Tag: Jacob Groves

Oklahoma battles back, tops No. 11 Iowa State 79-66

Oklahoma rallied back and topped Iowa State to improve to 2-1 in Big 12 play. Here’s three takeaways from the Sooners’ big win.

It looked early in the second half like No. 11 Iowa State was going to keep Oklahoma at arm’s length. The Cyclones led 47-36 with 17:11 to play and then 53-43 with 14:13 remaining.

And Iowa State’s Izaiah Brockington and Tyrese Hunter couldn’t miss. That’s when OU locked in defensively and flipped the script, winning 79-66. Here’s a look at three things that stood out.

Umoja Gibson and Tanner Groves delivered

Senior guard Umoja Gibson scored 20 points and senior forward Tanner Groves added 16 points. Gibson showcased his offensive game is expanding, too.

“I thought Mo had a really nice second half. Made some shots. He shot-faked and hit that little pull-up in our run, got one to the rim in our run. He did some different things. He didn’t just launch if they were flying. He did a couple things off the dribble. Mo’s game off the dribble is really starting to be a factor for us,” Oklahoma head men’s basketball coach Porter Moser said.

Bijan Cortes and Jacob Groves offered big contributions off the bench

Freshman guard Bijan Cortes and junior forward Jacob Groves played arguably the best games of their respective seasons. Off the bench, Cortes added five assists, four points and three rebounds in 17 minutes and Groves delivered nine points and three rebounds in 10 minutes.

“Jacob Groves came in and he’s such a big target and he’s a very good cutter and Bijan found him a number of times. I thought he gave us a good lift off the bench. I’ve been talking about the bench. You know, you’ve got Bijan, C.J. Noland gave you four points, Jacob gave you nine and then Bijan gave you the five assists and four points. So, our bench was crucial. We’ve been talking about that in Big 12. You’ve got to develop that bench. Those guys are really starting to come on,” Moser said.

Oklahoma bounced back from the Baylor loss and defended home court

This is really the most important thing for Oklahoma. After losing at No. 1 Baylor earlier in the week 84-74, the Sooners showed once again that they are resilient.

Oklahoma is now 3-0 following losses this season. With the win, OU is 12-3 overall and 2-1 in Big 12 play.

“I don’t really think about holding serve. It’s not in my [thought process]. I was just thinking about what do we have to do to Iowa State this game. Now that it’s over, hell yeah I’m glad we held serve,” Moser said.

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Oklahoma Basketball: Sooners survive second-half flurry, top Kansas State State 71-69

Oklahoma dispatched of Kansas State, 71-69, on New Year’s Day to start Big 12 play 1-0. Here’s three things that stood out.

Oklahoma started Big 12 play with a 71-69 home win over Kansas State. After OU built a 15-point first-half lead and held a 33-22 halftime lead, the Wildcats made Oklahoma earn it late.

Here are three thoughts from Oklahoma’s Big 12 opener.

Elijah Harkless was clutch again

K-State sophomore Ish Massoud hit a 3-pointer to tie it up at 65 apiece with 1:03 to play in the second half. Oklahoma senior guard Elijah Harkless responded with the go-ahead jumper with 35 seconds remaining and the Sooners managed to hang on to start 1-0 in Big 12 play.

Harkless connected on all four of his three-point tries and finished with 21 points to lead the Sooners in scoring.

“Pretty comfortable I’d say. My teammates believed in me, telling me to take those shots. When you’ve got everybody in your corner, believe in your work and everything else will take care of itself,” Harkless said of his willingness to take shots late in games.

Senior guard Umoja Gibson added 19 points, redshirt senior guard Jordan Goldwire had 11 and junior forward Jalen Hill and freshman guard C.J. Noland each scored 10.

Kansas State got red-hot from 3-point range

After hitting just 1-of-6 from beyond the arc in the first half, Kansas State knocked down 9-of-16 from long range in the second half.

Missouri transfer Mark Smith finished with 25 points to lead the Wildcats. In the process, he became the first K-State player since All-American Michael Beasley to record a 25-point, 15-rebound game.

“You’ve got to give Kansas State credit. Second half, they were on fire. Nine for 16 from three. I thought Massoud, I thought Mark Smith was outstanding. Nijel Pack. The shots they made to keep coming and not quitting, you’ve got to give them credit. They just kept on coming, making big shots, deep shots that when you think if you get a couple stops, you’ve got the game. Nine for 16 with the way we’ve been guarding,” Oklahoma head basketball coach Porter Moser said.

As Moser pointed out, a lot of it was simply great shot-making from Kansas State. It was also important that OU managed to pull this game out after seeing its 15-point lead evaporate.

“It was huge because we had a 15-point lead and they crept back in. To find a way to win that game, it was big for us because it’s going to be a grind in this league,” Moser said.

Oklahoma won the game minus its leading scorer

Oklahoma was without the services of three players due to health and safety protocols, including its leading scorer and rebounder in senior center Tanner Groves.

Groves came into tonight averaging 14.3 points and six rebounds per game. The Sooners were also minus junior forward Jacob Groves or freshman guard Bijan Cortes.

Moser was happy with how his team responded to being shorthanded against Kansas State.

“I think the biggest thing was coming back from Christmas you know the fatigue is always going to be an issue that first game and then all of a sudden we find out we’re going to be three down. We had a lot of guys have to play a lot of minutes that they haven’t played before. To guard Kansas State, their movement, their slips, their flares. They’re hard to guard. All of a sudden that’s one of the most minutes we’ve played all year. A lot of minutes because we’re shorthanded, but we found a way to win,” Moser said.

Up next:

Oklahoma enters this week set to square off against a pair of top-10 opponents. On Tuesday at 6 p.m., OU travels to Waco to battle defending national champion and No. 1 Baylor. Then, the Sooners will host No. 8 Iowa State on Saturday inside the Lloyd Noble Center at 5 p.m.

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ESPN Basketball Power Index Win Probabilities of Oklahoma Men’s First 10 Games

With the Oklahoma Sooners Men’s Basketball season tipping off tonight at Lloyd Noble Arena, how does ESPN’s BPI project their first 10 games?

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.

Where does Joe Lunardi project OU Men’s Basketball in his preseason Bracketology?

With the start of the season tonight, where does ESPN’s Joe Lunardi have the Sooners finishing in his preseason Bracketology projections?

A new era of Oklahoma Sooners basketball begins tonight at Lloyd Noble Arena as the Oklahoma Sooners get set to take on the Northwestern State Demons.

Porter Moser takes over for Lon Kruger, who helped the Sooners reach the NCAA Tournament seven times in his 10 seasons at the helm. In 2015-2016, Kruger helped lead the Buddy Hield Oklahoma Sooners to as high as No. 1 in the AP Top 25 and a Final Four appearance.

Moser is coming off an impressive season himself, taking the Loyola (Chicago) to a regular season and tournament conference championship and an elite eight run in the NCAA Tournament.

As the Sooners get set to tip-off, all of the changes have ESPN’s Joe Lunardi skeptical that Oklahoma can return to the NCAA Tournament in the 2021-2022 season. In Lunardi’s first Bracketology of the college basketball season, he has Oklahoma on the outside looking in as one of his first four out.

Of course, these are just the initial tournament projections. The Oklahoma Sooners have a talented team to open the season with a really good coach. Navigating a deep Big 12 conference will be challenging, but Oklahoma made noise last year.

Despite the losses of Austin Reaves (NBA) and Brady Manek (transfer portal), the Sooners restocked with experienced players who should be able to step right in and help lead this team back to the NCAA Tournament. Tanner and Jacob Groves, Jordan Goldwire, Marvin Johnson, and Ethan Chargois have played a lot of minutes in NCAA basketball. Add that group to Umoja Gibson and Elijah Harkless, who were big-time contributors for the Sooners last season, and this team has the makeup to make some noise in the Big 12 and the nation.

It’s an exciting time for Oklahoma Sooners basketball, and it all gets started tonight at 7 p.m. at Lloyd Noble Arena.

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Oklahoma Sooners men’s basketball 2021-2022 roster

As they get set for their regular-season opener on Tuesday against NW State, take a look at the roster for the 2021-2022 Oklahoma Men’s Basketball team.

The Porter Moser era of Oklahoma basketball tips off for real this Tuesday night at the Lloyd Noble Center as the Sooners play host to Natchitoches, Louisiana’s Northwestern State.

Moser joins an Oklahoma program fresh off an NCAA tournament appearance, taking over team that has seen a lot of turnover due to the transfer portal and Austin Reaves’ departure for the NBA.

Gone are Reaves, Brady Manek, Kur Kuath, and De’Vion Harmon. In are Jordan Goldwire from Duke, Marvin Johnson from Eastern Illinois, Ethan Chargois from SMU, and Jacob and Tanner Groves from Eastern Washington.

Umoja Gibson and Elijah Harkless return to provide the same energy that Oklahoma have a fantastic 2020-2021 season. With so much turnover, they’ll be counted on to lead the new-look Sooners into the 2021-2022 season.

Take a look at the full roster for the Oklahoma Sooners.

Tanner Groves among the top transfers in the country

One Oklahoma Sooners forward ranked among the top transfers in the country.

The Oklahoma Sooners lost their fair share of players to the NBA draft and the transfer portal following the retirement of head coach Lon Kruger. The Sooners’ brass had to move quickly as they secured Porter Moser as the new man in charge.

One of the first steps for the new head coach was trying to field a competitive team through the transfer portal. One of his top targets came from Eastern Washington with Tanner Groves. The 6’9″ forward saw his most playing time this past season with an average of 27 minutes per game. He can be the replacement for Brady Manek, who decided to move on from Oklahoma after four seasons in Norman.

According to ESPN, Groves is the No. 39 transfer on their top 100 list (subscription required).

The Big Sky Player of the Year, Groves put up 35 points against Kansas in the first round of the NCAA tournament. He averaged 17.2 points and 8.0 rebounds this season and had a host of big-time programs pursuing him before settling on Porter Moser and the Sooners.

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Tanner will join his brother Jacob on the Oklahoma roster after both transferred from Eastern Washington. The expectations for the team will likely be low to begin the 2021-22 season but Moser could have a trick up his sleeve to return OU to their former glory on the hardwood.

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Oklahoma gains the commitments of Eastern Washington transfers Tanner and Jacob Groves

Oklahoma basketball picked up two roster additions on Sunday with commitments from Eastern Washington transfers Tanner and Jacob Groves.

Oklahoma basketball has had an offseason of turnover unlike quite any other in recent memory with both the coaching staff as well as the roster undergoing an essential entire overhaul.

In terms of players, it has been a lot more going out than coming in for the Sooners, but new head coach Porter Moser landed himself two very big additions on Sunday night with the commitments from Eastern Washington transfers Tanner and Jacob Groves.

It had been previously reported that Oklahoma had made the final four teams in the running for Tanner Groves, which was significant news given his status as one of the bigger names in the transfer market after his solid season a year ago with the Eagles and his big performance in the NCAA Tournament against Kansas. Now, he has made his next destination official as he’ll be heading to Norman to play under Moser, and he’ll be bringing his younger brother with him.

While Tanner Groves’ 17.2 points and 8 rebounds per game will grab the bulk of the headlines here, younger brother Jacob is a very solid pickup in his own right. In just under 22 minutes per game a year ago, he averaged over nine points per game shooting 55 percent from the field. He has the ability to be a significant contributor right away as well.

With so much turnover from the roster after the end of last season, it has to feel good for Moser and company to have landed two players they can use and one that will certainly immediately be one of the best on the team. It’s especially significant given the position that Tanner Groves plays with his size at six feet and nine inches tall, after Brady Manek left the team to go to North Carolina earlier in the week.

Sooners Wire will continue to provide updates as the roster takes more shape with the Sooners expected to still be in pursuit of more players in the transfer portal throughout the offseason.