Texas’ Jordan Pope reveals shocking injury after season-ending loss to Purdue
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Texas senior guard Jordan Pope had a shocking revelation for reporters in the postgame press conference after Thursday night’s season-ending Sweet 16 loss to Purdue.
Not only had the 11th-seeded Longhorns had a long road in this NCAA Tournament, beating NC State in the First Four game and then taking down higher seeds BYU and Gonzaga in the first and second rounds, respectively. It was also a long road for Pope, who told reporters after Texas‘ crushing 79-77 loss to second-seeded Purdue that he was playing with a broken foot suffered in last Saturday’s stunning victory over Gonzaga.
But Pope sucked it up on Thursday night in the West Region semifinal in San Jose, playing 33 minutes and scoring 12 points, with 2 rebounds and 1 assist, and his courageous efforts in the face of a serious injury nearly propelled Texas into Saturday’s regional final against Arizona.
“I think I can clear the air now. Five minutes left against Gonzaga, I broke my foot,” Pope told reporters late Thursday night. “A complete break. So, it was definitely tough. I’m not sure many guys would’ve gone out there to play. … Credit to my training staff, to those guys that got me ready. I felt good, somehow. I had a lot of fun.”
It was an appropriately courageous postscript from Pope to an NCAA Tournament run that went a lot further than most thought for Texas. But it ended on Thursday night, barely, in a last-second loss to Purdue, with Pope playing to the bitter end, no matter his injury.
With Texas losing a heartbreaker to Purdue, the Longhorns’ Final Four dreams are dashed. But there are still many more teams alive to get to Indianapolis, and here is what the Kalshi market currently sees as the top teams in the mix:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
