Jordan Pope sets new scoring record as Texas basketball routs New Orleans

[ad_1]

Jordan Pope is finally looking at home in Moody Center.

Pope, a 6-foot-2 junior guard who transferred to Texas basketball from Oregon State in the offseason, scored a career-high 42 points in the Longhorns’ 98-62 home win over New Orleans Thursday. That total is the highest for Texas since Reggie Freeman scored 43 points against Fresno State in 1996, and it also set a scoring record for Moody Center, which opened in 2022.

“I was just trying to play free and play my game and just be confident, be aggressive and make winning plays,” Pope said. “I blanked out there a little bit. My teammates were really more more excited than I was. They were trusting me. They were feeding me. They wanted more for me than I did.”

Pope’s previous career-high of 31 points came against Arizona last season, and he broke that mark when he nailed a transition 3-pointer with 5 minutes, 45 seconds left in the game on an assist by Chendall Weaver. He ended the game shooting 15-of-21 from the field and 8-of-12 from 3-point range, which was two short of the school record for most made 3-pointers by an individual in a single game. He added four free throws on five attempts.

Texas guard Jordan Pope, center, celebrates with his teammates after scoring a career-high 42 points in the Longhorns’ 98-62 win over New Orleans Thursday at Moody Center. It;s the most points in a game for Texas since Reggie Freeman scored 43 points in 1996.

More: Texas basketball vs UConn: Could the Longhorns extend series with Huskies?

The scoring explosion from Pope continues a recent trend. Pope averaged 17.6 points a game in 2023-24 but seemed to leave his scoring in the Pacific Northwest early in the season. Through the first nine games, Pope shot just 40% from the field while averaging 7.9 points a game. But in the past three games, Pope has made 26 of 39 shots and 13 3-pointers while averaging  23 points a game.

Texas coach Rodney Terry said he’d like to see more shots even though Pope is nominally the team’s starting point…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/jordan-pope-sets-scoring-record-042451118.html

Author : Austin American-Statesman

Publish date : 2024-12-20 04:24:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.