Game Preview: Rodney Terry believes more contributions from Jordan Pope are coming

The nation was wowed on Monday night by the electric debut of Texas Longhorns true freshman Tre Johnson. Johnson dropped 29 points, breaking Kevin Durant‘s scoring record for a freshman in his Texas debut, but the Longhorns fell 82-70 to Ohio State in Las Vegas.

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Johnson’s performance indicated the type of night he can have any time he steps into the arena. He played tenacious defense, hit contested shots, and almost single-handedly kept the Longhorns in the game against the Buckeyes.

One player expected to contribute to scoring, Arthur Kaluma, scored in double figures. Another whose role will see him most often utilized in the backcourt, Tramon Mark, was held out and described by Texas head coach Rodney Terry Thursday as “out indefinitely,” though Terry’s phrasing and since-deleted tweets by Mark made that sound like his return wasn’t some far off event.

But the Longhorn that Terry needed more out of via scoring and running the offense was Jordan Pope, and his contributions were minimal on Monday night.

Pope, a transfer from Oregon State who averaged 17.6 points, 2.8 assists, and 2.6 rebounds last year, scored only five points and had a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio where the totals for each stat were two and one. He looked tentative at certain points and did not seem as comfortable running the offense as fellow guard Julian Larry, who notched eight points, five assists, and three rebounds.

Running the point is a bit more natural for Larry, who often filled that role at Indiana State. Pope arrives more as a scoring guard who had the offense run around him in Corvallis rather than needing to run the offense.

Terry wasn’t concerned when speaking about Pope finding his rhythm. After all, Terry has had to go through a similar process at Texas with players of Pope’s style before.

Max Abmas, Marcus Carr, Sir’Jabari Rice, and even Tyrese Hunter to an extent were players who arrived in Austin needing to learn how to adapt to the point guard position. They were often primary options on their previous institutions, and there were associated growing pains with figuring out how to fit into a lineup where other scoring threats needed to have their mouths fed.

Most of those players are burnt orange success stories that Terry showed Pope as an example for him to develop into.

“He’s definitely seen some of those edits already of those guys in particular,” Terry said. “How Max played at his previous institution then came here and had to adjust and adapt, I thought he did a nice job of that last season. But it didn’t happen overnight. It didn’t happen in the first few ballgames. It took us a while, and even for Max to feel comfortable in some of the things that we’re doing.”

Patience was a common theme for Terry during his time with the media. He put together a team that features four returning scholarship players, six scholarship additions, and three high school signees. Most expected leading scorers are in their first season in Austin.

That patience was emphasized when speaking about Pope.

“Same thing for Jordan,” Terry said. “Jordan is one of those guys that has played off the ball. He’s played with the ball. At Oregon State, he was asked to carry a lot of the scoring load. In his mind coming here, he embraced knowing that we still need him to be a scoring threat but also be a guy that shows for next level opportunities that he can run a team and he can be a guy that has point guard qualities that helps lead a team.”

Without Mark for some time, the Longhorns will need to get Pope going. A true freshman in Johnson, though electric, can’t be expected to score 29 points on 39 minutes going forward. Kaluma is more of player who does his work inside the arc.

For Pope, the schedule eases up for the next few weeks. The Longhorns face a number of mediocre at best teams, starting tonight with Houston Christian at the Moody Center in Austin. Tip time is at 7 p.m. and the game will stream on SEC Network+.

There’s no lack of confidence from Terry either. He brought Pope in with a certain vision, and he believes he’ll be seeing that play out in due time.

“At the end of the day, as he settles in, he finds his way, and he gets his footing under him in terms of the way we play with the guys we have around him right now, I think he’s going to be better for it,” Terry said.

2024-25 Texas Longhorns

Tre Johnson, 6-foot-6, 190 lbs, Fr., Link Academy (Mo.), 29 pts, 5 reb, 4 ast

Arthur Kaluma, 6-foot-7, 225 lbs, Sr., Kansas State, 10 pts, 5 reb, 0 ast

Kadin Shedrick, 6-foot-11, 231 lbs, Gr.: 10 pts, 5 reb, 0 ast

Chendall Weaver, 6-foot-3, 180 lbs, Jr.: 8 pts, 8 reb, 4 ast

Julian Larry, 6-foot-3, 185 lbs, Gr., Indiana State: 8 pts, 3 reb, 5 ast

Jordan Pope, 6-foot-2, 175 lbs, Jr., Oregon State: 5 pts, 2 reb, 1 ast

Jayson Kent, 6-foot-8, 215 lbs, Gr., Indiana State: 2 pts, 1 reb, 0 ast

Ze’Rik Onyema, 6-foot-9, 235 lbs, Sr.: 0 pts, 1 reb, 0 ast

Tramon Mark, 6-foot-5, 200 lbs, Gr., Arkansas

Devon Pryor, 6-foot-7, 185 lbs, So.

Malik Presley, 6-foot-6, 200 lbs, So., Vanderbilt

Nic Codie, 6-foot-8, 200 lbs, Fr., Dallas (Texas) Newman Smith

Jamie Vinson, 6-foot-11, 225 lbs, Fr., Oak Hill Academy (Va.)

Cole Bott, 6-foot-6, 195 lbs, Gr. (walk-on)

Preston Clark, 6-foot-6, 220 lbs, R-So. (walk-on)

Anthon McDermott, 6-foot-5, 185 lbs, Fr., Hallsville (Texas) (walk-on)

Houston Christian Huskies projected starters

G Ivan Reynolds

G Elijah Brooks

F Trent Johnson

F Demari Williams

F Bryson Dawkins