New Oklahoma men’s basketball coach Porter Moser has signed four transfer players, bringing the number of new players on the roster to seven.
Those additions are:
- Senior forward Ethan Chargois from SMU
- Senior guard Jordan Goldwire from Duke
- Redshirt senior forward Tanner Groves and his brother, junior forward Jacob Groves, both from Eastern Washington).
OU’s returnees are Umoja Gibson, Elijah Harkless, Jalen Hill and Rick Issanza. OU’s freshman signees are Bijan Cortes, Alston Mason and C.J. Noland.
“We lost so many veterans from last year, guys who logged a lot of minutes,” Moser said. “I love our freshmen and I love adding some more quality veterans who have experience and can pour into the young players. The energy and talent level of our young guys is going to be really good, but we wanted to blend in more experience. Signing these four players helps us accomplish that, and we’re still going to add a couple more pieces.”
Chargois, from Tulsa, started 86 of his 108 career games at SMU, averaging 9.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 24.1 minutes per contest. He hit 120 career 3-pointers (31.8% of his attempts). Chargois finished his SMU career ranked 40th in school history in scoring (1,024 points), 33rd in rebounds (531), tied for 13th in blocked shots (70) and 18th in games started.
The 6-9, 235-pounder started all 17 outings this past season and averaged 8.8 points, 5.4 boards and 2.5 assists (ranked second on the team and 15th in the American Athletic Conference) per game as the Mustangs finished 11-6 overall.
Chargois starred at Union High School in Tulsa and helped his 2013-14 squad win the 6A state title as a sophomore.
“Ethan is a skilled big who had some really good years at SMU in a strong conference,” said Moser. “He’s a mismatch guy. He can take some smaller guys down low and he can bring some bigger defenders out to the perimeter. And he’s got a high I.Q. and can pass and facilitate from outside. I also love that he’s from Oklahoma. Throughout the recruiting process, he kept on talking about how much he wanted to play in his home state.”
From Norcross, Georgia, Goldwire played in 116 games at Duke. He joins the Sooners as a graduate transfer with one season of eligibility remaining.
During his senior season with the Blue Devils, the guard averaged 5.8 points, 4.0 assists, 2.1 rebounds and 2.2 steals in 28.5 minutes per game. He led the ACC in assist/turnover ratio (+2.82), ranking seventh in the conference in assists (4.0) while averaging only 1.4 turnovers. His 2020-21 assist/turnover ratio stands as the seventh best in Duke single-season history.
A member of the 2021 All-ACC Defensive Team, Goldwire ranked second in the ACC and third among all major conference players in steals per game (2.2) in 2020-21.
“Jordan has been on the highest stage in college basketball at Duke,” Moser said. “He’s older and has played a lot of games at a very high level. He’s a big guard, he makes good decisions, he makes guys better and has a good assist-to-turnover ratio. He’s a steady guy who’s a true point guard, but he can also score it more than he has. I think he’s looking for an expanded role offensively, and we’re looking for that for him, as well. He’s a super-high character guy, he defends and he’s efficient on offense. I love all those traits about him.”
The 2021 Big Sky Conference Player of the Year, forward Tanner Groves averaged 17.2 points, 8 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.1 blocks while shooting 56.0% from the field as a junior at Eastern Washington. He comes to Norman with up to two years of eligibility remaining.
A 6-9 forward hailing from Spokane, Washington, Groves ranked second in the Big Sky in rebounds and field goal percentage while finishing fourth in scoring and sixth in blocked shots.
Groves made his name known during the NCAA Tournament by scoring a career-high 35 points against No. 3 seed Kansas. He was 11 of 18 from the field (5 of 11 from 3-point range) against the Jayhawks and registered five rebounds and three blocks. He and national player of the year Luka Garza (36 points vs. Oregon) were the only players to score over 30 points in a game during the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
Over his three-year career, Groves is shooting 54.7% from the field, 37.3% from behind the arc (41-110) and 74.0% from the free throw line.
“Tanner is just a perfect fit for what we do offensively,” Moser said. “Watching him facilitate with his passing is reminiscent to how Cameron Krutwig played for us at Loyola. And Tanner’s got that same ability to come out to the perimeter. What we’re really excited about is his ability to stretch you out by knocking down the 3. You saw it against Kansas in the NCAA Tournament.”
Joining Tanner Groves in the transfer to OU from Eastern Washington is his younger brother Jacob Groves. A 6-7 forward, he is coming off a sophomore campaign at EWU in which he averaged 9.3 points and 4.2 rebounds per game while shooting 55.2% from the field, 36.4% from 3-point range (16-44) and 75.7% from the foul line.
Like his brother, Jacob Groves recorded his career high in points in EWU’s NCAA Tournament outing against Kansas by totaling 23 points to go along with a career-high-tying nine rebounds. He shot 8 of 11 from the field in the outing and made 4 of 5 attempts from long distance.
“I really like Jacob,” Moser said. “He’s one of those guys who got better and better every day last season, and when we dug in and watched clips from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, you could see his confidence grow. He’s longer than you think and he’s got a high release on his shot. With him and Tanner, we bring in a pair of guys who have Big 12 size and a high skill level.”