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Sean Miller thinks Jordan Pope will be "fine" after late limps versus Gonzaga

Joe Cookby: Joe Cook03/23/26josephcook89

Texas guard Jordan Pope was seen favoring his right ankle during the final moments of Texas’ round of 32 win over the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Saturday night. Following the game in Portland, Longhorns head coach Sean Miller believed Pope would be “okay.” Miller provided an additional update on Pope during his meeting with the media on Monday.

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“Jordan I think will be fine,” Miller said. “We didn’t do anything yesterday, so we weren’t together. He’s gotten treatment. Moving forward, we practice here at 2:30 today.”

Pope has been a key part of Texas’ run to the Sweet 16, where the Longhorns will face Purdue on Thursday at 6:10 p.m. in San Jose, Calif. CBS will televise the game. Pope is averaging 11 points on 35.1% shooting during Texas’ NCAA Tournament run. For the 2025-26 season, Pope averages 13.1 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.9 assists on 39.9% shooting from the field and 36.9% shooting from three-point land.

In the Longhorns’ first round game versus BYU, Pope hit an important corner three assisted by Dailyn Swain to give Texas a seven-point advantage and all but seal the victory. He finished with 11 points on 4-for-11 shooting against the Cougars.

Then against Gonzaga, Pope scored 17 points on 7-for-18 shooting. His scoring total tied Matas Vokietaitis for the team high. After the game, Miller was highly complimentary of his senior guard.

“Yeah, I don’t know if there’s too many guards that are playing in the Tournament that are playing at a higher level than Jordan Pope,” Miller said after Texas’ win over Gonzaga. “He means a lot to our team, and what he’s really mastered is that he controls the game and he’s our point guard, but he adds such a strong scoring punch that he can change the game from the three-point line. Even the shot before halftime was a big shot. Right before the half, where he came off the screen and buried it and gave us a lead. We struggled for a lot of the first half, it was good to go to halftime leading.”

An initial injury report is due to the NCAA by Wednesday night. But according to Miller, signs point toward Pope being available for Texas’ matchup against All-American guard Braden Smith and the Purdue Boilermakers.

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