Dan Majerle earns first ‘signature win’ as Grand Canyon basketball coach
Dec 27, 2014, 1:03 AM | Updated: 1:59 am
New Mexico Lobos head coach Craig Neal brought his 8-3 basketball team to Phoenix to play the Grand Canyon Antelopes as a favor to friend and current ‘Lopes head coach Dan Majerle. Few, if any, believed New Mexico would break for Christmas with anything but another win.
But that’s why they play the game.
Grand Canyon stunned the Lobos with a 68-65 win on Tuesday night, snapping New Mexico’s five-game winning streak and avenging a 12-point road loss to them last season.
“It’s big,” Majerle told Burns and Gambo on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Friday. “It is a signature win and my first one here at (GCU).
“To have New Mexico come here and play at our arena, and for us to go out there and play that way and be able to get that win was huge.”
The ‘Lopes improved to 7-7 in to begin their second season in Division I. Majerle hopes to use Tuesday’s win to propel the team into conference play.
“Our goal has been, since the beginning of the year, to be playing our best basketball when the WAC schedule starts. So we’re starting to play better,” Majerle said.
Grand Canyon continues to build its basketball program in hopes of it becoming a perennially ranked team.
“Our biggest goal here at GCU is to be a top-25 team sooner than later,” Majerle said.
That’s why he continues to schedule his team against established programs.
“For us to be a top-25 team, I want our kids and our program to see what other top-25 teams are like, how they conduct themselves, how their university is, practice facility, all of those things,” Majerle said. “Our goal is to play the best competition out there, I think that’s only going to get us better.”
