Notre Dame guard Jerian Grant’s road to redemption went through Wichita

Jerian Grant needed time to clear his head.

Banished from Notre Dame’s basketball team — and campus — for the second semester of last school year due to “academic issues,” he left South Bend, Ind., looking for safe places to land. Places where people would help him move past his mistakes and toward his future.

So he went to Wichita.

“My grandparents, they live about five blocks from the campus (at Wichita State),” Grant said. “So that was one of the places I went when I couldn’t play. I actually watched (WSU) play a couple of times on television, where they were getting right toward the end of conference play. It was good for me to be there, and I stayed for a week, week-and-a-half.

“I’ve visited there a lot of times, so I’m really familiar with Wichita. It’s a cool place, I like it there.”

His mother, Beverly Grant, graduated from Heights High in 1986 and his grandparents, John and Trudy Baker, still live in Wichita.

Grant, now back in good academic standing at Notre Dame, returned for his senior season of eligibility this year and has once again been the Irish’s best player. He leads Notre Dame with 16.8 points and 6.6 assists and was named All-ACC this year after deciding to come back for one more season instead of declaring for the NBA Draft.

He’s also been great in the posteason. He had 24 points and 10 assists in Notre Dame’s ACC Tournament championship win over North Carolina and has averaged 16.5 points and 5 assists in NCAA Tournament wins over Northeastern and Butler headed into Thursday’s Sweet 16 game against Wichita State.

Grant (6-foot-5) was a second-team All-Big East pick in 2013 and determined to come back to Notre Dame and fix his legacy after last season. He was spurred on by the decision of Notre Dame guard Pat Connaughton’s decision to return after turning down a close to $1 million signing bonus to pitch professionally in order to play his senior season.

Connaughton was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in June and signed for $428,100. He pitched for the Class-A Aberdeen (Md.) IronBirds last summer for two months.

“We’ve done some good things but we really haven’t made history, we really haven’t left our legacy, left our mark,” said Grant, whose father is former Oklahoma star and NBA forward Harvey Grant. “That is something that both of us really wanted to do. We’re not done yet, but I think we’ve really started to do that.”

Grant’s younger brother, former Syracuse forward Jerami Grant, was picked No. 39 overall in the 2014 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers.

“Jerian maybe thought about (leaving for the NBA) last December, after he left us,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. “But it was established pretty quickly he was coming back. His dad, mom, coaches ... all told him to get his butt back (to Notre Dame), graduate, finish what you started.”

“I mean, (Grant) is my guy,” Connaughton said. “We came in together, we played together, we have gone through a lot, and we have similar interests, and those interests include winning, and I think with the way that we’ve gone at things since freshman year, we weren’t satisfied on the way last season ended, obviously.

“It wasn’t a joint decision (to return) but at the same time there was always that half-kidding, half-serious, well, if you’re not coming back, I’m not coming back. Let’s do this together. Let’s make sure that we write our own history in Notre Dame basketball as a collective one.”

Grant and Connaughton will have their hands full, likely matched up with WSU guards Ron Baker and Tekele Cotton.

“When you go up playing basketball, being around the game, you count down seconds in the NCAA Tournament, hitting the shot to win the game,” Grant said. “That’s something we’ll be able to have an opportunity to do tomorrow.”

This story was originally published March 25, 2015 at 3:05 PM with the headline "Notre Dame guard Jerian Grant’s road to redemption went through Wichita."