The return of two major contributors give the Longhorns some continuity under Sean Miller.
The third-leading scorer for the Texas Longhorns last season is coming back, as rising senior guard Jordan Pope announced his return to play for new head coach Sean Miller on Thursday.
back in the Burnt Orange #HookEm | @jpope0 pic.twitter.com/Hjf6DKU79X
— Texas Men’s Basketball (@TexasMBB) April 3, 2025
Since Tre Johnson will declare for the 2025 NBA Draft and Arthur Kaluma is out of eligibility, that makes Pope the team’s highest scorer who still had a decision to make and his return is a significant one for the Longhorns. Along with Tramon Mark’s return, also announced on Thursday, Pope coming back provides Miller with some continuity in his program that combines with the familiarity with Miller’s system that rising junior wing Dailyn Swain has from his two years at Xavier.
A product of Napa (Calif.) Oakley Prep, Pope signed with Oregon State as a consensus three-star prospect in the 2022 recruiting class. During his freshman and sophomore seasons with the Beavers, Pope led the team in scoring, assists, and minutes both years, including 17.6 points per game and 3.4 assists per game in 2023-24 while shooting 37.1 percent from three-point range.
After transferring to Texas, Pope saw decreases in all three categories, averaging 11.0 points and 1.7 assists per game while shooting 36.4 percent from beyond the arc. Pope struggled to adjust to the higher defensive demands placed on him, saw his assist rate drop from 23.5 percent to 12.9 percent and wasn’t a factor as a rebounder or getting to the free-throw line, taking 43 fewer attempts as a junior.
Pope was extremely efficient as a mid-range jump shooter, hitting 47 percent of those attempts, and rarely turned the ball over, but the hope is that Miller’s system will can help him improve his assist rate and free-throw rate so he can impact games in more diverse ways than just hitting jumpers.
Miller will also have a decision to make about how much Pope plays on the ball — former head coach Rodney Terry benched Pope during a key stretch of conference play in favor of Julian Larry and then gave the primary ball-handling duties to Mark in the postseason.
