GCU’s Jaden Henley No. 6 in the Mountain West Conference in scoring at 17.7 points per game, while Luke Haupt is coming off a career high 30 points on Saturday vs. Boise State. Graphic courtesy of ***Erik Moulton/The Pit Press***.

It’s gut check time for UNM men’s basketball.

Coming off back-to-back losses in the Pit, the Lobos are about to walk into one of the toughest arenas of all in all of college basketball to take on Grand Canyon (15-8, 8-4), who is just one game behind them in the Mountain West standings and is coming off a disappointing 80-78 loss to UNLV on Saturday.

The Lopes will be juiced up for what is expected to be a capacity crowd of over 7,000 people, with over 2,000 students front and center, making noise all game long at Global Credit Union Arena.

Photo of GCU’s famed student section, “The Havocs,” in GCU’s 70-69 win over San Diego State on Jan. 21. Photo: ***GCU Athletics***.

“I’m excited for it,” UNM guard Luke Haupt said when asked about playing in GCU arena. “…Obviously its going to be hostile. They’re going to be making noise when they need something good to happen. I’m excited to see it and enjoy the experience, and hopefully come out with a win and then it will be a little more enjoyable.”

Beyond the hostile home environment, UNM is going to face a wounded, but vengeful Lopes team looking to redeem an earlier 87-64 loss to UNM on Jan. 13.

The Lobos won the physicality battle in the first game against GCU, outrebounding the bigger Lopes 39-29, while limiting GCU’s frontcourt of Nana Owusu-Anane (6-9) and Efe Demirel (7-1) to six combined points on 1-of-14 shooting.

While GCU’s guards Jaden Henley (6-7) and Makaih Williams (6-2) both scored in double figures in the first meeting, UNM limited the duo to only 9 points in the second half, and it seemed like UNM’s defense wore them down as the game went on.

Expect GCU to have a physical approach to this game. GCU head coach Bryce Drew called his team out after the Lopes got pushed around by UNLV on Saturday and their late rally fell short.

“Basically, we got punked, just plain and simple,” Drew said. “They were more physical than us. They pushed us off our line. We couldn't hold our line. We couldn't get through the line. And a little too late in the last four minutes.”

Grand Canyon will likely look to establish the seven-footer Demirel in the paint early, while also relying on Henley and Williams to generate offense out of some kind of ball screen action—the Lobos could not defend Dylan Andrews and Drew Fielder in a ball screen against Boise State to save their lives for most of the game. Henley and Williams gave UNM some problems in the first half in the first meeting, and Eric Olen acknowledged that GCU’s guards will be a handful.

“They have a lot of guys that can shoot it off the dribble, and make some of the plays that we’re talking about (that) have given us issues,” Olen said. Williams, Henley, (Brian) Moore Jr. are playing better. Those guys are good, and they are adept at some of the things we’ve struggled with, so we certainly have our hands full.”

GCU’s Makaih Williams drives to the basket against San Diego State’s BJ Davis. Williams a strong candidate for Mountain West 6th man of year, averaging 13.3 points per game off the bench. Photo: ***GCU Athletics.***

Lucky for UNM, GCU is one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the conference with a shooting percentage of just 30% from beyond the arc. The Lopes shot the 3-ball well at home in the 86-69 win over Boise State on Jan. 30 going 9-of-15, but taking that game out, the Lopes are a dreadful 25% (24-of-96) shooting form distance in their last four games.

Brian Moore Jr. and Owusu-Anane shoot just under 40% form the 3-point line (Moore 39%) and (Owusu-Anane 38%), but Moore takes only one 3-pointer per game. Owusu Anane has had some clunkers, and some really good shooting games. Against UNM earlier this season, he was 1-of-6 and in GCU’s 66-60 loss to Nevada in overtime, he was also 1-of-6. But Owusu-Anane has shot the ball better the last 3 games, going 72% from the 3-point line (8-of-11).

GCU has the best defense in the Mountain West in terms of points allowed per game, as they hold teams to 68.3 points per contest. GCU does not necessarily speed teams up and force turnovers, but they have a few solid lock-down defenders in Moore Jr., Owusu-Anane, and Henley who like to play physical out on the perimeter.

GCU had one of its worst defensive games against UNM the first time. The Lobos scored 87 points, with Jake Hall chipping in 22 and Uriah Tenette adding 14. The Lobos only shot 16 3-pointers, but made half of them, and were able to get to the rim, the mid-range and the free throw line against the Lopes. Expect GCU to make things more difficult this time around, especially when they just got torched by UNLV’s Dre Gibbs-Lawhorn for 29 points.

Bottom Line:

For UNM, this game starts and ends on the defensive end. The Lobos built their early success on creating disruption, forcing bad shots, and wearing opponents down over 40 minutes — but that edge has slipped during the recent skid. In a hostile arena against a motivated GCU team that can exploit ball-screen coverage and attack downhill, there’s little margin for defensive breakdowns.

If UNM can rediscover its toughness at the point of attack, communicate through screens and control the glass the way it did in the first meeting, it can steady itself and quiet the crowd. If not, the questions about this team won’t be about offense — they’ll be about whether its defensive identity is strong enough to carry it through the rest of the season.