inspiration during the Western Athletic Conference play that starts up Jan. 4 at CSU Bakersfield.
They’ll have no games before then, and their most inspired basketball of the season, beating Eastern Illinois 85-63 before a crowd of 6,634 at GCU Arena, to take into the holidays.
Junior forward Alessandro Lever had his best game, making 10 of 13 shots, finishing with 24 points, seven rebounds and four assists a few days after he had a career-high 11 rebounds in a 20-point loss at New Mexico.
GCU (5-9), which ended a three-game losing streak and improved to 4-4 at home, made 11 of 19 3-pointers, after shooting just 27.3% from the arc in its first 13 games.
Majerle, it appears, is moving on without senior wing Oscar Frayer, who still was ineligible Saturday.
Frayer, a starter since his freshman year, has been out all season for academic reasons. He would have given the Antelopes an athletic scorer, rebounder and defender.
Early in the season, GCU moved on knowing it wasn’t going to have TCU transfer guard Jaylen Fisher, who would have been a game changer.
This week, the Antelopes lost forward
J.J. Rhymes for the season with a hip injury.
“As of right now, Oscar is gone,” Majerle said. “He’s not going to be eligible. I think there’s a one percent chance that he might be back. But I’m not holding out for it. It’s sad. I love Oscar. He’s been here since he was a freshman. He’d be a great player this year. He’s really worked hard. He’s unbelievably athletic. He would add a lot to this team.
“But he didn’t take care of his business in the classroom. There might be a minute chance. But it’s time to move on. It’s been all season. I’m not sure who is going to be on my team.
“I took a picture before the game. We have nine guys in there. I told the guys, ‘We look like ‘Hoosiers.’ There was hardly anybody in there. So I took a picture. Maybe that’s going to be our rally cry. Nine strong, or whatever you want to say. Now you know who we have on this team. They have to focus and get it done.”
This was easily GCU’s best game, but, Majerle said, “That’s not saying much.”
If he can get this kind of sustained effort, more than one or two players hitting 3s early, building a big lead, and not letting an opponent get back into it, then the Antelopes could be a good secondhalf team and make noise in the WAC.
Much of that depends on consistency.
Carlos Johnson started on fire, hitting his first four 3-pointers. Guard Mikey Dixon, a transfer from St. John’s who became eligible this week, had 15 points, doing most of his damage in the second half after returning to the court with four fouls. He created off the dribble to hit a pair of 3-pointers, and made a nice move inside for a layup. And he got to the line.