Grand Canyon men’s basketball is anticipating star Tyon Grant-Foster will have to sit out the first two games of 2024-25 and can make his season debut against Arizona State at Footprint Center on Nov. 14, according to a GCU spokesperson.
Grant-Foster’s delayed start stems from an academic eligibility issue from when he tested the NBA Draft process. azcentral’s Richard Obert first reported the news.
The Western Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year will miss GCU’s opener against Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 4 and a game against Western Kentucky on Nov. 9.
The 24-year-old averaged 20.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game during his 2023-24 campaign where he helped lead the Antelopes to their first NCAA Tournament win.
Grant-Foster went through part of the NBA draft process before withdrawing his name in June in order to return for his seventh year of eligibility.
The Antelopes and Sun Devils will play at Footprint Center as part of the Hall of Fame Series.
Why was Tyon Grant-Foster given a seventh year of eligibility?
The 2023-24 WAC Player of the Year fought back from serious heart issues in his college career that includes two seasons at Indian Hills Community College, one season at Kansas and one with DePaul before he transferred to GCU.
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He missed more than a year of basketball after collapsing during halftime in the locker room while playing for DePaul in its season opener in 2021. He was resuscitated, spent 10 days in the hospital and received an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator.
However, during his recovery, he attempted to play in a pickup game, where he collapsed again. He was sent to the hospital before he received a second heart surgery in the spring of 2022. Doctors cleared him to play in March 2023 after he spent 16 months recovering.
Grant-Foster then transferred to GCU and lived with his cousin, former Phoenix Suns player Ish Wainright.