Molly Miller and Grand Canyon seeing early success

When Molly Miller took over at Grand Canyon five years ago, she had faith. Faith in the program, faith in her players and faith that what they were building would pay off. 

She saw success quickly and hasn’t let go of it. She hasn’t had a season below .500 since her arrival and the Lopes have made a real case for the best team in Arizona this season. 

Two seasons ago, Grand Canyon suffered a loss to Arizona State. Last season, they defeated them. This season, the Lopes earned wins over Arizona State and Arizona, two high-major in-state rivals. 

“I feel like we don’t feel that was like a strike of luck,” Miller said. “We feel like we belong.”

The Lopes are 47% from the field, which ranks 25th nationally, and hold one of the best assist to turnover ratios in the country. 

Senior Alyssa Durazo-Frescas, a transfer from UNLV, is a major piece for the Lopes. She’s averaging a team-high 14.8 points. But there are players like Tiarra Brown, Miller’s first recruit, who have been here since the beginning and are seeing the success they’ve worked hard to earn. 

Brown, a fifth-year senior guard, is averaging a career-high 11.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.6 steals. 

For Grand Canyon, taking down Arizona on the road was an accomplishment Miller hopes will give her team a new level of confidence. 

“I just think we have a group of believers,” Miller said. “We probably had 6,200 fans there that didn’t believe it. It was an adversarial environment for us, so that might have made it even sweeter for our team, that we could go in and come away with a well-earned victory…That confidence, hopefully in any situation now, gives them the ability to get to the next level and get to the next step.”

While much of that success can be credited to qualities like perseverance, competitive nature and pure talent, it all comes back to faith for Miller. Grand Canyon, a private Christian university, allows Miller to connect with her players by embracing Christian values with her team. 

“When you can build a program on that type of foundation, and the school’s mission directly correlates with that, it makes it easy, right?” Miller said. “That’s culture, and that’s culture across the board, from a higher education, private Christian University down to the women’s basketball program. That’s been really powerful in developing a program as you start the foundational pieces of your culture.”

The expectations and standards have always been high, because Miller believes her team can play with anyone in the country. The way she scheduled her non-conference play this season reflects that. It’s been a gradual build for the Lopes success, but their 10-2 record proves that Grand Canyon is among one of the best mid-majors in the country. 

The Lopes’ only two losses were to a then-ranked Oregon squad and MTSU, one of the top mid-majors in the country, both on the road. 

“This year, it was time,” Miller said. “We had a really, really tough non-conference schedule that really challenged us. We were ready for that this year. I always want to do what’s best for my program, and I thought that would be best for the state of the program this coming year…We’ve set ourselves up pretty good with some really good wins and some respectable wins, and we’ve been battle tested really early, so you hope that helps down the road when you’re getting into conference and championship play.”

Since joining the Division-I ranks in 2013, Grand Canyon has yet to win a regular-season title or make an NCAA Tournament appearance – but Miller believes she can change that. 

“I just want to get better every day, and I really do feel like the rest will take care of itself,” Miller said.