Iowa prep coach says newest UND recruit's ability to finish at the rim makes him a strong prospect

Apparently the state of Iowa is still a recruiting target for the UND men's basketball program.

Iowa connections ran deep for the Fighting Hawks under former head coach Brian Jones, who was an assistant at Iowa before coming to Grand Forks.

And second-year UND head coach Paul Sather's staff has now plucked a recruit out of Iowa, too.

Reid Grant, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound guard out of Johnston, Iowa, announced his verbal commitment to UND on Wednesday.

Grant chose UND over offers from Coastal Carolina and Tennessee Tech.

Grant, playing for one of the largest schools in Iowa, averaged 9.3 points and 4.9 rebounds for the Dragons as a junior. He shot 51.5 percent from the floor.

"We moved him to the point after playing off the ball the first few games," Johnston head coach Brian Frick said. "Over winter break, we moved him to point and from there he and our team made strides and found our identity.

"He does a really good job of seeing the floor and being able to make plays around the rim. He has really good feet and can finish with both hands and is crafty around the rim."

The one area Grant struggled in the 2019-20 season was from the free-throw and 3-point lines.

He shot 26.6 percent from beyond the arc and 44.2 percent from the foul line.

"That's a huge area he's grown," Frick said. "The big thing he needed this offseason was to consistently make shots from behind the arc, and he did that. I know he's put a lot of time and effort in during this COVID stuff. That was his downfall last year and was some of the hesitation out there (for recruiters)."

Reid's dad, Ryan Grant, is the President of Business Operations for the Iowa Wolves, a member of the NBA G League and affiliate of the Minnesota Timberwolves based in Des Moines.

Grant is the third verbal commitment of the 2021 recruiting class, joining 6-4 guard Paul Bruns of Sioux City, S.D., and 6-10 center Gavin McGrath of Onalaska, Wis.