NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - GRAND CANYON VS ALABAMA

March 23, 2024

Bryce Drew

Tyon Grant-Foster

Ray Harrison

Gabe McGlothan

Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena

Grand Canyon Lopes

Media Conference

Q. Tyon, last night on Twitter Christian Brown called you the best player in the tournament. I wanted to ask you about your relationship with him going back to Kansas and how your time at Kansas has affected you.

TYON GRANT-FOSTER: I knew CB way before I even went to University of Kansas. We've been friends for a long time. He's one of my best friends to this day. That's just been one of my best friends for a long time. That's how that relationship happened.

Q. You're going from facing a half-court offense to a team that just wants to get out and run and run and gun and just transition all over the place. How do you adapt to that after facing one style now?

GABE McGLOTHAN: Coach Drew was talking about it earlier this morning, but being able to handle different types of teams, just show good teams and what they're capable of. We want to be a part of that category. So we've got to adjust. We've got to be able to handle it.

The main thing is, too, is they've got to deal with us, as well. Playing our game but also knowing what the game plan is.

Q. Tyon, does their style of play feed into you, the way you like it play?

TYON GRANT-FOSTER: I feel like the way they play really doesn't really have anything to do with how I play just because if I let that affect my game, it's going to affect my team. I just feel like Gabe said, they have to deal with us and we have to play the way that we've been playing.

Q. Ray, your second half 15 points, three assists, no turnovers, were you kind of easing into the game in the first half? What happened at halftime for that outburst?

RAY HARRISON: I just tried to keep my composure. Like I said, I thought I had some good looks in the first half. I was trying to stay aggressive. But still let the game come to me. In the second half I had better looks and was successful.

Q. Knowing you were going to play St. Mary's on Sunday, now you have one day to prepare for Alabama. How does that change in terms of preparing for that?

RAY HARRISON: Like Gabe was saying, Coach was telling us good teams are able to adapt, so I feel like that's one of our strengths is just being able to on any given night if we have to play later into the shot clock on defense and really sit down and guard the team, we can do that, or if we need to be focused on the first 10 to 12 seconds in the shot clock we can do that, as well.

GABE McGLOTHAN: I also think it's a beautiful thing playing in the WAC because you get all types of talent levels, all these different types of styles that they play. We've experienced changes of pace, different skill levels and just different defensive offenses throughout the season. It's just going back to what we've already learned and making sure we stay focused and execute what this game is.

Q. Gabe, a lot of firsts for GC. You were on the first team that made the first tournament. You guys' first regular season title in the conference. Do you think about that or are you just locked in on the next game?

GABE McGLOTHAN: We've got to enjoy it a little bit. Obviously it's a great thing. You want to be in the moment. You want to be able to celebrate it because if you celebrate that moment for the time that you have it, then you can look forward and be like, all right, I want to celebrate again because you know how good that feeling felt.

But it's just making sure you also stay in the moment for when is the time to turn the next page. That is now, and we turn the page, and now it's focus on Alabama. Just be in the moment and take in what it is.

But we continue to try to make history. That's the plan. I hope down the line, history just continues to be made.

BRYCE DREW: Great to be here today. Exciting day yesterday for our team, for our program, for our school. We're excited to play again on Sunday. Again, polar opposite scouts and teams that we're facing in styles. St. Mary's, slower pace; Bama one of the fastest teams in the country. Our players are going to have to adapt very quickly to a different style on defense and on offense.

Q. You did a great job in the half-court sets on the offense St. Mary's was running and this team is going to just get up and down the court. Do your guys really prefer that pace, that style, or does that fit into how athletic you guys are?

BRYCE DREW: If you asked any of our players, they'll definitely say they want to play at a faster pace and get more shots and more possessions, and that's how we've played all year. We haven't really held them back.

I thought yesterday the second half really helped us because the pace got a little bit faster, and to get 75 points on St. Mary's is really hard to do. So we were really pleased with that.

Alabama is used to scoring in the 90s, in the 100s. We've done that some this year but not to the capacity that they have.

Q. Could you just talk about Tyon and how he's changed as a player and as a person since you recruited him to now obviously winning WAC Player of the Year and everything he's been through?

BRYCE DREW: Yeah, he's grown in so many different areas. Again, he's grown as a player, he's grown as a person, he's grown in his faith, and the right now we think he's playing his best basketball of the year. I've been really pleased with his consistency throughout the year. Not playing in two years, we thought there might be some big inconsistency in his play.

But he's gotten really good scoring the ball from day one, and he's just developed a more all-around game. He's rebounding better now, making some really nice passes out on the court, and he's a big reason obviously we are where we are right now. But I think especially the last five games he's really just solidified who he is as a player.

Q. When you guys went after -- saw Lök Wur, went after him, did you expect this?

BRYCE DREW: Lök was great on his visit. We worked him out when he came on his visit, and it was one of the best workouts that we had bringing in transfers as far as his work ethic, his approach, his focus, and he was much better in that workout than what we saw on film.

So we were really optimistic that he would have a great year for us. He played great in practice. Some reasons, some were mine, the combinations I was playing him with, but once we got him with the right people he started to take off in this last month and a half, two months, he's just been tremendous for us. Really thankful, and I don't think he's done. I still think he can continue to get better as a player.

Q. The way you've built this team, you've been able to -- you're a mid-major but getting high-major type talent to play with Tyon and Collin Moore and Lök, these guys. Moving farther as you go in the NCAA Tournament, does this help you guys even more when you go into the portal when you recruit?

BRYCE DREW: We sure hope so. Last year we had a good response from going to the tournament, and this year we feel like we're off to a great start in the portal. It's already open, we're already recruiting, and we feel like we're off to a really strong start. We feel like where we were last year, we feel like we can be in an even much better place come summer with our roster.

The more we play, the more we're on TV, the more it helps.

Q. You guys had almost a week to prepare for St. Mary's knowing who you were playing on Sunday. Now you only have a day turnaround. The players talked about how you were able to adapt and Gabe spoke about the whack having so many different styles. Can you talk about how it's going to be different with only a one day turnaround preparing for a team like Bama?

BRYCE DREW: Yeah, it's going to be difficult but every team that's playing right now has that same issue they're dealing with. Of course we'd like to have more days, but like Gabe said, there's so many different styles in our conference. We have a veteran group. They've seen a lot of different systems. Some of the Texas schools we play in our conference play really fast and have some really good speed up and down the court.

Hopefully we can adjust very quickly from last night's game to tomorrow's game and adjust quickly to get back on defense and defend a little bit differently than what we did.

Q. Nate Oats was in here before and he was very praiseful of GCU and especially the student body, the administration, the fan base. How important is all of that melding together with recruits and kind of build the kind of program you want to build?

BRYCE DREW: The previous question about we get a lot of players from high-major schools that come, and a lot is because of our school and what our school has to offer. Our facilities are terrific. Our fan base is terrific. Living in Phoenix isn't too bad. There's just so many positives.

A lot of our players come and they're very happy, and I think that helped with our retention of Ray, Gabe, some other players, and hopefully that will continue to help in the future with not only retention but also attracting more talent to Phoenix.