Three-point sharpshooter Jacob Groves settling into Sheffield Sharks life as they seek revenge on London Lions

On that Friday night at the start of November, London Lions served up a thumping 92-68 win on a Sharks team that was in transition, with two summer recruits having left, one new player in and another who travelled with the team but didn’t play having only joined the club a few days before.

But Rodney Chatman III and Donovan Clay have settled in now and Sharks have found their rhythm, winning seven of the following eight games in all competitions to climb above London to the top of the embryonic Super League Basketball championship standings.

Jacob Groves a rookie forward from Washington, watched that game as he nursed a minor injury but has also settled into the pace of British basketball better than he had hoped and believes London will see a stronger Sheffield team when the league’s top two meet again on Wednesday night in the capital.

“We were fractured as a group back then, we were missing a ‘big’, we were injured, banged-up,” Groves told The Yorkshire Post.

“This time we’re going in with a full team, we’ve been playing good basketball, I expect it will be a really competitive game.

“We had a great day of prep today, figuring out what they do. We’re hungry, this is the 1 and 2 seed, so it’s obviously a huge game, we’re going to go in there and try and win it and at least compete at a high level. But this one game doesn’t determine the season, there’s a lot of basketball left to be played.

“As a player it’s important that you’re never too high, never too low, there’s so many ups and downs to this lifestyle, to the games we play, to this league, so just stay true to you. So long as you’re seeing growth as a team throughout the year, that’s more what we’re focused on.

“And I think we’ve found our footing now. We had a lot of turnover on the roster early in the year but now we have a set roster, our rotations are great. We need to continue playing together, continue moving the ball and really lock in defensively.”

Sharks are certainly developing nicely. Chatman has brought the X-factor to the point guard position, while Clay is the presence they needed at both ends of the court in the absence of the injured Bennett Koch.

And when he is in the groove, Groves can be a deadly three-point shooter. His three-point accuracy is 43.8 per cent, the eighth best in the league. The 23-year-old has scored more than 20 points three times.

“A lot of it is the scheming we try and do, the team are looking to put me in the right position, my team-mates do a great job of getting me the ball,” explained Groves.

“Some nights you’ve got things going and you’re really efficient and that’s a goal of mine, efficiency. So I’ve been proud of myself in that sense.

“I’m having a great rookie year, it’s a good transition into what life is like over here.

“It doesn’t matter what level you’re at, when you’re winning games life is a lot easier for everyone.”