GCU basketball dominates in Duke Brennan’s season debut

On By Littum

GCU men’s basketball recorded its first blowout win of the season on Friday, knocking off Norfolk State 91-73 as starting center Duke Brennan made his season debut.

The ‘Lopes doubled up the Spartans with a 54-27 first half in which Brennan was one of four GCU starters with at least nine points. The team had 19 assists on 21 shots made in the dominant half, with five players tallying three each. The team would continue the trend with 12 assists on 12 buckets in the second half.

The center wasted no time making an impact, cutting off driving lanes to force a turnover on his first defensive possession before earning a bucket with some screens on his first offensive possession.

“Adding (Brennan) obviously makes a huge difference for our team: spacing, his toughness, rebounding, frees things up for other guys on the court,” coach Bryce Drew told the ESPN+ halftime broadcast. “Loved our ball movement, loved our shot selection and luckily made shots.”

And made shots, they did. GCU shot a whopping 72.4% from the field, with Brennan hitting four of his five looks and the team going 8-for-12 on 3-point shots.

Brennan continued the offensive effort with a dunk to start the second half, but a 10-0 response by Norfolk State added a bit of spice.

However, the ‘Lopes kept the Spartans at bay thanks to the cushion they earned in the first half, never letting their lead slip below 15. GCU’s previous best win this season came by 10 points in the opener over Cal State Fullerton.

Wings Tyon Grant-Foster and JaKobe Coles each had 20-point outings to lead GCU, and they combined to add eight assists. Brennan finished with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting with seven rebounds in the game.

GCU then travels to Palm Springs for a neutral-site matchup with Stanford, which beat the same Norfolk State team 70-63 on Wednesday. ‘Lopes’ game against the Cardinal on Tuesday at 5pm MST on truTV.