The Grand Canyon Antelopes men's basketball team represents

Grand Canyon University Grand Canyon University (GCU) is a Private university, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit Christian university in Phoenix, Arizona. The university offers degrees in over 200 areas of study and is administrativel ...

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

. They are a member of the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

(WAC). They are led by head coach

Bryce Drew Bryce Homer Drew (born September 21, 1974) is an American college basketball coach and former player who is the head coach at Grand Canyon University. Previously, he served as the head coach at Vanderbilt and in the same capacity at his alma ma ...

and play their home games at Global Credit Union Arena. They made the jump to

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

and joined the WAC on July 1, 2013. During their time as a member of the NAIA, they were national champions in 1975, 1978, and 1988. Since joining Division I in 2013–14, the Antelopes have appeared four times in the NCAA Tournament, most recently in 2025.

History

Grand Canyon College was founded in 1949. In their first year, they hired Howard Mansfield as coach of the Antelopes basketball team, the first sports team sponsored by the school. The Antelopes played in the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...

(NAIA) through the 1989–90 season before moving up to

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

for the 1990–91 season. In March 2013, former Phoenix Suns shooting guard

Dan Majerle Daniel Lewis Majerle (; born September 9, 1965), also known by the nickname "Thunder Dan", is an American former professional basketball player and former coach of the Grand Canyon Antelopes. He played 14 years in the National Basketball Associat ...

became the 13th men's basketball coach. Majerle oversaw GCU's transition into NCAA Division I basketball in the WAC. The Antelopes began playing in Division I for the 2013–14 season, and became a full member eligible for postseason play in the 2017–2018 season. In March 2020, Majerle was fired after seven seasons as head coach of GCU's men's basketball team. In May 2020, Majerle sued the university for breach of contract, alleging that the university did not give reason to terminate him or make any severance payments. The lawsuit was dismissed the following year with an unclear resolution. On March 17, 2020,

was named the new GCU men's basketball head coach. Drew was previously the head coach of Valparaiso University. Immediately prior to arriving at GCU, he was head coach of the Vanderbilt University men's basketball team.

Postseason

NCAA Division I tournament results

Grand Canyon has appeared in four NCAA Division I tournaments. Their combined record is 1–4.

NCAA Division II tournament results

The Antelopes have appeared in ten NCAA Division II tournaments. Their combined record is 5–10.

NAIA tournament results

The Antelopes have appeared in 10 NAIA tournaments. Their combined record is 18–7 and they are three-time NAIA national champions (1975, 1978, 1988). Bayard_Forrest_GCU

CIT results

The Antelopes have appeared in three Division I CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) Tournaments. Their combined record is 2–3.

CBI results

The Antelopes have appeared in the Division I

College Basketball Invitational The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a men's college basketball tournament created in 2007 by The Gazelle Group. The inaugural tournament occurred after the conclusion of the 2007–08 men's college basketball regular season. The CBI sel ...

(CBI) two times. Their combined record is 0–2.

Record year-by-year

* Ineligible for NCAA Tournament during transition to Division I from 2013–2017 seasons.

Antelopes in the NBA

Two former Grand Canyon players have played at least one game in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

References

External links

* {{Western Athletic Conference men's basketball navbox