KU newcomer Tyon Grant-Foster makes new friends at camp, gears for 2020-21 season
University of Kansas basketball newcomer Tyon Grant-Foster appeared to make a good first impression on the 20 or so grade-schoolers who attended Ed Fritz’s basketball camp Wednesday at Drive5 Sports Center in Overland Park.
The students watched attentively as the 6-foot-7 former Indian Hills Community College guard/forward — who is not as well known to KU fans (yet) — as returning rotation players/fellow Fritz camp counselors Marcus Garrett and Christian Braun swished numerous three-pointers taken during breaks in the campers’ full-court games.
“It feels real good to do stuff like this and inspire kids from my area to strive for greatness and do good things,” Grant-Foster, a graduate of Kansas City’s Schlagle High, said in an interview with The Star near the end of the two-hour clinic run by Blue Valley Northwest coach Fritz and assisted by the three Jayhawks as well as Missouri’s Parker Braun, brother of Christian Braun.
The lanky 195-pound Grant-Foster earned honorable mention All-America honors after averaging 16.5 points a game at Iowa’s Indian Hills C.C. (30-3) a year ago. He hit 48.3% of his shots, including 52 of 155 threes for 33.5%. He also averaged 6.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per contest. Overall he dished 52 assists against 82 turnovers with 48 blocked shots and 34 steals.
“Tyon could be one of the best scorers in the country. He’s a pro in my eyes,” Christian Braun said of Grant-Foster, who happens to be one of Braun’s best friends. They’ve known each other for several years.
Grant-Foster, who scored a season-high 35 points versus State Fair CC and had 11 games of 20 or more points, including 29 in the district title game vs. Dawson CC, does indeed plan on filling a scoring need for the Jayhawks during the 2020-21 season — his junior campaign.
“I feel they lost a lot of scoring and playmaking with Doke (Azubuike, center) and Devon (Dotson, point guard),” Grant-Foster said. “I feel my role will be to come in as a scorer and help make plays on the defensive and offensive end.”
Eager to be a leader from Day One on KU’s campus — the Jayhawks report for summer workouts on Aug. 2 — Grant-Foster has been spending several hours a day with his pal, Braun.
““I’m with C.B. (Braun) every day. We lift (weights) at his house. He’s teaching me the ins and outs of what coach (Bill) Selt thinks, what coach (Jerrance) Howard thinks, what all the coaches think. He tells me something new about it (KU program) every day,” Grant-Foster said.
“Working with C.B. ... I feel my practices are getting a lot better. At night I work out with my AAU coach. It’s been a good summer.”
KU, which does lose Dotson and Azubuike from a 28-3 Big 12 title team, brings in not only Grant-Foster, but McDonald’s All-America freshman guard Bryce Thompson of Tulsa’s Washington High. They and a batch of returning players and other newcomers have high hopes again in 2020-21.
“I feel we’ll be right back at the top, where we left off at,” Grant-Foster said.
KU’s coaches feel Grant-Foster will be an important part of the rotation.
“To think, he grew up down the street (in Kansas City, Kansas) and has blown up like this over the last 12 months is pretty amazing,” KU coach Self said recently. “People that follow that game (junior college) are raving about him and deservedly so.
“He is a 6-7, long, do-everything guard. He can get his own shot. You don’t have to run stuff for him. At the end of the clock he can go get a basket, get a shot off. He is one of those guys,” Self added.
Noted assistant Kurtis Townsend near the end of the past season: “He’s a long wing who can score and pass, a good shooter. The NBA is already looking at him. He’s the No. 1 junior college player in the country. I think he can come in and be an impact wing from day one. He’s a tall athletic wing who can shoot it. Jerrance (Howard) did an unbelievable job recruiting him. It’s nice because his family will get to see him play.”
Indian Hills coach Hank Plona said: “He is a special player and has grown and improved as much as any two-year kid we have ever had. I always thought he had the ability to develop into a very high-level player, but I am happy that his focus, character, and hard work has made it happen this fast. I would not trade him for any player in junior college. He is everything a coach looks for in a person and a teammate, and I think the sky is the limit for him as a player.”
He and Thompson figure to be two of the league’s top newcomers along with freshman Cade Cunningham of Oklahoma State. Cunningham is Rivals.com’s No. 1-rated player in the recruiting Class of 2020 and Thompson No. 21. Grant-Foster was unranked in high school; honorable mention All-America at juco.
“i mean I feel like just because he is in our league (Big 12) it doesn’t make any difference. He’s just another player to me,” Grant-Foster said, noting personal accolades such as preseason Big 12 player of the year are not on his mind entering his KU debut season.
Grant-Foster, it should be noted, was well-equipped with a mask at Wednesday’s camp session. He hopes the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, which not only cut short KU’s season short but his own juco season, subsides.
“I think we’ll have a season. I feel it is going to be pushed back a little later than what we want. As long as we get to play I feel everybody is OK with it,” Grant-Foster said.
He ended an interview at camp by offering a message to KU fans: “Tell them to sit back and relax. They are going to be in Allen Fieldhouse jamming it out sooner than you know,” he said, smiling.
This story was originally published July 17, 2020 at 10:11 AM with the headline "KU newcomer Tyon Grant-Foster makes new friends at camp, gears for 2020-21 season."
