Dud: Jordan Pope, G
Despite getting his sixth straight start this season, senior guard Jordan Pope didn't have much of a tangible impact on this game on either end of the floor. Pope was a team-low (among the starting five players for the Longhorns) 0 in the plus/minus department vs. Saint Joseph's.
Pope played two dozen minutes in this game, but he mostly took a backseat on the offensive end of the floor to Johnson, Kaluma, and Shedrick. He didn't turn the ball over in this game, but he also registered just one assist and five points on four field goal attempts.
Nothing Pope did was necessarily bad in this game. I just think the impact he needs to make on this offense needs to be more pronounced than it was in the past few games this season for the Longhorns. Pope has yet to score a dozen points in a game for the Longhorns this season after averaging over 17 points per game at Oregon State last year before he entered the transfer portal and arrived at Texas.
Pope brought the ball up the court on over a dozen offensive possessions in the settled half court. That said, he finished up with five points (2-of-4 shooting from the field and 1-of-2 from deep), one assist, and two steals.
I would like to see more offense initiated earlier in the shot clock from the guards like Pope and senior Julian Larry. Texas has so many off-ball shooting threats and secondary and tertiary playmakers that this team can afford to pass the ball off if the look isn't there while running set plays with the true floor generals Larry and Pope.