Grand Canyon University Athletics
Insider: Russell to play pro in France
9/5/2017 1:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro, Lopes Insider Blog
GCU star DeWayne Russell joins SLUC Nancy
Au revoir, DeWayne Russell the Grand Canyon basketball star.
Bonjour, DeWayne Russell the French basketball pro.
Russell's three standout GCU seasons and his summer of patience paid off this weekend when he was offered a professional contract by SLUC Nancy, a Ligue Nacional de Basket club in northeastern France.
Russell first heard of the possibility Saturday, agreed to the deal Monday and visited GCU Basketball Practice Facility on Tuesday morning for goodbyes to teammates and coaches before catching an afternoon flight to France.
"I just needed somebody to give me a chance to prove myself," Russell said Tuesday. "I'm pretty confident I'll prove myself and then move forward."
SLUC Nancy's point guard suffered an injury this month, and the club offered Russell a chance to replace him for three months.
"That's exactly what you want to do overseas – be able to perform, show how you play and then other teams get to look at you," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said. "That's how you build your resume. I'm real happy for him. I have no doubt that Dewayne will be extremely successful over there. With how much he loves playing basketball, how good he is and how hard he works, he'll become an instant favorite over there."
Russell put together an impressive college resume when he finished his career by averaging 21.2 points per game (16th in the nation) and 5.4 assists per game as a Lopes senior. He was the co-male recipient of the Joe Kearney Award, becoming GCU's first winner of the honor that goes to the Western Athletic Conference's top male and female student-athletes of the year.
Russell had NBA pre-draft workouts with the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks before continuing to train at GCU until this weekend's call. The timing was difficult because his wife, Alexis, has a birthday Wednesday and their one-year wedding anniversary is Thursday.
Russell will join SLUC Nancy amid its preseason schedule with several weeks to learn the club's system for the regular season.
"I want to really thank everybody at GCU, from Mr. (Jerry) Colangelo to Mr. (Brian) Mueller to Coach Majerle and everyone in our program who built me up for this opportunity," Russell said. "Without the help from people at GCU, I wouldn't have this opportunity, so I owe everything to them and my teammates."
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
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Bonjour, DeWayne Russell the French basketball pro.
Russell's three standout GCU seasons and his summer of patience paid off this weekend when he was offered a professional contract by SLUC Nancy, a Ligue Nacional de Basket club in northeastern France.
Russell first heard of the possibility Saturday, agreed to the deal Monday and visited GCU Basketball Practice Facility on Tuesday morning for goodbyes to teammates and coaches before catching an afternoon flight to France.
"I just needed somebody to give me a chance to prove myself," Russell said Tuesday. "I'm pretty confident I'll prove myself and then move forward."
SLUC Nancy's point guard suffered an injury this month, and the club offered Russell a chance to replace him for three months.
"That's exactly what you want to do overseas – be able to perform, show how you play and then other teams get to look at you," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said. "That's how you build your resume. I'm real happy for him. I have no doubt that Dewayne will be extremely successful over there. With how much he loves playing basketball, how good he is and how hard he works, he'll become an instant favorite over there."
Russell put together an impressive college resume when he finished his career by averaging 21.2 points per game (16th in the nation) and 5.4 assists per game as a Lopes senior. He was the co-male recipient of the Joe Kearney Award, becoming GCU's first winner of the honor that goes to the Western Athletic Conference's top male and female student-athletes of the year.
Russell had NBA pre-draft workouts with the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks before continuing to train at GCU until this weekend's call. The timing was difficult because his wife, Alexis, has a birthday Wednesday and their one-year wedding anniversary is Thursday.
Russell will join SLUC Nancy amid its preseason schedule with several weeks to learn the club's system for the regular season.
"I want to really thank everybody at GCU, from Mr. (Jerry) Colangelo to Mr. (Brian) Mueller to Coach Majerle and everyone in our program who built me up for this opportunity," Russell said. "Without the help from people at GCU, I wouldn't have this opportunity, so I owe everything to them and my teammates."
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
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