All Sooners

OU Basketball: Oklahoma Rolls Central Arkansas Behind Jacob Groves' Career Day

Jacob Groves led the way in Oklahoma's biggest offensive output of the season on Saturday afternoon.

Ryan Chapman

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NORMAN — Oklahoma unleashed an offensive onslaught to blow past Central Arkansas on Saturday.

Led by a career day from Jacob Groves, the Sooners blew out the Bears 87-66 at the Lloyd Noble Center.

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Groves didn’t wait long to leave his fingerprints on the game.

He followed up his first bucket of the game with back-to-back 3-pointers to go on a solo 8-0 run and put the Sooners (8-3) up 14-4 headed into the first media timeout of the game.

“I was wide open and I was like, ‘wow. Theses guys are… sheesh.’ I was just shooting it and letting it fly,” Groves said after the game. “I shot it good in warmups and I was like wow, these guys are gonna leave me open and so we’re gonna have a day.

“… I’ve been waiting for a day like that to come. I mean, you know, it’s hard and sometimes your days just come and you’re hitting shots, you’re making plays and stuff like that. And so I think obviously my teammates do a great job of finding me when I’m hot getting me the ball, putting me in positions where I can score. And so it just happened to be my day today.”

Groves poured in 19 of his 26 points in the first half, besting his previous career-high of 23 that he scored for Eastern Washington in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, helping power the Sooners to 52 points by halftime. 

“He's got just such an extreme confidence going right now in his game,” OU coach Porter Moser said. “You know what I loved? He missed his first one. And then it didn't affect them. He got a couple easy ones inside then he got outside. He's just playing with a lot of confidence. What I liked is we had 21 assists. He was spacing the floor and they were collapsing and our guys were finding them with good skip passes."

Sandwiched between last week’s physical tilt with No. 10-ranked Arkansas next week’s trip to Charlotte to play Florida, the game served as a confidence builder in the Sooners’ last home game before the holidays.

OU guard Grant Sherfield finished as Groves’ deputy, adding 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, knocking down 3-of-5 attempts from deep while dishing out four assists.

Tanner Groves also added to his brother’s big day, finishing with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting.

Early on, the Sooners matched Central Arkansas’ (5-6) pace.

Freshman guard Milos Uzan and Sherfield pushed the pace, leading to quick transition buckets for two of Oklahoma’s first three scores fo the game, drawing cheers of approval from the modest home crowd at the Lloyd Noble Center. 

“Grant really got the pace going. Again,” Moser said. “They were really jumping and trapping him early. And he didn't force it. He was getting it out of the trap. And that was leading to some baskets. They were jumping him, trapping him in the early on. He got it out. We won more'd and that's where Jacob was getting set up. So those are things that don't show up in the box score but I thought Grant did a good job not turning it over when they trapped him."

From there, OU settled in and attacked the paint.

Good ball movement made way to easy buckets inside, as the Sooners poured in 48 paint points. As a team, the Sooners finished the night with 21 assists, led by nine dimes from Uzan.

“(Uzan’s) a true point guard,” Sherfield said after the game. “Pass-first guy. Definitely a team guy. I mean he doesn’t score baskets, still gonna have a smile on his face. And that just shows how mature he is as a player.”

The large second half lead allowed Moser to work in some of his bench pieces.

Sophomore C.J. Noland scored eight points in 10 minutes after a brief cameo against Arkansas, and freshman Otega Oweh finished with 10 points and swiped three steals in 15 minutes of action. 

The Sooners now prepare to head to Charlotte for the Jumpman Invitational, where OU will meet the Florida Gators on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m.

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Ryan Chapman
RYAN CHAPMAN

Ryan is deputy editor at AllSooners and covers a number of sports in and around Norman and Oklahoma City. Working both as a journalist and a sports talk radio host, Ryan has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the United States Men’s National Soccer Team, the Oklahoma City Energy and more. Since 2019, Ryan has simultaneously pursued a career as both a writer and a sports talk radio host, working for the Flagship for Oklahoma sports, 107.7 The Franchise, as well as AllSooners.com. Ryan serves as a contributor to The Franchise’s website, TheFranchiseOK.com, which was recognized as having the “Best Website” in 2022 by the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters. Ryan holds an associate’s degree in Journalism from Oklahoma City Community College in Oklahoma City, OK.