The Oklahoma Men’s Basketball team will tip off their season opener tonight at 7 p.m. at Lloyd Noble Arena vs. the Northwestern State University Demons.
Oklahoma will debut a new head coach and a bevy of players, ushering in a new era of Oklahoma basketball after Porter Moser took the helm for the retired Lon Kruger.
Leading the way into the 2021-2022 season, Moser will have to help returning starters Elijah Harkless and Umoja Gibson mesh with the incoming transfers that look to make up the Sooners’ corps. Tanner Groves joins the Sooners after a tremendous 2020-2021 season with Eastern Washington. He averaged 17.2 points and eight rebounds per game, leading the Eagles to a Big Sky tournament championship and the NCAA tournament where they fell in a hard-fought game against the Kansas Jayhawks.
He’s joined by his brother Jacob Groves, who averaged 9.3 points and four rebounds per game. But that’s not where all the Oklahoma Sooners received via the transfer portal.
Jordan Goldwire is coming over from the Duke Blue Devils, where he averaged 5.8 points, four assists, 2.9 assists, and 2.2 steals per game last season. He’ll help Elijah Harkless and Umoja Gibson from a formidable defensive trio at the guard position for Porter Moser.
Ethan Chargois provides depth at forward after spending four seasons with SMU. In 2020-2021, he averaged 8.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game for the Mustangs. Marvin Johnson comes over from Eastern Illinois, where he averaged 15.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game last season.
In Porter Moser’s first season with the Sooners, he looks to have collected a very well-rounded group of players. How quickly they’re able to mesh together will determine how they perform to start the season.
Looking ahead to start the season, let’s check out how the Sooners are expected to perform in their first 10 games using ESPN’s Basketball Power Index.