Grant-Foster, Harrison lauded for WAC's clear pick

Run it back.

If Lope Nation enjoyed what unfolded last season, the WAC coaches' preseason predictions for more of the same will be to Grand Canyon fans' liking.

GCU was picked to win the conference with a unanimous vote among opposing conference coaches for the first time. WAC coaches also believe Lopes senior guard Tyon Grant-Foster will follow up his WAC Player of the Year season of 2023-24 by making him the WAC Preseason Player of the Year for the upcoming season.

Grant-Foster and Lopes senior guard Ray Harrison, an All-WAC second-team honoree last season, were awarded two of the five spots on the Preseason All-WAC Team.

"We're excited that we have so many returners," said GCU head coach Bryce Drew, whose third NCAA tournament team in four Lopes seasons went 30-5 and reached the NCAA tournament second round. "That's hard to do in today's world. Five of our top six guys are back from last season. It definitely starts with them, and I think they know the expectations that are on them. They're excited for another year of WAC play."

Grant-Foster, a 6-foot-7 guard from Kansas City, Kansas, became GCU's first WAC Player of the Year last season when he also was the first Lopes player to win the WAC scoring championship since DeWayne Russell in 2016-17. Grant-Foster averaged 20.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.5 blocked shots as he was named a Lute Olson National Player of the Year finalist.

Since 2000, the only other college players to post those season averages with at least 20 appearances were NBA All-Stars Zion Williamson (2018-19 with Duke) and Kevin Durant (2006-07 with Texas).

Ray Harrison

Harrison, a 6-4 guard from Greenville, South Carolina, enters this season nine points away from the 2,000-point landmark for his career. In two seasons with GCU, Harrison has averaged 15.7 points and 3.7 assists per game for teams that won 54 games. With 1,100 points and counting as a Lope, Harrison ranks 16th for career scoring all-time and fifth for points in GCU's Division I era.

"They are both really good players," Drew said. "Ray has been a huge part of the program for the past two years, and Tyon showed up last year and had just a phenomenal year after taking off a couple years from basketball. As a coach, it's really nice to be able to have both of those elite players on our team.

"I think their games became even more mature over the summer. They are definitely more polished in what they do."

GCU will make its debut with an Oct. 29 exhibition against Eastern New Mexico at Global Credit Union Arena, where the Lopes' regular season will start Nov. 4 against Cal State Fullerton.

The WAC Men's Basketball Preview Show will stream Tuesday on ESPN+, starting at 9 a.m. (Phoenix time) and featuring an interview with Drew, Grant-Foster and Harrison at 10 a.m. The entire show schedule:

9 a.m.: WAC interim commissioner Rebekah Ray
9:15 a.m.: Seattle U
9:30 a.m.: Southern Utah
9:45 a.m.: Tarleton State
10 a.m.: GCU
10:15 a.m.: Utah Tech
10:30 a.m.: WAC senior associate commissioner Drew Speraw
10:45 a.m.: Abilene Christian
11 a.m.: Utah Valley
11:15 a.m.: California Baptist
11:30 a.m.: UT Arlington
11:45 a.m.: CBS analyst Seth Davis

WAC Preseason Player of the Year
Player	School
Tyon Grant-Foster, senior guard	GCU

Preseason All-WAC Team
Player	School
Tyon Grant-Foster, senior guard	GCU
Ray Harrison, senior guard	GCU
John Christofilis, junior guard	Seattle U
Dominique Daniels Jr., senior guard	California Baptist
Freddy Hicks, senior guard/forward	Tarleton State

Preseason Coaches Poll
Rank	Team (first-place votes)	Points
1	GCU (8)	64
2	UT Arlington	49
3	Seattle U (1)	46
4	California Baptist	45
5	Utah Valley	38
6	Tarleton State	30
7	Abilene Christian	29
8	Utah Tech	12
9.	Southern Utah	11

Grand Canyon University Athletics

WAC Preseason Player of the Year

Preseason All-WAC Team

Preseason Coaches Poll

Players Mentioned

Tyon Grant-Foster

Ray Harrison

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