What we learned as Tyon Grant-Foster leads Grand Canyon over Southern Utah

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Tyon Grant-Foster’s first shot bounced high off the rim and back through the hoop for a 3-pointer.

“I knew the Lord was with me after that one,” he said.

Grant-Foster’s next shot was a 3. That swished dead-on, as the 6-foot-7 senior guard was back in the kind of offensive rhythm that made him the WAC Player of the Year last season. It helped drive Grand Canyon to an 82-71 win over Southern Utah in the Lopes’ Western Athletic Conference opener before a sellout crowd of 7,398 at Global Credit Union Arena on Saturday night.

He had 12 points in GCU’s 41-31 first half, making 4 of 7 shots, 2 of 3 3-pointers and both free throws. He finished with a game-high 23 points on 7-of-15 shooting, 3 of 5 from the arc, and pulled down nine rebounds, blocked two shots and had three streals.

Here are takeaways on GCU’s win that improved it to 11-4 overall:

Grant-Foster breaks out of shooting slump

Coming into Saturday, Grant-Foster made just one of his last 36 3-point tries. Since scoring 23 points against Hawaii on Dec. 3, he had made only 14 of 74 field goals.

“The Lord is with me every game, but I knew, it’s time,” Grant-Foster said.

Because Grant-Foster was getting it done on the defensive end during that stretch, coach Bryce Drew felt it was just a matter of time before his star player broke out of the scoring slump.

“I’m so happy for Tyon,” Drew said. “He’s been working, doing other things really well. He’s rebounding, making steals. He leads us in blocks. But we were all waiting for his scoring. Tonight, his scoring was on display.”

Drew even had him coming off the bench three games in a row, before inserting him back in the starting lineup in the final non-conference game, a blowout win over Bryant. But even in that game, Grant-Foster made only one of 13 shots, with the only field goal coming during garbage time late.

“These guys believed in me so much,” Grant-Foster said. “It’s really unbelievable. As many shots as I’ve taken and as many as I missed, they really told me to keep going.”

Duke…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/learned-tyon-grant-foster-leads-044918378.html

Author : AZCentral | The Arizona Republic

Publish date : 2025-01-05 04:49:00

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