In what might have been the beginning of a beautiful city rivalry, Grand Canyon did not take the Sun Devils lightly in their first meeting almost exactly one year ago.
Trailing by eight points on their own court, the Antelopes, 8-point betting underdogs, rallied. A pair of 3-pointers gave them a 70-68 lead inside the final minute before Remy Martin spelled their doom.
Martin nailed a 3-point shot with nine seconds left to give ASU the 71-70 victory. He finished with 31 points. Having moved on to Kansas, however, Grand Canyon does not have to worry about him when the teams reconvene in Tempe on Thursday night.
Arizona State could have used the gunner extraordinaire. It has been spiraling, scoring only 29 points in a recent game. This season, GCU is the stronger squad.
Still, the Sun Devils are between 3- and 3.5-point favorites at home, per odds around the betting market.
NCAAB · Thu (12/9) @ 9:35pm ET
| GCAN Grand Canyon | at | ASU Arizona State |
| Desert Financial Arena, Tempe, Arizona | ||
In what might have been the beginning of a beautiful city rivalry, Grand Canyon did not take the Sun Devils lightly in their first meeting almost exactly one year ago.
Trailing by eight points on their own court, the Antelopes, 8-point betting underdogs, rallied. A pair of 3-pointers gave them a 70-68 lead inside the final minute before Remy Martin spelled their doom.
Martin nailed a 3-point shot with nine seconds left to give ASU the 71-70 victory. He finished with 31 points. Having moved on to Kansas, however, Grand Canyon does not have to worry about him when the teams reconvene in Tempe on Thursday night.
Arizona State could have used the gunner extraordinaire. It has been spiraling, scoring only 29 points in a recent game. This season, GCU is the stronger squad.
Still, the Sun Devils are between 3- and 3.5-point favorites at home, per odds around the betting market.
Grand Canyon Antelopes (8-1, 5-3 ATS)
This is GCU’s ninth Division-I campaign, the second for coach Bryce Drew, who is 25-8 coaching the Antelopes.
He is best remembered for his days at Valparaiso, going to the NCAA Tournament his final three seasons as a guard playing for his pop, Homer. As a senior in 1998, Bryce helped Valpo beat Ole Miss and then Florida State in overtime, before losing to Rhode Island in the Sweet 16.
Coaching his alma mater, Bryce took Valpo to the NCAAs four times in eight seasons. In his debut season for GCU, he guided the Antelopes to their first NCAAs in March, when they lost an opener to Iowa, 86-74.
Junior guard Javon Blacksher Jr., who hit one of those two late 3-pointers to help nudge the Antelopes ahead of the Devils a year ago, averages 16.1 points and 4.1 steals.
He’s hitting 3-pointers at a 43.8% clip, too, which will be a key for GCU against ASU. Fellow guard Holland Woods II, a senior, is canning them at a 39.5% rate, and forward Gabe McGlothan is sinking 38.5% from beyond the arc.
As a team, GCU hits 3-pointers at a 36.5% rate, which is in the top quarter of college hoops. That will bother the Sun Devils, as will the Antelopes’ perimeter defense — at 26.8%, only 25 teams hinder their foes more from long range.
McGlothan and Yvan Ouedraogo have been the anchors to the Antelopes’ top-10 national offensive-rebounding rate of 43.4%, so the Devils will be challenged under their defensive glass.
ASU will find a lot of trouble scoring against a defense yielding only 59.9 points a game, which is top-30 nationally.
Arizona State Sun Devils (3-6, 2-7 ATS)
The Devils tallied only 29 points as 2-point home underdogs in a 51-29 defeat to Washington State on Dec. 1. That represented their fifth consecutive loss, dropping coach Bobby Hurley’s record over the past two seasons to 13-20.
Somehow, they rebounded in Oregon on Sunday to win, 69-67, as 9-point dogs.
In the coach’s seventh season, ASU is in the wrong half of the country’s effective field-goal shooting, 3-point shooting, and 2-point shooting rankings. It shoots a woeful 64.1% at the line, No. 323 in the land.
Guard DJ Horne (13.1 ppg), and forwards Kimani Lawrence (11.1 ppg, 7.9 rpg), and Marcus Bagley (10 ppg) have tried to keep the ship afloat, but the Devils just lost too much when Martin bolted from the Valley of the Sun.
A defeat to a burgeoning rival would not help Hurley see an eighth season at ASU.
Grand Canyon At Arizona State Betting Line Movement And Pick
The line opened Arizona State -4.5 and has moved down from there. As of Thursday afternoon, Grand Canyon backers can find +4 at DraftKings, while most shops are dealing 3.5.
We are onboard with the line move and suggest taking GCU +4.
About the Author
