The wait has ended for St. Mary's High School's talented 6-foot-2 senior guard Styles Phipps. After a recent official recruiting visit to hometown Grand Canyon University, the visit was enough to reel in a commitment from Phipps for the Antelopes and Head Coach Bryce Drew and his staff. Phipps announced his commitment on Monday afternoon on social media to GCU, as he will be staying home for college.
Grand Canyon University has done an excellent job, since Bryce Drew and his staff took over, at landing some of Arizona's top-rated local talent. GCU landed Noah Amenhauser from Estrella Foothills HS previously, and also landed numerous top-rated Arizona product transfers, such as Gabe McGlothan (Southeast Missouri State), Josh Baker (UNLV) and recently Duke Brennan (Arizona State) to go along with Caleb Shaw (Northern Colorado), Isaiah Shaw (Northern Colorado) and Malcolm Flaggs (ASU), all Arizona prospects. Now GCU has reeled in Styles Phipps, a formerly projected high-major Division-I prospect. Phipps' recent visit to GCU was very important in his decision, as the opportunity to stay home and have an opportunity to play early became very important aspects of the recruiting process for Phipps.
Phipps chose GCU over previous offers from Auburn, TCU, Washington, Washington State, Iowa State, Cal, Boston College, Missouri, Portland, UC-Santa Barbara, San Diego, Western Illinois and Hampton University.
Phipps is coming off an excellent junior season where he was among the top individual scorers in the country last season - averaging 29.1 points, 10.1 assists, 6 rebounds and 3.1 steals per/contest. Phipps is a stat-sheet stuffer and put up some amazing numbers as a junior prospect, despite having defenses designed to stop him every night out. Phipps is certainly prepared to have another big senior season for himself.
Congratulations to Phipps and his father Simon Phipps, as well as their family on this accomplishment, and also St. Mary's HS Head Coach Damin Lopez and the remainder of his staff.
Arizona Hoop Review Scouting Report: Whether as a scorer or as a facilitator, Phipps enjoys having the basketball in his hands. The ball is a string in his hands and he is almost a magician with the basketball. Phipps has put in countless hours of ball handling and practice for himself over the years, and it seriously shows in his approach to the game. He is difficult to defend as a result of being able to get anywhere he wants to on the floor. He almost toys with his defenders at times, which can be a blessing and a curse. Because Phipps can almost do what he wants, he will continue to develop when and what to do with the basketball, as the game simply comes easy to him. Phipps is fundamentally sound. He pushes the basketball up the floor to the open man, and plays fast, but in a controlled manner. He dissects defenses and surveys the floor - looking for cutters or the open man on the floor. He is a good shooter of the basketball with range, and also has an excellent mid-range game. He is a very good rebounder for his size and position, as he has a serious knack and nose for the basketball. He is also a strong defender. When he locks in defensively, he is very capable of becoming a serious lock-down defender over time - an attribute that will benefit him a great deal throughout his high school career and down the road.
