Preview: Arizona Basketball to take on in-state Grand Canyon Lopes

The Arizona Wildcats are set to take on in-state foe Grand Canyon, as the Lopes travel to Tucson on Wednesday, here is our preview of the match-up.

Finally, perhaps the two best basketball teams in the state of Arizona square off, as the Arizona Basketball team and GCU will face each other on Wednesday. We couldn’t be any more excited. The Wildcats will take on a feisty Lopes squad, and here is our preview of the two in-state schools.

It’s been a long-time coming, but Arizona will finally have the opportunity to take on GCU in this non-conference match-up. Initially, these two schools were unable to face each other due to a moratorium initiated by the Pac-12.

What is that you ask? Well, thanks to ASU school president Michael Crow, he expressed discontent of GCU’s financial model. They are a for-profit school, meaning it is an educational institution operated by private, profit-seeking businesses.

Well, that moratorium has since been lifted by the Pac-12, and you could bet Arizona and Greg Byrne took full advantage of the opportunity to play GCU. So much in fact, that the Wildcats scheduled to play the Lopes for the 2016-17 basketball season.

Wanted to confirm, since the Pac-12 moratorium was lifted, @APlayersProgram will host @GCU_Hoops next season on 12/14/16 here at McKale.
— Greg Byrne (@Greg_Byrne) January 6, 2016

Despite the two schools playing each other in other sports in the past few years, the Wildcats will face the Lopes on the hardwood for the first time.

It is worth noting; GCU has made great strides, initially moving to Division 1, and are slowly and steadily becoming a solid athletic program. Heck, just this year, the Lopes have played quite the non-conference schedule, playing teams like; Duke, Louisville, San Diego State and now Arizona along with others. They certainly aren’t afraid to compete. On Wednesday, I would imagine GCU to come out fighting.

Hopefully, this will turn into a possible in-state rivalry, with the Wildcats maybe doing a return trip to Phoenix at GCU Arena in the years to come. The arena is a bit small, but their fans have created a great environment there, and teams are noticing.

When Louisville traveled to Phoenix on December 3rd to take on GCU, Louisville head coach, Rick Pitino had some kind words to say about their team and their fans.