Texas star Jordan Pope was instrumental in the No. 11 Longhorns’ 74-68 win over the No. 3 Gonzaga Bulldogs in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday. Pope tallied 17 points, 3 assists, and a rebound in 32 minutes of action, but he played through pain after turning his ankle while making a 3-pointer late in the game.
Will Pope be available for the Longhorns’ Sweet 16 clash against the No. 2 Purdue Boilermakers on Thursday?
Will Jordan Pope Play Against Purdue in the Sweet 16?
During his media availability, Texas coach Sean Miller said that he is hopeful Pope will be able to play, despite walking to the locker room with Longhorns’ staff at the end of the game against Gonzaga.
“We’ve given him a lot of rest since our last game and I think he’s really responding to it,” Miller said on Wednesday. “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.”
Pope was a limited participant in Wednesday’s practice, and he’s officially listed as questionable for the Sweet 16.
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During the locker room availability after the win, Pope made it clear that he plans to play in the Longhorns’ Sweet 16 clash against Purdue.
“I feel good, I think I landed on Swain’s foot, but I’m feeling fine,” Pope said. “I’ll be ready for the Sweet 16, there’s nothing that can keep me out of that.”
Pope has been the key cog in the Longhorns’ turnaround after dropping five of their last six games entering the NCAA Tournament, including a first-round SEC Tournament loss, to reach the Sweet 16 of the Big Dance.
Miller broke down why Pope was key to the Longhorns’ unlikely run in the NCAA Tournament.
“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. “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.”
Pope is averaging 13.1 points on 39.9% shooting from the floor and 36.9% shooting from beyond the arc, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.9 assists for the Longhorns this season.
Sweet 16 Schedule for Thursday and Friday
After several days without any NCAA Tournament games, the action resumes tonight at 7:10 p.m. ET. There are four games on tonight and four games on Friday, with all of them airing on CBS and TBS/truTV.
THURSDAY
- No. 11 Texas vs. No. 2 Purdue | 7:10 p.m. ET | CBS
- No. 9 Iowa vs. No. 4 Nebraska | 7:30 p.m. ET | TBS/truTV
- No. 4 Arkansas vs. No. 1 Arizona | 9:45 p.m. ET | CBS
- No. 3 Illinois vs. No. 2 Houston | 10:05 p.m. ET | TBS/truTV
FRIDAY
- No. 5 St. John’s vs. No. 1 Duke | 7:10 p.m. ET | CBS
- No. 4 Alabama vs. No. 1 Michigan | 7:35 p.m. ET | TBS/truTV
- No. 3 Michigan State vs. No. 2 UConn | 9:45 p.m. ET | CBS
- No. 6 Tennessee vs. No. 2 Iowa State | 10:10 p.m. ET | TBS/truTV
The NCAA Tournament averaged 9.8 million viewers through its first three days, the best start since CBS and TNT began showing all of the games together in 2011, according to Nielsen data. The primetime Thursday window hit 12.5 million, making it the most-watched first-round window in tournament history.
All eyes will be on Jefferson to see if he can return and give Iowa State their best shot at advancing to the Elite Eight, which gets underway on March 28 to March 29.
