After 2 heart surgeries, GCU's Tyon Grant-Foster wins WAC Player of the Year

In his first season with Grand Canyon University, 6-foot-7 senior wing Tyon Grant-Foster was voted by the coaches as the WAC Basketball Player of the Year.

Grant-Foster, who hadn't played in 16 months due to a medical emergency that nearly killed him, led the WAC in scoring by averaging 19.4 points a game.

He is the first player from GCU to win the award.

Grant-Foster was transported to a hospital after collapsing at halftime of his season opener for DePaul two years ago. He needed two surgeries for his heart.

He was told by doctors he would never play basketball gain.

But, two years later, he led the Antelopes to a 27-4 overall record and their first outright WAC regular-season championship.

He was not only a scorer but a stopper on defense. He averages 5.9 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 1.4 blocks. He is the first Division I player with at least 20 games played to averaged those number since Zion Williamson of Duke and Cal State Northridge's Lamine Diane did so in the 2018-19 season.

GCU senior forward Gabe McGlothan was named first-team All-WAC, after averaging 13.5 points and 7.3 rebounds. He made 42% of his free throws and averaged 1.1 steals and nearly a block a game. He made 76% of his free throws.

Guard Ray Harrison earned second-team All-WAC, averaging 13.5 points and 3.9 assists, as the main ballhandler. He had only 2.1 turnovers a game, a career low. He was one of GCU's top on-ball defenders.

Collin Moore, a 6-4 junior guard, made the All-Defensive Team. The Georgia State transfer averaged 2.9 steals and nearly a block a game, starting all 31 games.

Grand Canyon is the top seed in this week's WAC Tournament in Las Vegas and doesn't play until the semifinals at Orleans Arena on Friday.

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