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Familiar faces fill facility, joined by new talent
6/27/2024 10:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
GCU's full 2024-25 roster gets to work with 5 of top 6 back from 30-5 team
With Grand Canyon players lined up for conditioning during one of their first summer workouts as the 2024-25 Lopes, the newcomers were directed to one area of the GCU Basketball Practice Facility while the second-year Lopes were pointed to another section.
A call for third-year GCU players left Ray Harrison as alone as a unicorn horn.
"I was like, 'Bro, this is crazy,' " said Harrison, who is entering his final college season. "I remember when I first got here that I felt like such a stranger. Everybody was so used to being here and was so comfortable. Now, it's flipped. Now I'm the one who's comfortable."
GCU's comfort zone is winning championships, and summer workouts display a team that is built to pursue a WAC Tournament three-peat with five of last season's leaders in points, rebounds, steals and minutes returning alongside a tantalizing group of transfers and freshmen.
After accumulating three NCAA tournament trips and the nation's 17th-highest win total (94) since head coach Bryce Drew's 2020 arrival, this may be the Lopes' most talented team. GCU is adjusting to life without program stalwarts Jovan Blacksher Jr. and Gabe McGlothan, but the Lopes already are excited to be positioned to improve on a record-breaking 30-5 season that ended in the Big Dance's round of 32.
"It's scary, honestly," said Harrison, who is nine shy of 2,000 career points. "I always reach for the moon. Every year, I automatically assume we're not going to lose any games. We're going to win the championship. Those are all my goals to start. Having a group like this is good. It makes you feel like you're not overreaching. We should be reaching for the heights that we're aiming for."
The optimism overflows because GCU returns WAC Player of the Year and conference scoring champion Tyon Grant-Foster, the starting backcourt of Harrison and All-WAC Defensive Team member Collin Moore and junior center Duke Brennan. Graduate Lök Wur returns after being a key Lopes sixth man in last season's final 14 games, when he averaged 10.0 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in 20.5 minutes per game.
"It's been great to see how hard all of these guys want to work, and the returners have been really good about showing the new guys how we do things," fifth-year GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "They've all been putting a lot into the weight room and conditioning. They get along really well. They're excited about what we have here, and I think the guys coming back are motivated by what we accomplished last season."
And here come the reinforcements.
GCU added a graduate transfer who started for TCU until a foot injury last season (forward JaKobe Coles), last season's WAC Freshman of the Year at UT Arlington (guard Makaih Williams), a 7-foot-1 Class of 2023 blue chipper who is still 18 years old after a year at Louisville (sophomore center Dennis Evans) and another player who surged late last season for WAC runner-up Tarleton State (senior forward Traivar Jackson).
Sophomore guard Caleb Shaw will make his Lopes debut after playing the 2022-23 season at Northern Colorado and redshirting last season at GCU.
The Lopes' most touted freshman class ever enters with a headliner in top-100 signee Sammie Yeanay, a 6-foot-8 forward who finished high school in the Valley. He is joined by Oregon's Gatorade Player of the Year, 7-foot center Austin Maurer, and Arizona preps' top 2023-24 point guard, Styles Phipps of St. Mary's High School.
"I'm just trying to get acclimated with the speed of the game and the pace of how fast we do things here," said Yeanay, a physically mature 18-year-old who said he might look like "Hulk" after the next four months with GCU associate director of sports performance Jordan Jackson.
"I've been learning, and I feel myself getting better every day. It's going to be a blessing to learn from the older guys. They've been here for a couple years and know the system and everything that goes on. I'm just trying to learn and get better."
Coles has taken in recent summer workouts on the sidelines after undergoing a minor right foot procedure to clean up what sidelined him briefly last season after averaging 14 points during the Horned Frogs' 7-0 start.
"The talent level is where it needs to be and even better than I thought it would be when I came here," Coles said. "All the guys are versatile, 1 through 5. We've got some high-end athletes and high-end basketball players who know how to play and win at a high level. I love everything about the team so far."
Coles has taken note of how serious the returning players approach workouts and how detailed the Lopes staff operates to create and run them.
"In a way, I feel like we've matured even more," Harrison said. "The addition of the young guys forces us older guys to mature at a faster rate because we are the role models. It helps everyone, hand in hand.
"I was excited the first year and the second year, and I'm even more excited the third year. We have a lot of promise."
It was just 27 months ago that Harrison was leading his first GCU conference title. Since then, he has changed his physique (stronger, leaner, more athletic) and his position (more playmaker than off-guard) with an aim to improve his perimeter shooting for a more open Lopes offense next season.
After having his greatest year of maturation, Harrison said he feels like the most polished version of himself. Although he and Lope Nation are adjusting to not seeing McGlothan and Blacksher in purple for the first time since the 2018-19 season, Harrison knows he must be a team conduit with Drew.
"It's making our connection stronger," Harrison said. "Going into this year with new guys, me and him are going to have to be on the same page more than ever. There were times last year that we felt like we could've been more connected, but we both know that this year we're going to try to be more proactive about it."
A call for third-year GCU players left Ray Harrison as alone as a unicorn horn.
"I was like, 'Bro, this is crazy,' " said Harrison, who is entering his final college season. "I remember when I first got here that I felt like such a stranger. Everybody was so used to being here and was so comfortable. Now, it's flipped. Now I'm the one who's comfortable."GCU's comfort zone is winning championships, and summer workouts display a team that is built to pursue a WAC Tournament three-peat with five of last season's leaders in points, rebounds, steals and minutes returning alongside a tantalizing group of transfers and freshmen.
After accumulating three NCAA tournament trips and the nation's 17th-highest win total (94) since head coach Bryce Drew's 2020 arrival, this may be the Lopes' most talented team. GCU is adjusting to life without program stalwarts Jovan Blacksher Jr. and Gabe McGlothan, but the Lopes already are excited to be positioned to improve on a record-breaking 30-5 season that ended in the Big Dance's round of 32.
"It's scary, honestly," said Harrison, who is nine shy of 2,000 career points. "I always reach for the moon. Every year, I automatically assume we're not going to lose any games. We're going to win the championship. Those are all my goals to start. Having a group like this is good. It makes you feel like you're not overreaching. We should be reaching for the heights that we're aiming for."
The optimism overflows because GCU returns WAC Player of the Year and conference scoring champion Tyon Grant-Foster, the starting backcourt of Harrison and All-WAC Defensive Team member Collin Moore and junior center Duke Brennan. Graduate Lök Wur returns after being a key Lopes sixth man in last season's final 14 games, when he averaged 10.0 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in 20.5 minutes per game."It's been great to see how hard all of these guys want to work, and the returners have been really good about showing the new guys how we do things," fifth-year GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "They've all been putting a lot into the weight room and conditioning. They get along really well. They're excited about what we have here, and I think the guys coming back are motivated by what we accomplished last season."
And here come the reinforcements.
GCU added a graduate transfer who started for TCU until a foot injury last season (forward JaKobe Coles), last season's WAC Freshman of the Year at UT Arlington (guard Makaih Williams), a 7-foot-1 Class of 2023 blue chipper who is still 18 years old after a year at Louisville (sophomore center Dennis Evans) and another player who surged late last season for WAC runner-up Tarleton State (senior forward Traivar Jackson).
Sophomore guard Caleb Shaw will make his Lopes debut after playing the 2022-23 season at Northern Colorado and redshirting last season at GCU.
The Lopes' most touted freshman class ever enters with a headliner in top-100 signee Sammie Yeanay, a 6-foot-8 forward who finished high school in the Valley. He is joined by Oregon's Gatorade Player of the Year, 7-foot center Austin Maurer, and Arizona preps' top 2023-24 point guard, Styles Phipps of St. Mary's High School.
"I'm just trying to get acclimated with the speed of the game and the pace of how fast we do things here," said Yeanay, a physically mature 18-year-old who said he might look like "Hulk" after the next four months with GCU associate director of sports performance Jordan Jackson."I've been learning, and I feel myself getting better every day. It's going to be a blessing to learn from the older guys. They've been here for a couple years and know the system and everything that goes on. I'm just trying to learn and get better."
Coles has taken in recent summer workouts on the sidelines after undergoing a minor right foot procedure to clean up what sidelined him briefly last season after averaging 14 points during the Horned Frogs' 7-0 start.
"The talent level is where it needs to be and even better than I thought it would be when I came here," Coles said. "All the guys are versatile, 1 through 5. We've got some high-end athletes and high-end basketball players who know how to play and win at a high level. I love everything about the team so far."Coles has taken note of how serious the returning players approach workouts and how detailed the Lopes staff operates to create and run them.
"In a way, I feel like we've matured even more," Harrison said. "The addition of the young guys forces us older guys to mature at a faster rate because we are the role models. It helps everyone, hand in hand.
"I was excited the first year and the second year, and I'm even more excited the third year. We have a lot of promise."
It was just 27 months ago that Harrison was leading his first GCU conference title. Since then, he has changed his physique (stronger, leaner, more athletic) and his position (more playmaker than off-guard) with an aim to improve his perimeter shooting for a more open Lopes offense next season.
After having his greatest year of maturation, Harrison said he feels like the most polished version of himself. Although he and Lope Nation are adjusting to not seeing McGlothan and Blacksher in purple for the first time since the 2018-19 season, Harrison knows he must be a team conduit with Drew.
"It's making our connection stronger," Harrison said. "Going into this year with new guys, me and him are going to have to be on the same page more than ever. There were times last year that we felt like we could've been more connected, but we both know that this year we're going to try to be more proactive about it."
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