A deeper look at Grand Canyon, Maryland basketball's first-round opponent
The two teams meet at 4:35 p.m. ET on Friday in Seattle.
Twenty-seven years ago, Bryce Drew hit a miraculous buzzer-beating three-pointer to give 13th-seeded Valparaiso an upset win over No. 4 Ole Miss and spark a Sweet 16 run.
Drew knows plenty about NCAA Tournament success, and when he leads Grand Canyon into Seattle to take on No. 4 Maryland on Friday, it will not be his first rodeo.
Drew led his alma mater to two NCAA Tournaments in 2013 and 2015, the latter ending in a first-round loss to Maryland. He was then at Vanderbilt for three years, going to one NCAA Tournament in 2017 and losing in the first round. Drew has been the head coach at Grand Canyon for five seasons, and this is his fourth time taking the Antelopes to the Big Dance. Grand Canyon lost in the Round of 64 in 2021 and 2023, but it won a game in last year's NCAA Tournament, upsetting fifth-seeded Saint Mary's before losing to No. 4 Alabama.
Maryland is a 10.5-point favorite over the Antelopes. Tip is set for 4:35 p.m. ET on Friday.
Grand Canyon is 93rd at KenPom, 149th in adjusted offensive efficiency and 67th in adjusted defensive efficiency. It ranks 14th nationally in adjusted tempo. The Antelopes average 13.2 turnovers per game, the 58th-most in the nation.
Grand Canyon has not been the type of group to tear through opponents with torrid three-point shooting; it makes 31.6% of its threes (285th nationally) and only 23.6% of its points come from the perimeter (349th nationally). The Antelopes have the 26th-best effective field goal defense, the 78th-best three-point defense and the 25th-best two-point defense in the country.
The Antelopes played three power conference foes in their non-conference slate, going 1-2. They lost to Arizona State, 87-76, on a neutral floor in Phoenix on Nov. 14. They beat Stanford, 78-71, on a neutral floor in Palm Desert, California, on Nov. 26. They gave Georgia a fight on Dec. 14 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, but they ultimately lost, 73-68. Grand Canyon's win over Stanford was its only one inside the first two quadrants.
Let's take a deep dive into Grand Canyon's personnel. All eight rotation players started their careers with other programs.
STARTERS
Ray Harrison, 6-4, G, Sr.
Harrison averages 11.6 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.1 steals per game. Harrison, a fifth-year senior who spent the first two years of his career at Presbyterian, averaged 17.8 points per game as a junior at Grand Canyon and 13.5 points per game last season. Harrison shoots 34.2% from three and 87.6% from the free-throw line. The 2023 All-WAC first-teamer has five career 30-point games and is still a threat to fill up the stat sheet despite a scoring decline.
Collin Moore, 6-4, G, Sr.
Moore spent the first three years of his career at Georgia State and the previous two at Grand Canyon. Moore averages 7.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.8 steals per game. Moore had the second-best steal rate in the WAC during conference play. He shoots 43.4% from the field, 36.3% from three and 71.3% from the free-throw line. Moore was selected to the WAC All-Defensive Team and is another big guard who will try and give Maryland's backcourt fits.
Tyon Grant-Foster, 6-7, G, Gr.
Grant-Foster is in his seventh year in college, starting his journey at Indian Hills Community College (2018-20) before going to DePaul (2021-22), Kansas (2022-23) and now Grand Canyon for the previous two seasons. Grant-Foster has had an inspirational journey, overcoming a major health scare at DePaul and ultimately becoming an elite college basketball player. The 2024 WAC Player of the Year and an All-WAC first-team pick this season, Grant-Foster averages 14.5 points, six rebounds, two assists, 1.8 steals and 1.6 blocks per game. He has struggled to shoot this season, making only 21.6% of his threes. He averaged 25.5 points per game in two NCAA Tournament games last year.
JaKobe Coles, 6-8, F, Sr.
After starting his career at Butler and then playing three seasons at TCU, Coles has been a seamless fit in Phoenix. The All-WAC first-team selection averages 14.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game. Coles, who can stretch the floor at 6-foot-8, shoots 52.1% from the field, 30.3% from three and 77% from the free-throw line. He scored 19 points in TCU's first-round loss to Utah State in last year's NCAA Tournament.
Duke Brennan, 6-10, F, Jr.
Brennan, who started his career with one season at Arizona State, has started every game for Grand Canyon each of the past two years. Brennan averages 10.7 points and 9.2 rebounds (3.3 offensive rebounds) per game. He shoots 65.8% from two and 65.4% from the free-throw line. He is 0-for-1 from three on the season. During conference play, Brennan ranked first in the WAC in offensive rating, effective field goal percentage, true shooting percentage, two-point percentage and offensive rebounding percentage. He was selected to the All-WAC second team and the WAC All-Defensive team.
RESERVES
Lök Wur, 6-9, F, Gr.
The WAC Sixth Player of the Year, Wur has been at Grand Canyon for three seasons after spending his first four at Oregon. Wur averages 8.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 1.1 steals per game. He shoots 52.2% from two, 36.5% from three and 74.1% from the free-throw line. During WAC play, Wur ranked fourth in the conference in block percentage.
Makaih Williams, 6-2, G, So.
Williams, a UT Arlington transfer, averages 8.3 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.2 steals in 24.4 minutes per game. He has started 20 games but came off the bench during the Antelopes' three-game WAC Tournament run. Williams shoots only 36.9% from the field and 25.8% from three, though he averages 2.7 attempts from deep per game.
Caleb Shaw, 6-6, G, R-So.
It is a family affair for Shaw, whose uncle is Bryce Drew and father is assistant Casey Shaw. Shaw averages 6.3 points and 2.5 rebounds per game. He shoots 42.4% from the field and 34.1% from three. Shaw played his freshman season at Northern Colorado in 2022-23. He transferred to Grand Canyon last season and redshirted.
