With a one-handed slam, Jacob Groves capped off a night full of surprises with one of his own.
As 11:27 remained in the second half of Oklahoma’s game against Baylor on Thursday night, the junior forward snatched a pass intended for Baylor forward Jeremy Sochan, sprinted down the court and threw down a transition dunk, just one of a handful for the 6-foot-9 role player this season.
𝐻𝐸 𝐼𝑆 𝑇𝐴𝐾𝐼𝑁𝐺 𝑂𝑉𝐸𝑅 😤📺 ESPN | https://t.co/WPGGZgyEo3 pic.twitter.com/StDusTNWth
— Oklahoma Basketball (@OU_MBBall) March 11, 2022
The emphatic rim stuff came in the midst of a 12-2 run that gave the Sooners a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Jacob, from Spokane, Washington, later sealed a 72-67 victory with a pair of free-throw makes with 33 seconds to play. Jacob gave the Sooners their first win against the Bears since their 98-96 victory on Jan. 30, 2018, and helped push OU through the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City.
“I don't even know if I can put it into words,” Randy Groves, Jacob’s father, told The Daily afterward. “I’m just so proud of the whole team and so proud of the boys.
“The journey that they’ve been on to get to this point, it's not a walk in the park, and the Big 12 is such a meat grinder of a league, so to have (most of the Groves family in attendance at the T-Mobile Center) here… to get to watch in person again and celebrate with the boys, nothing quite compares to that. It's pretty amazing.”
Jacob scored a season-high 15 points with three 3-pointers, nine rebounds a block and steal. As a team, the Sooners shot 11-for-21 from 3-point range, their third-highest mark of the season. The better performances came in two of OU’s other top-15 wins against Arkansas on Dec. 11 and Iowa State on Jan. 8.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma’s 3-point defense smothered Baylor, holding it to 3-for-22 shooting from behind the arc — the Bears’ worst performance from 3-point range since they shot 2-for-18 against Ole Miss on Nov. 23, 2018.
Much of the Sooners’ success in both facets of the upset started with Jacob, who entered the starting lineup more permanently on Feb. 19 following senior guard Elijah Harkless’ season-ending injury and has risen to the occasion since.
“Someone’s got to step up and fill that role,” Jacob said. “I was the one the coaches chose first to step into that starting spot. I’ve done my best to accept it, to do whatever the team needs me to do to win games. Tonight, I came out and was hot, and shot the ball pretty well… my confidence is definitely pretty high.”
Jacob didn’t slay the Bears on his own, though. Oklahoma had five players score in double digits, including 14 points from senior guard Umoja Gibson and 12 from senior guard Marvin Johnson. Junior forward Jalen Hill added 10 points, six of which came as OU’s only offense from 9:51 to 3:00 in the second half.
Senior guard Jordan Goldwire contributed 10 points, but more importantly racked up six assists, two of which went to Jacob, while senior forward Ethan Chargois dished a season-high five assists. Jacob also added a pair of assists, as Oklahoma assisted on 18 of its 26 makes. The Sooners shared the ball with poise, playing with no fear of what a loss might do to their ensuing postseason plans.
“We’ve won four in a row, we’re confident, we’re hot,” Moser said. “That was a huge win for us. People kind of counted us out and we started one at a time, beating Oklahoma State, then West Virginia, they had to go to Kansas State on their senior night and then now this.
“It’s a testament to this group on how close they’re becoming and how resilient they’re becoming by blocking out all of the outside noise and just trying to focus on what we need to do to win games.”
One player noticeably absent from much of the Sooners’ barrage was senior forward Tanner Groves. Jacob’s older brother snuck into early foul trouble and played his second-fewest minutes of the season with 15. In his limited time on the floor, he scored five points, with a 3-pointer assisted by Jacob, and grabbed six rebounds.
🗣 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐄!!!Back-to-back 3-pointers by the Groves brothers!📺 ESPN | https://t.co/WPGGZgyEo3 pic.twitter.com/9IQpGPcTKf
— Oklahoma Basketball (@OU_MBBall) March 11, 2022
Tanner spent more of his time serving as Jacob’s primary cheerleader from the bench. The ESPN cameras often cut to Tanner celebrating after his younger brother knocked down a shot or threw down a dunk. Tanner’s postgame tweet was simple, but further showed his love for his brother.
JACOB GROVES
— Tanner Groves (@tannergroves) March 11, 2022
“I sent Tanner a text after the game,” Randy said. “I said, ‘I’ve never been more proud of you. You had some tough knocks and things didn’t necessarily go the way you wanted them to go, but you were the first guy up off the bench, you’re cheering on every single teammate.’ I think it’s an incredible asset for him to be able to give to his team that way.”
Boosted by Tanner’s unrelenting support and a large family presence, Jacob added to his March legend.
At the brothers’ previous school, Eastern Washington, Jacob helped push the Eagles to a Big Sky title by scoring 21 and 15 points against Montana and Montana State to clinch the 2021 conference championship. He later gained national fame for his 23-point, nine-rebound showing in EWU’s 2021 NCAA Tournament loss to Kansas.
“I really think what you're seeing these last few games is I think you're seeing the fruits of this labor,” Randy said. “Jake's always been a great shooter, his basketball IQ is very high. He's a great back cutter and moves without the ball really well, he sets good screens, he rebounds.”
His performance against Baylor will add to his collection of sterling showings in college basketball’s biggest month, and one of OU’s most significant victories of the year.
Thursday’s victory was the Sooners’ highest-ranked win since Trae Young powered them to a 91-83 defeat of No. 3 Wichita State on December 16, 2017, and it was the first time No. 7 seed beat a No. 2 seed in the Big 12 Tournament since Baylor bested OU in 2014. But most importantly for Groves and Oklahoma, it brightens what were dim NCAA Tournament hopes entering the contest with the Bears.
According to ESPN’s latest bracketology update, the Sooners’ tournament chances now squarely rest on the bubble. Moser would beg to differ. The first-year head coach’s optimism about his team’s NCAA Tournament hopes has flourished with Jacob’s March emergence. Moser told ESPN after the game, “Unequivocally, we’re in.”
“Look at our strength of schedule, look at our NET, look at every rating on that,” Moser said. “How many teams have three or four wins in the top four line? We just knocked off one of the top teams in the country on the one line… I know our case for our team, we’re in the hardest conference in the country, we have the hardest schedule in the country.”
Jacob won’t have long to relish his stellar performance, as Oklahoma will need another to continue its winning streak and earn another marquee win to solidify its NCAA Tournament opportunity when it takes on No. 14 Texas Tech at 8:30 p.m. on Friday in Kansas City.
“Really seeing him today and seeing all of that just kind of come together as a full package was incredible,” Randy said. “What a great moment for him. That's definitely a moment that he's not going to forget anytime soon.”
