Grand Canyon’s Tyon Grant-Foster will only sit for 2 games to start season

This has been a great week for Grand Canyon guard Tyon Grant-Foster.

The 6-foot-7 dynamo, who was voted by the coaches as the Western Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year, found out that the NCAA will only make him sit out the first two games.

And ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas named Grant-Foster to second team on his preseason All-American team along with Arizona’s Caleb Love.

Grant-Foster, who led the WAC in scoring last year at 20.1 points a game, capturing conference Player of the Year honors, will only have to miss the first two games of the season, which sets him up for his season debut against Arizona State on Nov. 14 at Footprint Center at 7 p.m.

He’ll miss the Cal State Fullerton game on Nov. 4 and Western Kentucky on Nov. 9. Both are at home.

GCU Lopes guard Tyon Grant-Foster (7) shoots the ball over Seattle University Redhawks forard Seyi Reiley (23) at GCU Arena in Phoenix on Feb. 1, 2024.

“I’m real ecstatic,” Grant-Foster said. “I’m super excited. I really didn’t know what was going to happen. I appreciate everybody who worked so hard for me to get back on the court.”

Grant-Foster initially faced the possibility of being ineligible the first semester, which would have forced him to miss eight games of the season until Dec. 14 vs. Georgia.

The issue arose because he left GCU last spring to pursue the NBA after GCU’s season ended in the round of 32 against eventual Final Four team Alabama. He later opted to return to school.

GCU went through a waiver process through the NCAA to try to prevent him from being academically ineligible for the first semester. GCU coach Bryce Drew couldn’t comment on the specifics of the appeal.

Grant-Foster underwent multiple heart surgeries that caused him to miss two years of college basketball. GCU took a chance with him after he was medically cleared. He led the Lopes to their first 30-win season as an NCAA Division I member and first NCAA Tournament win last season. He had already passed enough credit hours to…

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Author : AZCentral | The Arizona Republic

Publish date : 2024-10-24 23:25:00

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