Texas men’s basketball junior guard Jordan Pope is a dynamic scorer with impressive numbers, but there is one title the Oregon State transfer is missing: NCAA basketball champion.
“A lot of people say ‘I’ve done everything but win,’” Pope said.
Pope is one of 10 newcomers and one of six transfers on the first Texas team fully built by head coach Rodney Terry and his staff.
Pope spent his entire life on the West Coast, growing up in California before moving north for college. At Oregon State, Pope was a constant presence on the court, starting all 32 games his sophomore year. In 31 of those contests, Pope scored double digits.
When Terry recruited him this summer, Pope decided to make a change and take on a new challenge.
“(Terry) told me we’re going to have a lot of talent,” Pope said. “And with talent, you want to make sure you channel things correctly because it could go great, but it could also go wrong.”
Pope certainly fits in with the rest of the team in terms of talent. Last year alone, Pope received an All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention while leading his team in scoring, assists, minutes and averaged 17.6 points per game.
A large part of the challenge this season will be building enough chemistry as a team to play in the roaring Southeastern Conference environments. The SEC is a different conference for most of the players on the team, however, Pope welcomes the obstacle.
“(In the SEC the) competition raises, environments are even crazier I think than Pac-12,” Pope said. “I’m looking forward to it. It’ll be a new challenge for all of us, and I’m looking forward to seeing how we handle that.”
At Oregon State, Pope demonstrated that he could handle pressure well. In their contest against No. 9 Arizona last year, Pope scored 31 points and won the game 83-80 with a three-point buzzer-beater.
Kansas State transfer, senior forward Arthur Kaluma, stated that Pope will be a big asset to the Longhorns this season.
“I feel like Jordan Pope is going to be a really good (point guard),” Kaluma said. “I mean, he can score the ball. He has great vision, and I’m just really excited to see what he does on the bigger stage.”
To establish the bonds needed to make a deep March Madness run, the past few months have been filled with team building on and off the court. It’s been going well for Pope, who has been trying new things in the Texas heat such as a popular Texas fast food chain.
“Me and Arthur (Kaluma) the other week (were) just arguing about the whole debate,” Pope said. “He said ‘In and Out’s all right, but Whataburger’s way above it’ and I said ‘Yeah, something’s wrong with you.’”
