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Oklahoma basketball: Jacob Groves, the quiet assassin in Sooner attack

By Chip Rouse

Dec 10, 2022; Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks guard Jordan Walsh (13) guards Oklahoma Sooners forward Jacob Groves (34) during the first half at BOK Center. Arkansas won 88-78. Mandatory Credit: Brett Rojo-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 10, 2022; Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks guard Jordan Walsh (13) guards Oklahoma Sooners forward Jacob Groves (34) during the first half at BOK Center. Arkansas won 88-78. Mandatory Credit: Brett Rojo-USA TODAY Sports /
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When Jacob Groves joined the Oklahoma basketball team along with older brother Tanner for the 2021-22 season, the Sooner fans weren’t exactly sure what they were getting.

The Groves brothers were transferring from Eastern Washington, a school we don’t hear much of in this part of the country. Although the Eagles of Eastern Washington gave No. 3 Kansas all it could handle in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, and Jacob and Tanner combined for 58 points in that game.

Tanner started immediately for the Sooners last season, while Jacob served the role as the first man coming off the bench for a good part of the season. Although the younger Groves brother did start in 12 games, including the final nine games of the season.

While some have described Jacob as more of a complementary transfer addition to the Sooner roster last season, the 6-foot, 9-inch senior forward has clearly moved into more of a leadership role this season.

“I feel like as a veteran (OU added eight new additions to the roster this season), it’s kind of on me and Tanner and Jalen Hill to be the guys who are picking everybody else up and kind of embracing everything that coach (Porter Moser) is putting on us,” Groves said in a recent interview with OU Daily, the University of Oklahoma student newspaper.

Jacob’s playing time has increased this season from 15 minutes to an average of 26 minutes a game. As his minutes have increased, so too has his production. The younger Groves brother’s scoring has doubled, from 5.4 points a game last season to 10.1 this season. In 34 games in 2021-22, he posted double digits in points five times in 34 games. He has reached double digits that many times already in 2022-23 just one-third of the way through the season.

Jacob scored a season and OU career-high 26 points this past weekend in Oklahoma’s 88-67 win over Central Arkansas. He worked a lot in the offseason at improving his shooting, and the work he put in is clearly paying off.

“I’ve worked a lot with the shot doctor,” he said. “I think a big part of that is just becoming an elite shooter, which really the team is going to need from me. I’m going to need to be a guy we can count on to knock down a three-pointer and do whatever it is to win.”

So far this season, Jacob is definitely filling that role. He is second on the team among the starters in field goal percentage (55.8) and is draining close to 45 percent of this three-point tries (16 of 36).

Head coach Porter Moser has been challenging Jacob to find more consistent offensive production. He found it and then some in the win on Saturday.

“You know what I loved,” Moser said to reporters after the game. “He missed the first one, and then it didn’t affect him. He got a couple of easy ones inside, then he got outside. He’s just playing with a lot of confidence.”

The Sooners would like for Jacob to play with that same confidence and high consistency the rest of the season.

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