In his final game at the Moody Center, Texas senior guard Jordan Pope responded with arguably one of his greatest performances of his career on senior night.
After posting a dismal zero points, four fouls and an early game benching in the Longhorns’ blowout loss to the No. 20 Arkansas Razorbacks on Wednesday, Pope grinded out 30 points, cashing in a clutch three-pointer to bring Texas the lead with one point and a little over one minute left in overtime.
Basketball, though, as much as it seems at times, is not a one-person show — and Pope could not will a victory on senior night. The Longhorns fell 88-85 to the Oklahoma Sooners in overtime Saturday night in Austin.
“We weren’t as hard or difficult to score against as we were in that last six-minute stretch of the game,” head coach Sean Miller said.
With under a minute left in regulation, Oklahoma fifth-year forward Mohamed Wague seemingly slammed the door in the face of Texas.
Wague cut through the Longhorns’ defense in the paint, throwing down a lob from junior guard Xzayvier Brown for a reverse dunk to give Oklahoma a six-point lead over Texas with 38 seconds left in regulation, 75-69.
The Sooners started to collapse in the final 30 seconds, picking up two sloppy fouls on Pope and graduate guard Tramon Mark outside the arc — each received three shots. Both Mark and Pope tossed in their six free throws, tying the game up at 77 with three seconds left in regulation.
“Making those three free throws is no easy task,” Miller said about Pope’s free throws. “I don’t care how good of a free-throw shooter you are, I think that says a lot about his courage and his toughness and his confidence.”
Despite Mark’s play in crunch time late in regulation, he was unable to replicate the same success in the extra period. The veteran guard missed a layup and both of his free throws, both game-tying baskets.
With the game still in reach, Pope put the Longhorns on top of a turnover by the Sooners, firing a pull-up three to gain the lead at 82-81.
However, Oklahoma was able to respond swiftly to its narrow deficit. The Sooners picked up a pivotal offensive rebound off a missed three-pointer for a second-chance layup to regain the lead.
On Oklahoma’s next offensive possession, coming off a miss three-pointer by Pope, the Sooner defense put the Longhorns on skates. Sophomore forward Derrion Reid launched a wide-open corner three, sealing the game 86-82 with 11 seconds left in regulation.
“It’s tough to lose in a way like that, after putting ourselves in a hole and then coming back out of that hole,” Pope said. “Then to make some of the mislaps that we had in OT that kind of were uncharacteristic. Definitely, it’s tough.”
The Longhorns end the regular season with an 18–13 record and a 9–9 Southeastern Conference record. Texas enters the SEC tournament as the 10th seed after dropping four of its last five games to close out the season.
Texas will face the Ole Miss Rebels on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
