GCU gets assist from Baylor after gear left behind

Good thing for family. And a Nike store. Grand Canyon’s basketball gear got left behind in Phoenix as the team reached Denver on Wednesday for the NCAA Tournament.

But Baylor could be lending an assist. And there’s a Nike store to find stuff before the gear is expected to make its way to the Antelopes on Wednesday night via commercial airline.

Baylor is coached by Scott Drew, whose brother is Bryce, the head coach at GCU. Scott was able to assist Bryce in the meantime to help the Lopes get a practice in at Ball Arena, where their West Region first-round game against No. 3 Gonzaga will be played Friday.

“We are improvising for practice today,” Bryce Drew texted The Republic. “Trying the Nike store to see what all we can get and if we cannot get all we need, Baylor may help us for today.

“It will be nice to have all of our GCU gear later tonight.”

GCU has flown charter all season. But at the airport, according to a GCU spokesman, “portions of our baggage, including team practice gear and athletic equipment was not loaded by the ground crew at the airport this morning.”

Twelve bags of gear, which will include the players’ shoes, are being flown into Denver on Wednesday night with an athletic equipment staff member, the spokesman said. He added that members of the basketball staff are purchasing shoes and other gear at a nearby Nike store for Wednesday’s practice.

This is just one more chapter to the season of adversity for the 14th-seeded Lopes, who struggled with injuries this season, losing Preseason WAC Player of the Year Jovan Blacksher Jr. in early January, and had a peaks-and-valleys season to finally roll through six straight wins, including four in five days in Las Vegas to win the WAC championship and get this date with Gonzaga.