Texas' Jordan Pope Reveals He Played Sweet 16 on Broken Foot, Suffered Injury During Gonzaga Upset

Nobody can question Jordan Pope's toughness.

The Texas guard told reporters he broke his foot late in his team's second-round victory over Gonzaga in the 2026 NCAA men's basketball tournament but still took the court during Thursday's Sweet 16 loss to Purdue.

He also added quite the perspective:

Pope finished with 17 points against the Bulldogs and played well once again Thursday despite the significant injury.

He drained four three-pointers against the Boilermakers and took advantage of the openings when Purdue collapsed on the post players. It was much-needed outside production, although Texas ultimately fell short in a narrow 79-77 loss.

Trey Kaufman-Renn played the role of hero with the game-winning tip-in in the final second:

While nobody really sees Texas as a scrappy Cinderella story given its status as a massive athletic department in the SEC, it was still a No. 11 seed that started its Big Dance in the First Four. 

It defeated NC State by two, BYU by eight and Gonzaga by six leading into Thursday's game against Purdue. It had thrived in close games in the first three tournament matchups but couldn't make the most important play on the rebound at the end against the Boilermakers.

As for Pope, it was the end of a solid season for the guard who was fourth on the team with 13.1 points per game while connecting on 36.9 percent of his three-point attempts.

Given the injury, it is fair to wonder if he would have continued playing had the Longhorns advanced. His quote suggesting he can't break it further indicates he likely would have at least attempted to take the court.

But it is Purdue that is advancing instead, and the Big Ten representative will face the winner of the game between Arizona and Arkansas in the Elite Eight.