Grand Canyon basketball completes roster with Top-100 prospect Sammie Yeanay

Grand Canyon men’s basketball completed next season’s roster Thursday with a bang, signing a Top-100 prospect out of the 2024 high school class.

Sammie Yeanay, a 6-foot-8, 230-pound power forward at AZ Compass Prep in Chandler, signed with the Lopes. GCU has no more scholarships available for next season.

Yeanay had signed with Arizona State. But in late May he decommitted from the Sun Devils, who signed five-star guard Joson Sanon, after he flipped his commitment from Arizona.

ASU is bringing in two power forwards through the transfer portal in USC’s Brandon Gardner and Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s B.J. Freeman.

Yeanay, who played one year at AZ Compass Prep after moving from Gainesville, Florida, had offers from Florida, Alabama and Houston, among others. After next season, the Lopes will leave the Western Athletic Conference for the West Coast Conference, which features Gonzaga.

“That’s an amazing get for them,” said Pete Kaffey, AZ Compass Prep coach and director.

Kaffey knew right away when he first saw Yeanay play that he was a high-major college basketball player with his ability to crash the boards and extend his game outside.

“He’s a versatile 4 who can play out on the perimeter, shoot 3s, rebound really well, can play small-ball 5,” Kaffey said. “Very versatile.”

Yeanay is ranked 90th in the nation in the 2024 class by ESPN. He ranks 94th in the 247Sports rankings, listed as a four-star recruit.

With Yeanay joining the Lopes, the team is now at 14 players for the 2024-25 season as it tries to make it three straight trips to the NCAA Tournament under coach Bryce Drew.

They return five of their top six players in starters Tyon Grant-Foster (the WAC Player of the Year), Ray Harrison, Collin Moore and Duke Brennan, and sixth-man Lok Wur. They also return guard Malcolm Flaggs, who came from ASU with best-friend Brennan last year.

Guard Caleb Shaw, who spent last season as a redshirt after transferring from Northern Colorado, returns to play.

Yeanay joins newcomers Dennis Evans (7-1 Louisville transfer), JaKobe Coles (6-8 TCU transfer), Traivar Jackson (6-6 Tarleton State transfer), Makaiah Williams (6-2 UT Arlington transfer where he was the WAC Freshman of the Year last season), Styles Phipps (6-2 guard from Phoenix St. Mary’s High, where he made All-Arizona) and Austin Mauer (7-footer from Cascade Christian High, where he was the Gatorade Oregon High School Player of the Year last season).

GCU will miss power forward Gabe McGlothan, a key player to the team’s success the last four seasons. Yeanay has a chance to fill that void.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: GCU completes roster signing Top-100 prospect Sammie Yeanay