Oklahoma basketball: Tanner Groves named Big 12 Co-Newcomer of Week
By Chip Rouse
Oklahoma basketball forward Tanner Groves has been named the Big 12 Co-Newcomer of the Week for the final week of the college basketball regular season.
The Sooners’ leading point producer scored 14 points, grabbed four rebounds and delivered three assists in Oklahoma’s 78-71 road win over Kansas State on Saturday. That followed a 17-point, 10-rebound performance earlier in the week as the Sooners defeated West Virginia 72-59.
Largely because of Groves’ contributions, Oklahoma was able to record back-to-back Big 12 wins for the first time this season. In his last three games, the Eastern Washington transfer has averaged 15.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per contest.
Groves finished the week shooting 61.1 percent (11 of 18) from the field and 44.9 percent from behind the three-point line (4 of 9). He has reached double figures in scoring in 20 of OU’s 31 games this season.
The Oklahoma standout shared the Big 12 weekly honor with freshman Kendall Brown of Baylor. who averaged 14.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in the Bears’ wins over Texas and Iowa State this past week. Another Baylor player, James Akinjo, was the Big 12 Player of the Week.
Groves is the only Oklahoma player to receive a Big 12 weekly award this season. This is the third time he has been awarded Newcomer of the Week honors in the conference. This is his first season at Oklahoma
The Sooners, who finished the regular season with a 17-14 record and 7-11 in the Big 12, head into the Big 12 Men’s Tournament at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City this week as the No. 6 seed. They will face No. 2 Baylor at 6 p.m. on Thursday.