Local rivals Arizona State and Grand Canyon meet Thursday night in Phoenix with reigning WAC Player of the Year Tyon Grant-Foster set to make his season debut.
Grant-Foster, the Antelopes’ graduate guard who previously played for Kansas and DePaul, has undergone two heart surgeries in recent years.
He is cleared to play against the Sun Devils after reaching desirable strength and stamina. Grant-Foster sat out Grand Canyon’s opening two regular-season games. Last season, Grant-Foster averaged 20.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.
“We’re a much better team with Tyon,” Grand Canyon coach Bryce Drew said. “The biggest thing is going to be everybody getting used to playing together and the rhythm. The last couple weeks, we haven’t got to practice with him as much because we were so focused on our first two games. We’ve tried to speed things up this week, so hopefully it’ll click right away.”
Grand Canyon (2-0) defeated Cal State Fullerton 89-79 and Western Kentucky 74-72, both at home, to kick off the campaign.
Lopes junior Duke Brennan, a post player who began his career at Arizona State, also missed the first two contests with a left arm injury. His status was undetermined for the Thursday game.
Grand Canyon defeated Western Kentucky by scoring eight unanswered points to close the game.
Ray Harrison was 1-for-10 from the field before making the game-winning shot on a drive to the basket with 0.4 seconds remaining.
Collin Moore (23 points and 10 rebounds) and JaKobe Coles (16 points and 11 rebounds) each had a double-double to lead the Lopes.
Arizona State (2-1) is coming off an 88-80 loss Sunday at then-No. 6 Gonzaga, a game in which the Sun Devils were tied with five minutes remaining. The Bulldogs pulled away at the end.
Basheer Jihad had 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Sun Devils, who shot 53.1 percent from the field in the second half and 47.6 percent for the game.
Two days before the defeat, coach Bobby Hurley’s Sun Devils beat Santa Clara 81-74 in Henderson, Nev.
“That’s the beauty of how we performed this weekend is that both of the teams we played brought a lot of guys back, and we were able to overcome that and certainly be very competitive,” Hurley said.
