Oklahoma Senior Tanner Groves Named First-Team Academic All-America

The graduate transfer from Eastern Washington averages 11.8 points and 5.6 rebounds this season while carrying a 4.0 GPA.

John E. Hoover | Mar 16, 2022

Oklahoma senior Tanner Groves was named first team Academic All-America on Tuesday by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

Groves, from Spokane, WA, graduated last summer from Eastern Washington with a Bachelor of Arts degree in interdisciplinary studies with a 3.89 GPA. At OU, he’s pursuing a Master of Arts in organizational leadership with a 4.00 GPA.

The 6-foot-10 Groves has started 32 games for the Sooners this season and averages 11.8 points and 5.6 rebounds per contest. Groves is shooting 53.9 percent from the floor and 37.9 percent from 3-point range.

Groves, a three-time Big 12 Newcomer of the Week winner this season, is one of 10 men's basketball finalists for the Senior Class Award.

It’s the second year in a row that OU has landed a player on the Academic All-America squad. Last season, Brady Manek was named third team.

The Sooners beat Missouri State 89-72 on Tuesday in the first round of the NIT Tournament in Norman, and will host St. Bonaventure on Sunday night at Lloyd Noble Center.

Published Mar 16, 2022

JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.