Maurer power adds skilled 7-footer to GCU

The Grand Canyon basketball program, facilities and staff would have been enough to entice four-star, 7-foot basketball recruit Austin Maurer to sign with the Lopes.

Maurer's campus visit on the night of a rollicking GCU Midnight Madness might have affirmed visions of himself at GCU.

But Lopes coach Bryce Drew and his staff had some unknown assistants recruiting Maurer – former and current Cascade Christian High School classmates.

With five GCU freshmen students and five GCU junior students from Cascade Christian already on the Phoenix campus and another five current classmates planning to enroll at GCU, Maurer's lean toward the Lopes received plenty of push with the affirmation and endorsements. Maurer made it official this week, signing at his school gym with his parents and a Thunder cutout flanking him.

Oregon's top-rated prep player from Medford chose GCU over Oregon State, after also having Washington State, BYU and New Mexico in his top five this summer.

"It's so cool," Maurer said of seeing Cascade Christian friends on his September recruiting visit. "It definitely made the campus visit easier because they got to show me around as kids instead of like a coach. I can't wait to get out there."

Maurer, who began high school with a 5-inch growth spurt in three months, grew up as a perimeter player and has combined those skills with his development as a 7-foot, 215-pound big man.

Austin Maurer and parents

Maurer (pronounced MOW-ur) missed much of his junior season after being undercut on a fastbreak and suffering a slight right elbow fracture but already has set the school scoring record (41 points). He averaged 18.0 points and 8.3 rebounds during the regular season and then played bigger in big games when he posted 20.7 points and 13.0 rebounds per state tournament game in Cascade Christian's repeat state championship run.

"Austin is a great addition to our program," Drew said. "He is very unique, being 7 feet tall and able to shoot 3s. We like his rim protection and ability to move his feet also."

Maurer's game has expanded and enhanced greatly in recent years because of how he shot up from about 6 feet 4 to 6 feet 9 during three months of the COVID-19 pandemic. And then the son of former Oregon State football tight end, Marty, and volleyball setter, Brandi, kept growing to 7 feet. His grandfather, Andy Maurer, played offensive line in the NFL for eight seasons.

With 3-point range already in place, Mauer developed a post game and challenged himself at the highest club levels in the offseason.

"I have around-the-rim finishing," Maurer said. "I can post up and do that sort of thing, but I can stretch the floor and put it on the ground and do pick-and-pops and that sort of thing. And then I protect the rim on defense.

"I've always been a shooter, but as I grew and got stronger, that's helped my inside scoring."

Maurer, who starts official practices for his senior season Monday, said he began to feel like GCU was his choice during the campus visit that included Midnight Madness. His friends helped confirm his thought that it was "home," as did the scene of a full GCU Arena showing what "The Biggest Party in College Basketball" does just to kick-start a season.

"That was crazy," Maurer said. "That's the most energy I've seen in a building ever."

Grand Canyon University Athletics

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