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Jordan Pope injury update: Texas guard confident he will play vs. Purdue in Sweet 16

FaceProfileby: Thomas Goldkamp03/25/26

Texas guard Jordan Pope appeared to be hobbled in the final moments of his team’s huge Round of 32 win over Gonzaga on Saturday night. He provided the latest on his status ahead of the Sweet 16 on Wednesday.

The 6-foot-1, 180-pound guard told the Houston Chronicle’s Kirk Bohls “Oh yeah, I am” when asked if he was 100% sure he’d play against Purdue. He added that he plans to guard Purdue star Braden Smith, although teammate Dailyn Swain admitted that is “not going to be a one-person project.”

That availability update goes largely in line with what Texas expected from Jordan Pope, though. Head coach Sean Miller had provided a brief update after the Round of 32, saying he thought Pope would “be fine.” He added more on Wednesday.

“Yeah, first Jordan, he’s dealing with a lower leg situation,” Miller said. “We’re hopeful that he can — we’ve given him a lot of rest since our last game, and I think he’s really responding to it. We still had a pretty quick turnaround, all things considered, because of the distance between San Jose and Austin and traveling from Dayton to Portland and Portland back to Austin.

“But yeah, it’s nice to have a couple days in between. But everybody that’s playing has those same days, as well.”

Jordan Pope has been impressive in Texas’ run to the Sweet 16. He was limited too just five points in a play-in win over NC State, but he has since seen his productivity increase quite a bit.

Pope scored 11 points in a win over BYU. Then he turned in a 17-point outing before getting slightly dinged up at the end of a win over Gonzaga on Saturday.

It was his corner 3-pointer, assisted by Swain, that helped give Texas a seven-point lead late in the game, all but sealing the victory. Those kind of plays are what Texas has come to expect from Jordan Pope.

On the season, the talented guard is averaging 13.1 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists per contest. He has shot 36.9% from 3-point range.

Texas is set to take on Purdue in the opening night of Sweet 16 action on Thursday. The game is slated for a 7:10 p.m. ET tipoff on CBS.