Virginia has its new Ben Vander Plas, in the form of 6’9” stretch four Jacob Groves, a transfer from Oklahoma who shot 38.1 percent from three last season.
Groves played two years at OU after transferring from Eastern Washington. In 2022-2023, he averaged a modest 6.8 points and 2.5 rebounds in 20.5 minutes per game, shooting 50.0 percent from the floor on twos and the aforementioned 38.1 percent on threes.
On offense, he’s a BVP clone. Per SynergySports, just under 60 percent of his shots from the floor were jumpers, and he had an effective field goal percentage of 56.3 percent on those, rating as “excellent” on the SynergySports scale.
His 56.5 percent EFG rate on catch and shoots and 65.6 percent EFG rate on unguarded jumpers both rate as “very good,” suggesting a good fit in Virginia coach Tony Bennett’s high-screen and five-high sets.
Defensively, Groves had good numbers defending jump shooters (42.5% EFG, “very good,” on the SynergySports scale) and at the rim (41.9%, also “very good,” per SynergySports).
He’s not a shot blocker – Groves has averaged an almost non-existent 0.2 blocked shots per 40 minutes over his four-year career.
He’s a position defender in the post who can close out on jump shooters.
Groves seems to slot in nicely alongside Merrimack transfer Jordan Minor (17.4 ppg, 9.4 rebounds/g, 2.6 blocks/g in 2022-2023), a springy 6’8” forward who is very much a rim protector on defense, and a rim attacker on offense (81.6 percent of his shot attempts last season were at the rim, according to SynergySports).
Groves, Minor and then 6’8” rising sophomore Ryan Dunn, and incoming 6’9” four-star Blake Buchanan, figure to be the guys in the frontcourt for Bennett next season.
Groves is the BVP, Minor is maybe an improvement on Jayden Gardner, last season’s second-leading scorer (12.0 ppg), who is more of a mid-range jump shooter than post guy at the four spot.
I’d project Minor to be the starter at the five spot next season.
I’m hearing that Bennett is looking to go with more four-guard lineups next year, assuming the return of Reece Beekman (9.5 ppg, 5.3 assists/g), who has declared for the NBA Draft, but is expected to be back.
If that ends up being the case, Groves would seem to be in the running for around 20 minutes a night, some at the five, spelling Minor, and some as a stretch four, in the role that was envisioned for Vander Plas when he transferred in from Ohio last season.
In the backcourt, Beekman, Georgetown transfer Dante Harris (11.9 ppg, 4.1 assists/g at Georgetown in 2021-2022), 6’4” rising sophomore Isaac McKneely (6.7 ppg, 39.2% 3FG), and 6’6” St. Thomas transfer Andrew Rohde (17.1 ppg, 3.6 assists/g at St. Thomas in 2022-2023) all look good as starters.
The depth in the backcourt comes from rising junior Taine Murray, a tough 6’5” guard who earned rotation minutes late in the 2022-2023 season, Class of 2022 four-star Leon Bond III, an athletic 6’6” wing who redshirted last season, and Class of 2023 four-star Elijah Gertrude, a 6’5″ combo guard.
The addition of Groves seems to signal the end of the transfer portal season for Bennett, which is to say, we can move on from following whatever it is that 7’1” Michigan transfer Hunter Dickinson is going to do.
That was a pipe dream anyway, right?
Groves coming on board gives Bennett 11 guys to compete for seven or eight rotation spots.
This is your Virginia basketball team for 2023-2024.
I like what I’m seeing, on paper.
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Chris Graham
