Georgia
What we learned in Grand Canyon basketball losses to Georgia, Louisiana Tech
GCU President Brian Mueller on joining Mountain West, impact on NIL
Grand Canyon University President Brian Mueller talked to the media about the impact joining the Mountain West Conference will have on NIL growth.
Grand Canyon lost a chance to make a big statement during its trip through the South.
The Lopes (6-4) had won four straight with their full team, after getting center Duke Brennan back from an injury.
But in a 73-68 loss to Georgia (9-1) on Saturday, followed by a 74-66 loss to Louisiana Tech on Monday, their biggest star, WAC Preseason Player of the Year Tyon Grant-Foster, had his two worst games since joining the Lopes last year and leading them to an historic 30-win season.
He shot a combined 2 for 25 in the losses, missing all 13 3-pointers he took. This is baffling for last year’s WAC Player of the Year, who averaged 20 points in his first college season in two years, leading the Lopes to their first NCAA Tournament win last season.
To make matters worse Monday night at Louisiana Tech (10-2), guard Ray Harrison was only 1 of 10 shooting, making just 1 of 7 3-pointers, two days after he led GCU with 16 points, making 2 of 4 3s, against Georgia.
Here are takeaways from this two-game swing as the Lopes look to recover Thursday night at home against 0-12 Chicago State. That will be followed by a 2 p.m. home game Sunday against Saint Louis:
Shooting woes
It wasn’t just Grant-Foster who struggled. The Lopes made only 7 of 27 3-pointers against Georgia and 2 of 27 from behind the arc against Louisiana Tech.
This was supposed to be a roster built to make 3-pointers. JaKobe Coles came from TCU, where he was a 42% shooter from 3. Coles was 1 of 5 from 3-point range against Georgia and 1 of 3 against Louisiana Tech. He led the Lopes with 19 points on 7 of 13 field-goal shooting against Louisiana Tech.
Both Coles and Grant-Foster missed open 3s in the final minute of the Georgia game. If either of them knock down a 3, it could have been a different outcome.
In the 75-68 home loss to UC Davis, the Lopes made just 4 of 25 3-pointers. Even against NAIA Life Pacific, a team the Lopes beat 100-52 before hitting the road, they made only 8 of 28 3-pointers.
On the season, Harrison has made 11 of 40 3-pointers (27.5%) and Grant-Foster 6 of 39 (15%). Last season, Grant-Foster, who made his living at the free-throw line, drawing fouls on quick moves to the basket, made 33% of his 3s (50 of 151), the second-best shooting percentage from the arc on the team, behind Gabe McGlothan (39.8%).
Against Louisiana Tech, the Lopes were within two points with 2:13 left, but got outscored 6-0 in the end.
“Sometimes the ball just doesn’t go in for him,” coach Bryce Drew said in the postgame GCU radio interview about Grant-Foster, who missed the first two games this season. “It’s not going in right now. There’s other parts of his game that he can do. I thought at Georgia he did a great job getting six steals.
“He’s a much better player than he’s playing. My job as a coach is we’ve got to get it out of him. We’ve been trying different things in the last month, and we’re going to keep trying more things to get him back on track.”
Scheduling
Because the WAC and Conference USA were locked into a contract to have non-conference games against each other, GCU had to go to Louisiana Tech in this home-and-home series. Last year, GCU pulled out a 73-70 win over Louisiana Tech at home. This game happened to fall two days after facing Georgia against a pro-Bulldogs crowd at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
“The scheduling has been very difficult,” Drew said. “We would never ever played this game where we played it. It’s the Conference USA challenge with the WAC, so we had this game. We had a chance to play Georgia, a top-40 team, in Atlanta. We didn’t want to turn that game down.”
But Drew added he didn’t want to use the Georgia game as an excuse.
“I’ve got to do a better job in the future with scheduling,” he said. “It’s super hard to get games. Doing a back-to-back basically after a super physical Georgia game, and, for 40 minutes, I think you saw the legs come out a little bit on some of our 3-point shooting.”
Brennan not backing down
The overall play of 6-foot-10 Brennan has been a bright spot since his return from a shoulder injury that caused him to miss the first four games.
Brennan had 13 points on 5 of 6 shootings and pulled down seven rebounds against Louisiana Tech. He got big man Daniel Batcho to pick up two fouls and head to the bench after Louisiana Tech jumped out to a 13-2 lead.
GCU pulled ahead of Louisiana Tech late in the first half, but that couldn’t be sustained, as Batcho returned and finished with 19 points and seven rebounds without picking up another foul. Sean Newman Jr., had his season-average nine assists to go with 25 points.
Brennan had 10 points and eight rebounds against a big Georgia team that blocked nine GCU shots. Earlier this season, Brennan played well in the 78-71 Stanford win with 14 points and eight rebounds, going against Maxime Raynaud (29 points, 11 rebounds).
Georgia center Somto Cyril had 12 points, eight rebounds and five blocks against GCU.
“We’ve played three really good centers so far, and you look at those, and they’re as good as any center in the country,” Drew said. “Hopefully, we’re done playing that size and length for a while.
“Obviously, Saint Louis (Sunday’s home opponent) has a good center (Robbie Avila) but he’s a different kind of center. This stuff is going to make us better. It’s going to make our bigs better, our guards better, finishing, and also show what we need to work on in practice to get better.”
Richard Obert has been covering high school sports since the 1980s for The Arizona Republic. He also covers Grand Canyon University athletics and the Arizona Rattlers. To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:@azc_obert
ATLANTA – Georgia voters will head to the polls Tuesday to cast their ballots in a highly competitive primary election that features several races for top state offices.
What we know:
The Georgia Secretary of State’s office reported that more than 550,000 people have already cast early ballots in the state. This early turnout represents more than 7% of the state’s 7 million active voters, with Democrats seeing a higher early turnout by more than 50,000 votes over Republicans.
Several of the most powerful positions in the state are completely open because there is no incumbent running in the race.
Gov. Brian Kemp is limited by terms, leaving his seat open, while Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is running for that office alongside former Atlanta Democratic Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
In the Senate race, three Republicans are competing for the chance to challenge Sen. John Ossoff, who faces no Democratic challengers. Other major offices on the ballot include attorney general, agricultural commissioner, and insurance and fire safety commissioner.
SEE 2026 ELECTION REPORTING
What we don’t know:
It remains unclear how total voter turnout on Tuesday will compare to early voting numbers or if election day will alter the current turnout balance between political parties. Officials have not yet indicated how quickly final ballot counting will be completed after polling places close for the evening.
What they’re saying:
“The thing that we really want to do is help elect enough women and men who are Democrats to flip at least one chamber of the House or Senate,” Melita Easters of the Georgia Gang said.
“We want to see a big turnout for Republicans on the day of Tuesday so that we can even that number out, because we know that it’s it’s about a 50-50 state,” Martha Zoller of the Georgia Gang said.
What you can do:
Polling sites will open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Voters are being asked to double-check their polling site locations and look over a sample ballot before arriving to make sure they are prepared.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from FOX 5 reporter Annie Mapp, who spoke live from Midtown Atlanta regarding data from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, as well as on-camera interviews with Georgia Gang political commentators Melita Easters and Martha Zoller.
Former Glynn County, Georgia Police Chief Scott Ebner, now a finalist for the Honolulu chief job, has been under investigation for months over allegations of inappropriate behavior with a subordinate but apparently failed to mention that to a hiring consultant who recommended him as a top candidate for the Honolulu job.
When asked directly about the ongoing investigation last week by Civil Beat, Ebner professed not to know anything about it and denied he was under investigation.
“That’s not the case,” he said.
Civil Beat confirmed a complaint was filed in early August against Ebner alleging inappropriate conduct between him and Stephanie Oliver, an assistant chief, who he had promoted. Civil Beat also confirmed an independent investigator was hired by Glynn County a month later and that both Ebner and Oliver were notified of the complaint and investigation, which is still open.
Ebner resigned as chief and public safety director in December, about four months after the complaint was filed and less than two years after he had taken the top role at the Glynn County Police Department. In a Dec. 22 press release, county officials said he was moving into a transitional role to “support continuity of operations and leadership planning” at the end of that month. He is set to leave that position on June 30.
A Note On Anonymous Sources
Ebner has said he left the chief job simply because it was time to move on. He had his eye on the chief job in Honolulu by then and knew a search would be starting soon. During his interview with Civil Beat he pointed to a glowing letter of recommendation from the Glynn County Board of Commissioners and asked why the board would write such a letter if he had left under a cloud of suspicion.
Oliver did not respond to messages left seeking comment. An email sent to her police department email address bounced back.
The allegations were first made public in Georgia on a local news organization’s Facebook page in December.
However, Honolulu Police Commission Chair Laurie Foster said commission members did not know about the allegation against Ebner before selecting him as a finalist. Now that they are aware of it, she said they are investigating, adding that commissioners are doing deep background research on all three of the finalists.
“We’re looking into all sorts of rumors, and they come up every day,” she said. “And we continue to investigate rumors and allegations that come up.”
Screened By Consultant
Ebner, who was also a finalist for the chief position in 2022, was named as a finalist last week by the Police Commission, along with David Lazar, a retired assistant chief from San Francisco, and Mike Lambert, director of Hawaiʻi’s Department of Law Enforcement.
Before advancing, Ebner was interviewed and screened by the executive search firm, Public Sector Search & Consulting Inc., which specializes in law enforcement executive hiring. The city is paying the company $121,900 to conduct the chief search.
When asked if she thought the consultant should have uncovered the allegation about Ebner’s investigation and warned the commission, Foster said she didn’t know yet.
“I’m not going to respond to that right now,” she said.
Starting with a pool of more than 40 candidates put forward by the consulting firm in April, the commission chose six semifinalists, who were interviewed by four panels of stakeholders, including top city and state officials, first responders and community organization leaders.
Based on the results of those interviews, commissioners then advanced Ebner, Lazar and Lambert, who have been making the rounds of media outlets for in-person interviews and were interviewed on a PBS program on Thursday evening.
They are scheduled to meet privately this week with Mayor Rick Blangiardi, who wants input into who becomes chief, followed by closed-door interviews with only two police commissioners at a time. If more than two commissioners participated in each interview, the meetings would have to be open to the public under Hawaiʻi’s Sunshine Law.
On Wednesday, the full commission is scheduled to hold a public session with each finalist, then decide later in the meeting who will get the job.
‘I’ve Never Been Disciplined’
The Glynn County Board of Commissioners did not mention an investigation or any allegations of misconduct when it announced Ebner was leaving the chief’s job in December. The press release contains quotes from commissioners praising Ebner’s leadership and his achievements as chief, including improving staffing levels by 25%, implementing salary increases for personnel and championing technological improvements in the department.
“On behalf of the Board of Commissioners, I want to thank Chief Ebner for his dedication to Glynn County,” commission Chairman Walter Rafolski said, according to the press release. “His work to elevate public safety standards and support the men and women who serve our community every day is sincerely appreciated.”
Rafolski did not respond to a call seeking comment. Other commissioners either declined to comment or did not respond.
During his interview with Civil Beat, Ebner said if an investigation had been opened into him prior to his departure from Glynn County, he wasn’t aware of it.
“Unless something’s happened that I don’t know about, which is always possible,” Ebner said at the end of the interview.
Civil Beat confirmed that Ebner was notified of the complaint and investigation several months before he left the police department and that an outside investigator hired by the county had begun conducting interviews.
Asked specifically about the allegations that he was having an affair with a subordinate, Ebner replied: “You’re always going to have people that file allegations … And then, like I said, if I had done anything wrong, I don’t think they would have let me leave or continue to pay me until June.”
He pulled the letter of recommendation from the Glynn County Board of Commissioners and signed by Rafolski out of his briefcase and gave it to a reporter.
“That’s who I work for, directly,” he said. “That’s what they gave me when I left.”
His recommendation letter also is from Rafolski and covers some of the same ground as the press release. It says the county saw improvements in public safety and emergency preparedness under Ebner’s leadership.
“Mr. Ebner has raised public safety standards in Glynn County through his dedication, integrity and commitment to excellence,” Rafolski says in the letter. “I give my highest recommendation and I’m confident he will excel in future roles.”
The letter says Ebner improved staffing, got strategic grants for the department, built public trust and prioritized transparency. The department also achieved state police certification, established an Office of Professional Standards and Accountability and acquired new technology and modern equipment under his leadership, it says.
“I’ve never been disciplined, I’ve never been verbally counseled or written a reprimand, I never had to be retrained or go over a policy because I did something wrong,” Ebner told Civil Beat. “And that’s kind of an anomaly with almost 35 years of law enforcement. That’s how seriously I take my job.”
County spokeswoman Brittany Dozier did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment.
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BRIGHTON, Mass. – No. 3 Georgia Tech (45-9, 25-5 ACC) closes out its record-breaking regular season with a 15-2 (7) run-rule victory over No. 23 Boston College (36-20, 17-13 ACC) on Saturday afternoon at Harrington Athletics Village in Brighton, Mass. The Yellow Jackets scored five runs in the first inning and kept the Eagles off the board for the final six innings of play for yet another dominant victory, securing the most lopsided sweep over a Top 25 opponent in program history (38-3) and 25 Atlantic Coast Conference victories, tied with 2015 Louisville for the most ever recorded over a 30-game conference season.
All nine hitters reached base with six recording multiple hits. Kent Schmidt led the team with three hits (3-for-3) while Vahn Lackey led the way in with three RBI in another complete offensive effort. On the mound, Jackson Blakely settled in after allowing two runs (one earned) in the first inning, delivering four scoreless innings over his 5.0 IP before handing the ball to Cooper Underwood and Justin Shadek to complete the run-rule victory.
QUICK HITS: TEAM
- The Jackets improve to 45-9, the best regular season record, by winning percentage, since going 16-2 back in 1920..
- Tech finishes 25-5 in ACC play, tied with 2015 Louisville for the best 30-game conference record in ACC history.
- This is only the 2nd time Georgia Tech has won at least 45 regular season games in program history, and first since 1987 (47).
- The Jackets have swept six ACC series and nine series overall for the first time in program history.
- The Jackets are now 14-3 against Top-25 opponents, the best win % against ranked teams in program history. Seven of the 14 wins vs. Top 25 teams have been by a margin of at least 10 runs, including tonight.
- Tech has scored 578 runs this regular season. The most runs scored through 54 games in program history and the most scored by any Power 4 team through 54 games in the BBCOR era.
- GT’s 578 runs are a new program BBCOR era record and tied for the 6th-most ever recorded in a single season at GT.
- The Jackets hit two home runs tonight, for a season total of 114 – the 4th most in program history. Tech is eight homers away from the program record (122 – set in 2010).
- GT is outscoring its opponents 578-255, that +323 margin is the highest in program history.
- Tech’s offense is currently on pace to set program records in batting average (.357 – record is .347), on-base percentage (.468 – record is .434), slugging percentage (.626 – record is .575) and runs-per-game (10.6 – record is 10.3).
- Tech pitching finished with an ERA of 4.36 in ACC games, the best in the conference.
- This was the 31st game of the season in which Tech has scored double-digit runs (57.4 % of all games).
- The Jackets scored five runs in the first inning, the 36th inning with at least five runs scored (8.4% of all innings).
- Tech finishes their ACC schedule with a 69-6 combined score over the last five games.
- The Jackets have held their opponents to two or fewer runs in each of the last five league games.
- Georgia Tech has won back-to-back ACC regular season titles for the 2nd time in program history and the first time since 2004/2005
- Georgia Tech is the first back-to-back ACC Regular Season Champion since UVA in 2010/2011 (15 years)
- This is GT’s 11th Regular Season ACC Championship and 8th outright season title.
- Tech has won nine ACC Regular Season/Division titles this century, the 2nd most in the conference behind only Florida State (11)
- James Ramsey becomes the first ACC Coach to win a Regular Season Title in his first season since 1994 (Jack Leggett at Clemson) and the first coach to win the ACC regular season in his first season as a head coach since 1958 (Bill Wilhelm at Clemson).
- GT is the first program in ACC history to win back-to-back ACC championships with two different coaches, securing the conference title with Danny Hall in 2025 and James Ramsey in 2026.
QUICK HITS: THE BATS
- Junior Jarren Advincula extended his hitting streak to a career best 22 games, tied for the 8th longest in program history and the longest since 2005. He recorded his 100th hit of the season today, becoming the 14th Yellow Jacket in program history to record 100 hits in a single season and the first since 2005 (Wes Hodges & Tyler Greene).
- He went 2-for-5 with two singles. He has gotten a hit in 37 of his last 38 games dating back to March 10 and 50 of 54 games this season.
- He is the first Division I player to reach 100 hits this season after also being the fastest to 80 and 90.
- His batting average now stands at .441 for the season, the highest in Power 4 and the 2nd best in the nation. It is the 4th highest in program history. He has the highest batting average of any Tech player since 1979, when Doug Ibele went 52-for-112 (.464)
- Should the season end today, Advincula would have the highest batting average of any Yellow Jacket with at least 200 ABs – a record currently held by Jay Payton (.434) from back in 1994.
- This was his 35th multi-hit game of the season, the most on the team.
- Junior Vahn Lackey extended his hitting streak to a career best 11 games, going 2-for-2 with a home run, a triple and two hit-by-pitches. He led the team in runs scored (four) and RBI (three).
- He hit his 15th HR of the season in the fourth inning to break the game open.
- He has scored 72 runs this year, 13 more than his career total over his freshman and sophomore seasons.
- This was his 25th multi-hit game of the season, his 23rd game with multiple runs scored and his 19th game with multiple RBI
- He hit his team-leading 3rd triple of the season, a new career high, giving him career-bests in doubles (16), triples (3) home runs (15), RBI (69), total bases (145) and walks (43) this season.
- He has driven in 69 RBI this season, the second most on the team.
- Junior Carson Kerce reached base four times, going 2-for-3 with a home run, a triple and two walks, finishing with two RBI and three runs scored.
- He has now hit eight home runs this season, surpassing his career total from his freshman and sophomore seasons (six).
- He leads the team with 39 extra base hits this season.
- Junior Drew Burress extended his on-base streak to 17 games with a pair of doubles, getting an RBI and a run scored.
- He has now scored an ACC-best 74 runs, bringing his career total to 224, the 5th most in program history and eight away from Darren Bragg (1988-91) for 4th.
- His 224 runs scored is the most among active Division I players
- He produced his 3rd game with multiple doubles this season, giving him multiple hits in 12 of his final 16 regular season games dating back to April 19.
- Junior Kent Schmidt went 3-for-3 with two walks and two RBI. It was his fifth game of the season with at least three hits and his 11h game with multiple RBI.
- He finishes as GT’s ACC season leader in RBI, with 36.
QUICK HITS: THE ARMS
- Sophomore Jackson Blakely made his 10th consecutive weekend start, pitching 5.0 innings with one earned run allowed and five strikeouts with five hits and three walks surrendered.
- The Jackets have won each of Blakley’s last nine starts.
- His ERA stands at 2.75 over 55.2 innings, the lowest among all regular starting pitchers on the roster and the second lowest ERA overall on staff.
- He stands at 61 strikeouts this season, the second most on the roster, and 55.2 innings pitched, also the second most, both behind Friday night starter Tate McKee.
- Blakely would get credit for the win, bringing his record to 7-1 for the season and joining Carson Ballard (7-0) for the second most wins on the staff, behind McKee (8).
- He is currently on pace to be the first Tech pitcher with an ERA under 3.00 since 2016 – Brandon Gold 2.48 ERA over 105.1 IP.
- Freshman Cooper Underwood produced a quite 6th inning, recording a pair of outs around a walk before Drew Rogers threw out a would-be base stealer from BC.
- This was his fifth appearance out of the bullpen this season and his 11th overall He owns a 1.04 ERA over 8.2 innings out of the bullpen this year, allowing only three hits with 10 strikeouts.
- R-sophomore Justin Shadek made his 14th bullpen appearance of the season and his 16th He pitched a scoreless seventh inning recording two of his three outs via strikeout.
- He has struck out 40 batters over 23.1 innings this season, a K/9 of 15.43, the most on the team among pitchers with at least 10.0 innings.
Up Next
The Jackets will turn their attention to the ACC Tournament at Truist Field in Charlotte, N.C. As the No. 1 seed, the Yellow Jackets will play the winner of the No. 8 seed vs. the winner of the No. 9/16 seeds on Thursday, May 21 at 3 p.m.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
For the latest information on the Georgia Tech baseball team, follow us on X (@GTBaseball), Facebook, Instagram (@gt_baseball) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com.
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