2023-24 WAC Men's Basketball Release - Postseason

GRAND CANYON REPEATS AS WAC TOURNEY CHAMP
No. 1 seed Grand Canyon defended its conference tournament championship with a physical 89-74 victory over No. 3 seed UT Arlington on March 16 to close the 2024 Hercules Tires WAC Men’s Basketball Tournament championship game at the Orleans Arena. The Lopes clinched their third NCAA tournament berth in four years with the triumph in WACVegas, winning their sixth consecutive game overall in the WAC Tournament dating back to the start of the 2023 event. GCU established a single-game tournament record with 50 free throws attempted and 37 free throws made in the contest against UTA.

UTA BATTLED TO THE END IN WACVEGAS
UT Arlington entered the 2024 Hercules Tires WAC Basketball Tournament as the third overall seed and put forth a strong team performance, blowing out No. 6 Stephen F. Austin 109-78 in the quarterfinal round before downing No. 2 seed Tarleton State 87-84 in the semifinal stage to reach top-seeded Grand Canyon in the conference title game. Making just its third all-time appearance in the WAC Tournament, UTA has now reached the final game on two occasions, previously finishing as the runner-up to New Mexico State in the 2013 WAC championship game.

STAR-STUDDED WAC ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM IN 2024
Tyon Grant-Foster, the reigning WAC Player of the Year, was named the University Credit Union WAC Most Outstanding Player after averaging 25.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game in two tournament starts. Grant-Foster tallied 22 points, nine boards and three steals against UT Arlington. Grant-Foster was joined on the 2024 University Credit Union WAC Men’s Basketball All-Tournament Team by fellow Lopes Ray Harrison and Lök Wur. Harrison averaged 18.0 points and 3.5 assists for the tournament, while Wur registered 14.0 points per contest while shooting 57.1 percent as a key reserve for GCU. UTA’s Phillip Russell (23.3 points per game) and Shemar Wilson (15.0 points, 5.3 rebounds per game) rounded out the all-tournament team.

LOPES IN SEARCH OF FIRST NCAA TOURNAMENT VICTORY
Grand Canyon will look to break through with its first NCAA tournament victory during its third appearance in the field. GCU fell to Iowa 86-74 in 2021 in Indianapolis and dropped an 82-70 decision last season against Gonzaga in Denver. The No. 12 seed is the highest earned by the Lopes and is tied for the best by a WAC team in a given NCAA tournament dating back to 2010.

SEATTLE U HEADED TO THE CBI
Seattle U’s season will continue as part of the Ro College Basketball Invitational, to be held March 23-27 at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida. The No. 3 seed in the tournament, the Redhawks open play against No. 14 seed Delaware State on March 23 at 5:30 p.m. (ET). Seattle U reached the semifinal round of the 2024 Hercules Tires WAC Basketball Tournament, falling in a competitive 80-72 decision against top-seeded Grand Canyon.

ACU, TARLETON STATE BOUND FOR THE CIT
A pair of WAC teams will take part in the College Insider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT), as Tarleton State will serve as host of the Lou Henson Classic pod of the event and will welcome Abilene Christian and two other teams to Stephenville. Tarleton State and Texas Southern open play on March 19 at 6 p.m. (CT), with Abilene Christian and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to follow in opening round action at 8 p.m. (CT) live from Wisdom Gym.

GCU’S TYON GRANT-FOSTER NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Grand Canyon’s Tyon Grant-Foster earned the top yearly honor in the WAC in men’s basketball for the 2023-24 season. Grant-Foster captured WAC Men’s Basketball Player of the Year accolades as voted on by the conference’s 11 head coaches as part of end of season awards presented by University Credit Union. Grant-Foster highlighted five major award winners representing three different institutions from across the WAC. Other top award winners included Tarleton State’s KiAndre Gaddy (WAC Defensive Player of the Year) and acting head coach Joseph Jones (WAC Coach of the Year), and UT Arlington’s Phillip Russell (Sixth Player of the Year) and Makaih Williams (Freshman of the Year). WAC regular-season champion GCU led the way with three total players on WAC all-conference teams, including Grant-Foster and Gabe McGlothan on the first team. Seattle U, with Cameron Tyson on the first team and Alex Schumacher on the second team, and UT Arlington, with DaJuan Gordon on the first team and Shemar Wilson on the second team, boasted two all-conference selections each. Jakorie Smith from Tarleton State rounded out the first-team selections, while Abilene Christian’s Ali Abdou Dibba, GCU’s Ray Harrison and California Baptist’s Dominique Daniels Jr. were the other second-team honorees.

GCU FINISHES ATOP THE WAC RESUME SEEDING SYSTEM
In the final WAC Résumé Seeding System rankings that were compiled on March 10, Grand Canyon officially secured the top seed in the 2024 Hercules Tires WAC Basketball Tournament with 8.420 points after posting a 27-4 regular season record. Tarleton State earned the second seed with 4.262 points at 23-8 to join Grand Canyon with a double-bye into the semifinal round. Other tournament qualifiers included UT Arlington in third place (18-13, 0.709 points), Seattle U in fourth place (18-13, -0.314 points), Utah Valley in fifth place (16-15, -1.044 points), Stephen F. Austin in sixth place (17-14, -1.543 points), Abilene Christian in seventh place (15-16, -2.692 points) and California Baptist in eighth place (15-16, -4.440 points).

END OF NONCONFERENCE PLAY SEES SUCCESSFUL COLLECTIVE SHOWING FOR THE WAC 
The conclusion of nonconference play for the 2023-24 regular season saw WAC teams post a collective 66-55 (.545) record against teams outside of the league. WAC members owned a 12-7 (.632) cumulative mark against Conference USA, a 4-1 (.800) showing against the Southland, a 4-2 (.667) performance against the West Coast Conference and a 4-3 record (.571) versus the Big West.