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Grand Canyon University Athletics
Rhymes has reasons to pick GCU
4/28/2018 6:22:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
Juco All-American returns to Phoenix to join Lopes
J.J. Rhymes has a surname well-known in Phoenix basketball. He lived all over the Valley, growing up in Tolleson and playing high school ball in northeast Phoenix at Shadow Mountain.
After two years away from Phoenix, his decision for finishing college was deeply rooted in his hometown. Rhymes, a junior college All-American guard, signed to play his next two seasons at Grand Canyon.
"Coming back home, doing this for the city and doing this for my family is a blessing," Rhymes said. "I can't wait to get on the court and show everybody what I can do."
The Lopes are anxious to see it too after Rhymes, a 6-foot-4, 205-pound wing player, led Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College to a national championship as a freshman and was a conference and region player of the year as a sophomore.
By averaging 19.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists, Rhymes was named a Division I juco All-American by the National Junior College Athletic Association and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Rhymes is such an explosive scorer that he had a 32-point second half this season to rally Hutchinson from a 26-point deficit and beat Butler Community College on a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
"I've loved J.J. since he's been in high school," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said. "He's ultra-competitive and extremely tough. He can really get to the basket and score. He's a bull down there. As far as getting to the basket and those type of things, I think he's going to be very successful in the way that I will use him in mismatches, a lot like I used Josh (Braun) in the post. He's a lot like Carlos (Johnson) in competitiveness. He'll bring a lot of toughness to our team."
Rhymes, who also considered New Mexico State, was high school teammates for two years and club teammates for five years with Johnson, who recently signed to transfer from Washington to GCU. Johnson will have to sit out the upcoming Lopes season for transferring between Division I schools but Rhymes and Johnson will reunite for 2019-20.
This will be the second time Rhymes and Johnson played for a former NBA player after Mike Bibby coached them at Shadow Mountain, where they won a state championship.
"I grew up with Carlos, basically," Rhymes said. "That's my brother. We don't call each other friends. We call each other brothers. Us coming together on the court is going to be a blessing. We're going to be magic for sure. This is all for the city at the end of the day."
Rhymes finished as the storied Hutchinson program's No. 7 all-time scorer with 1,295 points in two seasons.
"Being in that situation matured me," Rhymes said, praising Hutchinson head coach Steve Eck and his staff. "At first going into junior college, I was questioning it. I thought I wasn't going to level up to what I did. It all came from work. It humbled me a lot to be in that situation."
Rhymes is working on his perimeter game, as shown with his 3-point shooting going from 27 percent as a freshman to 30 percent as a sophomore. He showed a strong mid-range shot and driving ability to make 47 percent of his field goal attempts while converting 73 percent of his free throws.
As a lefthander, Rhymes could play the right wing in Majerle's offense and pair nicely with fellow junior-to-be Oscar Frayer on the opposite wing. He also could play power forward in the Lopes' smaller lineups.
"He just has a knack for getting to the rim," Majerle said. "Very hard to stop. He just finds a way to score."
GCU assistant coach T.J. Benson recruited Rhymes since his sophomore year in high school. The extra junior college time gives GCU a more polished player to enter the program with fellow recruits Tim and Michael Finke, Isiah Brown and Johnson.
"I'm real tough," Rhymes said. "I'm real hard-nosed. I get after it, period. I do anything to win. I can score, rebound and pass it. It's all going to come together and I can't wait to put it together here with this group of guys."
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
After two years away from Phoenix, his decision for finishing college was deeply rooted in his hometown. Rhymes, a junior college All-American guard, signed to play his next two seasons at Grand Canyon.
"Coming back home, doing this for the city and doing this for my family is a blessing," Rhymes said. "I can't wait to get on the court and show everybody what I can do."
The Lopes are anxious to see it too after Rhymes, a 6-foot-4, 205-pound wing player, led Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College to a national championship as a freshman and was a conference and region player of the year as a sophomore.
By averaging 19.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists, Rhymes was named a Division I juco All-American by the National Junior College Athletic Association and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Rhymes is such an explosive scorer that he had a 32-point second half this season to rally Hutchinson from a 26-point deficit and beat Butler Community College on a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
"I've loved J.J. since he's been in high school," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said. "He's ultra-competitive and extremely tough. He can really get to the basket and score. He's a bull down there. As far as getting to the basket and those type of things, I think he's going to be very successful in the way that I will use him in mismatches, a lot like I used Josh (Braun) in the post. He's a lot like Carlos (Johnson) in competitiveness. He'll bring a lot of toughness to our team."
Rhymes, who also considered New Mexico State, was high school teammates for two years and club teammates for five years with Johnson, who recently signed to transfer from Washington to GCU. Johnson will have to sit out the upcoming Lopes season for transferring between Division I schools but Rhymes and Johnson will reunite for 2019-20.
This will be the second time Rhymes and Johnson played for a former NBA player after Mike Bibby coached them at Shadow Mountain, where they won a state championship.
"I grew up with Carlos, basically," Rhymes said. "That's my brother. We don't call each other friends. We call each other brothers. Us coming together on the court is going to be a blessing. We're going to be magic for sure. This is all for the city at the end of the day."
Rhymes finished as the storied Hutchinson program's No. 7 all-time scorer with 1,295 points in two seasons.
"Being in that situation matured me," Rhymes said, praising Hutchinson head coach Steve Eck and his staff. "At first going into junior college, I was questioning it. I thought I wasn't going to level up to what I did. It all came from work. It humbled me a lot to be in that situation."
Rhymes is working on his perimeter game, as shown with his 3-point shooting going from 27 percent as a freshman to 30 percent as a sophomore. He showed a strong mid-range shot and driving ability to make 47 percent of his field goal attempts while converting 73 percent of his free throws.
As a lefthander, Rhymes could play the right wing in Majerle's offense and pair nicely with fellow junior-to-be Oscar Frayer on the opposite wing. He also could play power forward in the Lopes' smaller lineups.
"He just has a knack for getting to the rim," Majerle said. "Very hard to stop. He just finds a way to score."
GCU assistant coach T.J. Benson recruited Rhymes since his sophomore year in high school. The extra junior college time gives GCU a more polished player to enter the program with fellow recruits Tim and Michael Finke, Isiah Brown and Johnson.
"I'm real tough," Rhymes said. "I'm real hard-nosed. I get after it, period. I do anything to win. I can score, rebound and pass it. It's all going to come together and I can't wait to put it together here with this group of guys."
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
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