Completed Event: Men's Basketball at UNLV on February 7, 2026 , Loss , 78, to, 80
M Basketball
at UNLV
L 78-80
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Photo by: David Kadlubowski
Lopes look back on success to spur summer work
8/2/2024 11:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
Top returnees set expectations to surpass GCU's historic 2023-24 season
When Grand Canyon head coach Bryce Drew talks about a 30-5 follow-up act at an August practice, he starts with the goal of staying healthy and fresh three months away from the regular season.
But Drew also knows that with five of his top six players returning from an NCAA tournament second-round team, there is a next-level internal expectation that pushes the Lopes' offseason improvement and commitment.
"They obviously want to get back to the tournament," said Drew, who has guided three GCU teams to March Madness in four seasons. "They want to try to win that game we lost in the round of 32, but there's a lot of basketball that has to be played in between. Keeping them locked in on one day at a time and getting better. We won a lot of close games last year. We have to stay locked in and play with the urgency we played with last year."
The Lopes are loaded with talented experience. They return the leading scorer from each of their past two seasons in reigning WAC Player of the Year Tyon Grant-Foster and Ray Harrison, who will play their final college season with fellow returning starters Collin Moore and Duke Brennan and late-season surging sixth man Lök Wur.
Pending an NCAA waiver request, Grant-Foster may not be able to play early-season nonconference games because he left campus in April to pursue the NBA Draft. Grant-Foster averaged 20.1 points, 6.1
rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.5 blocks last season following a heart issue that had sidelined him for two years, He returns with the goal of becoming a NBA first-round draft pick by improving his defense and ball-sharing.
Grant-Foster also said he is teaming with Harrison to replace the void of Lopes staples Gabe McGlothan and Jovan Blacksher Jr., who were key in establishing the program's culture.
"We have to kind of take over that leadership role that they brought," Grant-Foster said. "It's kind of different. It's a whole lot more selflessness that you have to have. We can't have bad practices. We can't have bad days because we have to make sure everyone else is good."
Grant-Foster looks different in the GCU Basketball Facility with eight extra pounds, shorter hair and an air of confidence from getting his basketball groove back.
"Last year, we saw glimpses of how good he can be, but he hadn't played basketball in over two years," Drew said of Grant-Foster. "He's so much more polished now than he was last year at this time and such better shape than he was. I think he's figuring out who he is as a player more. Last year, there was a lot of uncertainty. Now, he's going to hopefully catch that rhythm and stride right away."
Offseason often is when the work in another facility, the basketball-dedicated weight room, shows up in the GCU Basketball Practice Facility.
The toned, added bulk shows on Lopes freshmen Sammie Yeanay and Styles Phipps. In summer on-court workouts, they are displaying potential to have an immediate impact on a team that returns top players, gets guard Caleb Shaw back from his redshirt season and added transfers such as JaKobe Coles (10-point scoring average at TCU) and Makaih Williams (WAC Freshman of the Year at UT Arlington).
"Sammie put on 12 pounds since he's been here," Drew said of Yeanay, a top-100 national recruit. "He's 242 right now. It's very unique for a freshman power forward to come in with that physique. He has shot the ball well. He has a really nice touch for his size. Obviously, it'll be a learning curve, especially with our veterans, but he has so many physical attributes that should resonate from Day 1."
Harrison said he has been mindful of injecting a "winning mindset" in everything the team has done this summer. It was a learned behavior and expectation for Harrison, who went from a 19-35 record (.352) at Presbyterian to 54-17 (.761) in his two years at GCU.
"I feel like our strength training, our conditioning to our recovery, the mindset has changed," Harrison said.
McGlothan visited GCU practice Thursday before he returns to Denver to prepare for preseason training camp with the Nuggets, who are placing him on G League affiliate Grand Rapids' roster. It has been an odd summer for the returnees to not have the omnipresence of McGlothan. Drew it will take a collective effort to replace his multidimensional skills and impact on and off the court.
McGlothan's career helped GCU rise to reaching the NCAA tournament second round last season. This season's roster could prove stronger, especially because that March Madness success helped land a double-digit Big 12 scorer (Coles) and the program's highest-rated signee (Yeanay) at McGlothan's power forward spot.
"I feel like we can have another great season, even better than we had last year," Grant-Foster said.
But Drew also knows that with five of his top six players returning from an NCAA tournament second-round team, there is a next-level internal expectation that pushes the Lopes' offseason improvement and commitment.
"They obviously want to get back to the tournament," said Drew, who has guided three GCU teams to March Madness in four seasons. "They want to try to win that game we lost in the round of 32, but there's a lot of basketball that has to be played in between. Keeping them locked in on one day at a time and getting better. We won a lot of close games last year. We have to stay locked in and play with the urgency we played with last year."
The Lopes are loaded with talented experience. They return the leading scorer from each of their past two seasons in reigning WAC Player of the Year Tyon Grant-Foster and Ray Harrison, who will play their final college season with fellow returning starters Collin Moore and Duke Brennan and late-season surging sixth man Lök Wur.
Pending an NCAA waiver request, Grant-Foster may not be able to play early-season nonconference games because he left campus in April to pursue the NBA Draft. Grant-Foster averaged 20.1 points, 6.1
rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.5 blocks last season following a heart issue that had sidelined him for two years, He returns with the goal of becoming a NBA first-round draft pick by improving his defense and ball-sharing.Grant-Foster also said he is teaming with Harrison to replace the void of Lopes staples Gabe McGlothan and Jovan Blacksher Jr., who were key in establishing the program's culture.
"We have to kind of take over that leadership role that they brought," Grant-Foster said. "It's kind of different. It's a whole lot more selflessness that you have to have. We can't have bad practices. We can't have bad days because we have to make sure everyone else is good."
Grant-Foster looks different in the GCU Basketball Facility with eight extra pounds, shorter hair and an air of confidence from getting his basketball groove back.
"Last year, we saw glimpses of how good he can be, but he hadn't played basketball in over two years," Drew said of Grant-Foster. "He's so much more polished now than he was last year at this time and such better shape than he was. I think he's figuring out who he is as a player more. Last year, there was a lot of uncertainty. Now, he's going to hopefully catch that rhythm and stride right away."
Offseason often is when the work in another facility, the basketball-dedicated weight room, shows up in the GCU Basketball Practice Facility.
The toned, added bulk shows on Lopes freshmen Sammie Yeanay and Styles Phipps. In summer on-court workouts, they are displaying potential to have an immediate impact on a team that returns top players, gets guard Caleb Shaw back from his redshirt season and added transfers such as JaKobe Coles (10-point scoring average at TCU) and Makaih Williams (WAC Freshman of the Year at UT Arlington).
"Sammie put on 12 pounds since he's been here," Drew said of Yeanay, a top-100 national recruit. "He's 242 right now. It's very unique for a freshman power forward to come in with that physique. He has shot the ball well. He has a really nice touch for his size. Obviously, it'll be a learning curve, especially with our veterans, but he has so many physical attributes that should resonate from Day 1."
Harrison said he has been mindful of injecting a "winning mindset" in everything the team has done this summer. It was a learned behavior and expectation for Harrison, who went from a 19-35 record (.352) at Presbyterian to 54-17 (.761) in his two years at GCU."I feel like our strength training, our conditioning to our recovery, the mindset has changed," Harrison said.
McGlothan visited GCU practice Thursday before he returns to Denver to prepare for preseason training camp with the Nuggets, who are placing him on G League affiliate Grand Rapids' roster. It has been an odd summer for the returnees to not have the omnipresence of McGlothan. Drew it will take a collective effort to replace his multidimensional skills and impact on and off the court.
McGlothan's career helped GCU rise to reaching the NCAA tournament second round last season. This season's roster could prove stronger, especially because that March Madness success helped land a double-digit Big 12 scorer (Coles) and the program's highest-rated signee (Yeanay) at McGlothan's power forward spot.
"I feel like we can have another great season, even better than we had last year," Grant-Foster said.
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