Yeanay becomes highest-ranked GCU signee ever

Phoenix, AZ June 13, 2024 : GCU basketball takes part in summer workouts. David Kadlubowski/GCU

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

6/14/2024 8:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Top-100, 4-star forward brings work ethic, physicality, versatility at age 18

By: Paul Coro

Sammie Yeanay, the highest-rated signee in Grand Canyon basketball history, took the court with the Lopes for the first time during Thursday skill workouts and saw what he had desired in a college home – the level of teammates, coaches and facilities to make him better.

Yeanay, a 6-foot-8, 230-pound combo forward, became GCU's first top-100 signee and the highest-ranked player on ESPN's Class of 2024 top 100 to choose a program outside the nation's Power 6 basketball conferences.

After just turning 18 last month, Yeanay (pronounced "yuh-NAY") made the move crosstown from Chandler's AZ Compass Prep, where the four-star recruit spent his senior year helping the Dragons finish at No. 8 nationally in ESPN's rankings. He previously played high school basketball in Gainesville, Florida, after growing up in North Dakota.

"GCU really stood out to me with the playing style," Yeanay said. "When I came on my visit, it was more about the system and how I'd fit in. When I was talking to the coaching staff, they were showing me all the different ways I'd be able to develop to go to the next level. The big thing with me is that I'm trying to develop my game doing wing stuff. What the coaches told me fell in line with that."

Yeanay completes GCU's 14-man roster and adds to a freshman class that already featured 7-footer Austin Maurer, the Gatorade Oregon Player of the Year, and Phoenix's Styles Phipps, considered Arizona's top high school point guard.

Adding to a team returning four starters from an NCAA tournament second-round team, Yeanay brings a versatile, high-motor game with the ability and mobility to play any frontcourt position and offensive ability that has expanded from the post to face-up penetration and perimeter shooting.

"Sammie fits GCU's mission as a person and player," GCU assistant coach Jermaine Kimbrough said. "Sammie wants to be developed into the whole person. He is strong in his faith. He believes in family. Sammie comes from a strong, two-parent Christian family background, which aligns with everything that Coach Drew preaches about our program. Character, faith, selflessness."

Sammie Yeanay

Yeanay was a hotly pursued recruit nationally, having committed to Arizona State in early November when Kimbrough recruited him there before joining GCU's staff after the season. Yeanay reopened his recruitment last month with Oklahoma State, Florida, Alabama, California and Houston among his scores of pursuers. ESPN, Rivals and 247Sports ranked Yeanay among the nation's top 20 power forwards in his class.

"He wants to win and has a competitive spirit, which is why he won at a high level in high school," Kimbrough said. "For Sammie to choose GCU over multiple SEC and Big 12 schools tells you exactly who he is as a person, and he understands and knows what it's going to take to be the best version of himself as a student-athlete."

With a No. 90 ranking on ESPN and 247Sports Composite lists, Yeanay's first impression of GCU came in late November when he attended a game against North Dakota State to see his home state team. Per usual, Global Credit Union Arena was sold out and raucous.

"It was pretty lit, I ain't going to lie," Yeanay said. "I was always hearing about it, and it was pretty lit. They say every home game is rocking. I like to play in that type of atmosphere.

Sammie Yeanay

"I'm a very electric player. I'm with the crowd, so I like to get the crowd hyped. Every bucket I score is going to be like I had 40 or so. When my teammates score, I'm going to make it seem like it's the best bucket they ever had in their life."

Despite his size, Yeanay focused on soccer growing up as the son of Liberian parents. Playing goalkeeper translated well for his hands and lateral movement when he made the switch to basketball in eighth grade and began at the "terrible" stage.

Yeanay played center for most of high school with a strong body, post game and interior defense, but he has been rounding out his game with improved ball-handling and perimeter shooting in the past year at AZ Compass Prep.

"The area I've grown the most is mentally, learning how to play with other players and not playing selfish to play team basketball and win games," Yeanay said.

At AZ Compass Prep, Yeanay played on a 27-6 team with five other seniors who have signed with Division I programs, including LSU-bound, top-50 guard Vyctorious Miller.

Adam Finkelstein, 247Sports Director of Scouting, broke down Yeanay with the following player evaluation in October:

"Yeanay is a strong-bodied forward with a high-motor and physical style. He's competitive, powerful, runs the court, and plays hard on both ends of the floor. He came up the ranks as an undersized big man, who was physically mature at a young age and thus able to put up big numbers by overpowering people in the paint. As he's gotten older, he's expanded his game and become more versatile in the process. He's still a definite threat with his back to the basket, who understands how to get deep post position and has good footwork. He can also put a lot of pressure on the rim as a face-up driver who almost dares opposing defenders to get in his way with an aggressive downhill style. He's starting to extend his shooting touch away from the basket and has also shown some flashes of being an underrated passer in high-low action. Defensively, he can body-up and bang with bigger players on the block and has worked to improve his footspeed and lateral quickness when pulled to the perimeter. Yeanay is also an active rebounder on both ends of the floor."

The Lopes are returning four of five starters for the coming season in guards Tyon Grant-Foster, Ray Harrison and Collin Moore and center Duke Brennan, as well as returning sixth man Lök Wur after his strong finish to GCU's 30-5 season. This offseason, GCU has fortified the roster in the transfer portal by adding forward JaKobe Coles from TCU, center Dennis Evans from Louisville, forward Traivar Jackson from Tarleton State and guard Makaih Williams from UT Arlington.