Grand Canyon players find humor in gear left in Phoenix as they prepare for Gonzaga
DENVER -- Good thing for family. And a Nike store. And Regis University.
Grand Canyon was in scramble mode to start the NCAA Tournament as the team's basketball gear was left behind in Phoenix while the team flew to Denver on Wednesday.
"Obviously, we had a little hiccup yesterday with our stuff not making it," coach Bryce Drew said on Thursday during a news conference in advance of the West Region opener Friday against No. 3 Gonzaga. "But we're all set. We're all ready to go. Shoes, jerseys and practice gear all included."
Baylor, which also is in Denver for the South Region and is coached by Drew's brother, Scott, was ready to lend a helping hand with gear, while the Lopes waited until later Wednesday night when 12 bags of players' gear arrived.
"We had a group of jerseys," said Drew, whose team practiced at Regis. "We had Regis. We had GCU t-shirts, and we had Baylor scout jerseys. We improvised and the guys made a good time of it. It turned out positively."
GCU forward Gabe McGlothan said not having the basketball gear added to the charter flight from Phoenix just added to the enjoyment of the trip.
"We've dealt with adversity all season, so it was nothing new," he said. "Nobody's fault. Just unfortunate."
Guard Ray Harrison said that GCU going to the Nike store for shoes was great.
"It was good for us, because everybody got a new pair of shoes," Harrison said.
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GCU has flown charter all season. But at Sky Harbor 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, were flown into Denver on Wednesday night with an athletic equipment staff member, the spokesman said.
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.
GCU can use the missing gear as just another way to lighten things up for this game.
"This group has been really loose throughout the last few weeks with the conference tournament," Drew said. "They had confidence to them. But they also were loose. They were enjoying it. We haven't seen a shift in that, through the travel, through getting here. It's a confident group. They're doing it with a loose personality."
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: GCU find humor in gear left behind as it prepares for Gonzaga
