Jordan Pope didn’t really hesitate on Thursday when it came to whether or not he was going to take the court at the SAP Center.
Despite his broken foot, the Texas star was going to play.
“I couldn’t break it any more, so there wasn’t much of a high risk in terms of the actual injury,” Pope said. “Obviously you can hurt other things, but I had nothing to lose. It was the Sweet 16, I’m back home in front of my family … I’ll never have this opportunity again. I couldn’t let that pass. I think I would have regretted that a lot if I would have.”
With about five minutes left in No. 11 Texas’ win over Gonzaga last weekend, which propelled the Longhorns into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2023, Pope broke his book. Specifics of the injury aren’t clear, but Pope described it as a “clean break.”
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The senior had 17 points and three assists in Texas’ 74-68 win over the Bulldogs. He played 33 minutes on Thursday night in San Jose, too, finishing with 12 points and two rebounds. Pope averaged 13.1 points and 2.1 rebounds per game this season while shooting just shy of 40% from the field.
Pope, though, couldn’t quite lift the Longhorns past Purdue. The Boilermakers escaped with a 79-77 win on a game-winner from Trey Kaufman-Renn.
Pope spent his first two seasons at Oregon State before transferring into Austin ahead of the 2024-25 campaign. He was a four-star Rivals.com recruit coming out of high school in Oakley, California — which sits on the other side of the Bay Area from where the Sweet 16 games were being played on Thursday night.
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The decision to play, Texas coach Sean Miller said, was Pope’s.
“I don’t know how many guys that I’ve coached under these conditions on this stage would have chosen to play … He gave us everything and gave us the opportunity to win,” Miller said.
While Texas is headed home early, the Longhorns did end up on a very long and surprising NCAA tournament run. They started in the First Four round, after all.
And, Pope got to play until the end near his hometown.
“I felt good, somehow. I had a lot of fun,” Pope said. “I thank the Lord I was able to get through that.”