Officially Signed: Nolan Groves
April 23, 2025 | Men's Basketball
LUBBOCK – Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland has officially announced the signing of freshman Nolan Groves who will join the program for the 2025-26 season after earning 2024-25 Minnesota Gatorade Player of the Year. A 6-foot-5 guard, Groves led the state of Minnesota by scoring 34.1 points per game along with adding 8.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 3.0 steals as a senior at Orono High School.
During his senior year, Groves scored 40 or more points in nine games with a season-high 57 on his impressive resume. Groves led his high school team to the state tournament and finished his prep career by scoring 29 points in an 87-85 win during the Class 3A tournament third-place game. Along with playing at Orono, he also competed during the AAU season for Minnesota Select. His selection as the Minnesota Gatorade Player of the Year was bolstered by a 3.8 GPA and volunteering as a Special Olympics basketball coach.
Groves, who was also named the Metro West Conference Player of the Year, originally committed to play at Yale during his junior year of high school before re-opening his recruitment where he chose Tech over offers from Wisconsin and Minnesota.
He is the fifth player to officially sign with Texas Tech this offseason following its run to the 2025 NCAA Tournament Elite 8. Groves follows Tyeree Bryan, LeJuan Watts, Donovan Atwell and Josiah Moseley. Bryan was the first to sign with the Red Raiders on April 9 after playing the previous two seasons at Santa Clara where he averaged 10.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.1 steals and 2.06 3-pointers made per game last season before Watts signed on April 15. Watts joins the program after playing at Washington State and Eastern Washington and is coming off a sophomore season where he averaged 13.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. He earned All-WCC Honorable Mention after a season with nine double-doubles and one triple-double. Atwell officially signed on April 19 after three seasons at UNC Greensboro and is coming off a junior season where he averaged 13.3 points per game and was 96-for-241 (39.8 percent) on 3-point attempts. Moseley led Stony Point to the Class 6A State Tournament for the first time in program history and finished his high school career with 2,096 points. He was also named the Texas Max Preps Player of the Year after a senior season where he shot 61.7 percent from the field and led his team to a 38-2 overall record.
Tech also added Marial Akuentok who signed with the program on January 10 and joined the team during the spring semester. Akuentok, a 6-foot-10 center/forward, redshirted after playing at Fort Erie International Academy in Canada and was also a member of the Canadian National Team which won bronze at the FIBA U18 AmeriCup last summer. He was a top 100 recruit who reclassified to join the program immediately.
The Red Raiders finished last season with a 28-9 overall record, including being second in the Big 12 standings with a 15-5 conference record. Tech matched the program record with a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the program's third Elite 8. The Red Raiders are 51-20 over the past two seasons under McCasland with back-to-back trips to the national tournament.
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Players Mentioned
