Coming off of their third straight NCAA Tournament appearance, Grand Canyon basketball has bumped up from the WAC to the Mountain West with a deep and well-constructed roster.
The tradition continues! It’s another year of our countdown of the top 100 preseason teams in college basketball until the start of the season. Each day, we will reveal the next team until we reach the team slotted at number one. Up next: Grand Canyon basketball.
GCU has been successful every season in Bryce Drew’s first five years leading the program. Over that span, the Lopes are 120-40 (.750), appearing in the NCAA Tournament four times courtesy of WAC’s automatic bid. Competing for championships in the Mountain West will not be as straightforward, but Drew’s incoming transfer class gives them an inside track to the top third of the league.
There is no denying that this group will have a significant amount of production to replace. Tyon Grant-Foster, who has shown the ability to complete take over a game several times, has taken his talents to Gonzaga. JaKobe Coles, who was Grand Canyon’s most reliable player amidst TGF’s injuries, has graduated. However, the best mid-major programs figure out how to reload, and that is exactly what Drew did this offseason, adding some serious size to surround returning 6-1 guard Makaih Williams.
Head coach:Â Bryce Drew (6th season at Grand Canyon, 14th season overall)
2024-25 record:Â 26-8 (13-3)
2025 postseason finish:Â Lost to Maryland in Round of 64 (81-49)
Notable departures:Â
- Tyon Grant-Foster (14.8 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 2.1 APG)
- JaKobe Coles (14.4 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 2.1 APG)
- Rayshon Harrison (11.5 PPG, 2.9 APG, 2.7 RPG)
- Duke Brennan (10.4 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 0.5 APG)
Notable non-conference games:Â
- at Saint Louis (Nov. 15)
- vs. Utah* (Nov. 25)
- vs. Iowa OR Ole Miss* (Nov. 26)
- vs. Oklahoma State (Dec. 6)
* Acrisure Classic in Palm Desert, CA
Projected Rotation
PG: Makaih Williams (6-1, 185, Jr.)
2024-25 stats: 8.2 PPG, 2.4 APG, 2.3 RPG, 1.2 SPG
SG: Brian Moore Jr. (6-3, 180, Gr.-Sr.)
2024-25 stats: 18.1 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 3.0 APG, 1.3 SPG, 39.4 3P% (Norfolk State)
SF: Jaden Henley (6-7, 200, Sr.)
2024-25 stats: 12.5 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 1.8 APG, 1.6 SPG (UNLV)
PF: Nana Owusu-Anane (6-8, 220, Sr.)
2024-25 stats: Did not play (injury)
2023-24 stats: 14.7 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.3 SPG, 1.0 BPG (Brown)
C: Dennis Evans (7-1, 215, Rs.-So.)
2024-25 stats: Did not play (injury)
6: Dusty Stromer (6-6, 192, Jr.)
2024-25 stats: 4.3 PPG, 2.1 RPG, 0.7 APG (Gonzaga)
7: Caleb Shaw (6-5, 195, Sr.)
2024-25 stats: 6.1 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 0.9 APG, 42.6 3P%
8: Kaleb Smith (6-8, 200, Jr.)
2024-25 stats: 11.0 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 1.0 APG (UC Riverside)
9: Wilhelm Breidenbach (6-10, 227, Jr.)
2024-25 stats: 4.5 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 0.4 APG (Washington)
1o: Braylon Johnson (6-7, 210, Rs.-Fr.)
2024-25 stats: Redshirted
Grand Canyon Basketball team MVP: Nana Owusu-Anane
Owusu-Anane was an absolute stat stuffer in an Ivy League that had an underrated amount of talent in 2023-24. The 6-8, 220-pounder racked up 14.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists per game. He was also able to average over 32 minutes over the course of a full season, which speaks volumes to his ability to limit foul trouble.
As the stats suggest, Owusu-Anane is a versatile power forward who gets it done on both ends. Offensively, he often functioned as a facilitator at the top of the key, with an elite ability to read the court, whether it meant finding cutters, driving to the lane, posting up, or even letting the occasional long ball fly. Owusu-Anane also showed plenty of promise on the defensive end, recording a steal or block in all but two games in that 2023-24 season, and always extremely reliable on the glass.
It will be interesting to see how Drew utilizes Owusu-Anane this upcoming season, especially coming off of a labrum injury that sidelined him for the entirety of 2024-25. At the very least, he is basically a walking double-double.
Grand Canyon Basketball make-or-break player: Dennis Evans
Owusu-Anane’s front court mate is also recovering from a significant injury and was unable to play last season. However, unlike Owusu-Anane, Evans does not have the collegiate track record to prove that he is a true impact player at this level yet. Evans does have a lot of intrigue, though, as a top 25 recruit in the 2023 class standing at over seven feet tall.
Evans’ floor is a good defensive player, who splits time at the center spot. In his short stint at Louisville, he proved to be an elite rim protector — one who has good timing with his jumps along with the patience to avoid biting on pump fakes. The “make-or-break” aspect is Evans’ offensive game. In one world, he averages five to seven points, primarily on rim runs and put backs. In another, Evans’ athleticism manifests into a dynamic inside scorer with a reliable three-point shot.
Due to injury history and his inability to get on the court for an atrocious Louisville team in his true freshman season, there’s reasons for doubt, but the upside is certainly there.
Key analytic: Defensive turnover percentage
In all but one year under Drew, Grand Canyon has had a higher-ranked defensive efficiency than offensive efficiency on Torvik. Expect the trend to continue in the 2025-26 season with how this roster is constructed. Almost everyone in the projected rotation is a defensive guy to some extent, both guards and bigs. With GCU being an extremely high-tempo team as well, getting stops will often directly lead to transition offense.
Last year, the Lopes forced 20.3 turnovers per 100 possessions, the 34th highest nationally. Given that our projected one through four positions all have averaged over a steal per game, and Evans’ playmaking ability at the five, there is no reason that they can’t finish in the top 25 in that category this season.
Grand Canyon Basketball 2025-26 projections
Projected conference finish: 4th in the Mountain West
Projected postseason ceiling:Â NCAA Tournament Second Round Exit