Okpoh signing deepens GCU roster

When Bryce Okpoh started for The Colony High School varsity basketball team as a freshman in suburban Dallas, his team broke a playoff drought and proceeded to win 93 games over his four-year career.

Okpoh hopes he can make a similar impact on Grand Canyon, where he signed to join the Lopes this season.

Okpoh, a 6-foot-7, 195-pound power forward, received several Division I offers but was ready to attend a prep school before GCU entered the picture as his ideal option.

"When you see it in person, it's a totally different point of view," Okpoh said of the GCU campus. "It just felt like the best fit for me, fitting into the team and academics. I was just going to go to the best spot for me. I was looking to get bigger and stronger. I can see that I can get bigger and stronger at GCU."

Okpoh is a smart, explosive team player who earned a spot on his all-district first team in the past three seasons, including a 2018-19 senior year in which he averaged 14.0 points and 7.6 rebounds.

"He is really a good get for us," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said. "Energetic. High motor. Athletic. He's a worker. He's a great program kid who has a chance to be really good and develop with us. I'm excited to have him. He has good size and can play a lot of different positions."

21902 — **Bryce Okpoh with his parents**

Okpoh's father, Tony, was a fan of Majerle's playing days, watching the NBA TV airings of classic games when Majerle starred for the Phoenix Suns and went head to head with Michael Jordan in the 1993 NBA Finals. But Bryce and his brother, Brent (a former junior college basketball player), have their mother, Esther, to thank for their hoops genes because she played basketball in high school while Tony was a soccer player.

Bryce started playing basketball at age 4 but realized his potential when he earned a spot in The Colony starting lineup and on the district's all-defensive team as a freshman.

"I couldn't believe myself how I was playing," Bryce said.

Three years later, a whirlwind summer will have him completing GCU's 14-player roster for the 2019-20 season. The roster includes another Dallas-area product, TCU transfer Jaylen Fisher, who Bryce knows from playing in open gyms and on campus at TCU.

But Bryce is far from the type of selfish players who are prominent in pickup games.

"The fans are going to see a really athletic guy who will play as hard as possible at all times and play for my teammates," he said. "I can score a little bit too and contribute pretty much with everything. I'm looking to fit wherever I can.

"My parents raised me right to always think of others before you think of yourself. They've instilled that into my head since I was little. I just ran with it."

Okpoh plans to have a business-related major in the Jerry Colangelo College of Business and is looking forward to campus life as much as the season. Although GCU has one scholarship remaining available, Okpoh is the roster's final addition before the school year begins in August.

"Every time it goes through my head, I start getting that tingly feeling in my body -- picturing myself on the floor and picturing myself walking through campus and seeing the whole student body," Bryce said. "I'm ready to start working and get to the (NCAA) tournament."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

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