At Moda, a day for Longhorn lore and Hog heaven

Jordan Pope launches the 3-point shot that gives Texas a 62-56 late lead in its victory over Gonzaga

Tickets to Saturday’s second-round NCAA Regional double-header at Moda Center were expensive. But figuratively speaking, at least, the 14,365 spectators in attendance got their money’s worth.

Texas and Arkansas — long ago rivals and comrades in the Southwest Conference, now Southeast Conference-affiliated — both pulled out six-point victories to move on to next weekend’s Sweet Sixteen.

And the contests were even closer than the scores would indicate.

No. 11 seed Texas led by one point in the closing seconds before polishing off No. 3 seed Gonzaga 74-68 in the opener.

In the nightcap, the score was tied 83-83 with three minutes left before No. 4 seed Arkansas made plays down the stretch in a 94-88 victory over No. 12 High Point.

There were a combined 14 ties and 25 lead changes in the two games, capping a two-day, six-game tournament that featured five games that went to the wire.

“This was the best of any of the Regionals as far as great games and competitiveness,” one reporter working near me remarked after they were over. And he may be right.

Ex-Beaver Pope is interviewed after his lead role in getting the Longhorns to the Sweet Sixteen

TEXAS 74, GONZAGA 68:

Jordan Pope was not only essential to the Texas win, he was also prescient.

The Longhorns faced long odds to make it to the Sweet Sixteen, getting by North Carolina State 68-66 in a play-in game, then arriving in Portland at 6 a.m. Wednesday before their Thursday date with No. 6 seed Brigham Young. After beating the Cougars, Texas faced the daunting task of what amounted to a road game against Northwest favorite Gonzaga, playing in its 27th straight NCAA Tournament.

Asked about the challenge on Friday, Pope said, “It’s March. If the right team starts clicking at the right moment, anything can happen. Any team can win; any team can lose. That’s what March Madness is about.”

Then the Longhorns (21-14) went out and slayed the Bulldogs (31-4), and Pope played the biggest role of all.

The 6-1 senior, in his second year at Texas after two seasons at Oregon State, scored 17 points and came through in the clutch for the second game in a row.

Pope was 3 for 8 from 3-point range, and all of his triples were critical. The first one came with six seconds left before half to send Texas into intermission leading 35-33. Pope rolled an ankle while making a 3 to give the Longhorns a 62-56 advantage with 5:30 remaining in the game. He limped the rest of the way but remained in and buried another one from beyond the arc to push Texas ahead 69-64 with 2:36 to play. Pope dished out three assists and had no turnovers in his 32 minutes.

“I don’t know if there are too many guards playing in the tournament who are playing at a higher level than Jordan Pope,” Sean Miller, Texas’ first-year coach, said afterward. “He means a lot to our team. What he has really mastered is that he controls the game and is our point guard, but he adds such a strong scoring punch that he can change a game at the 3-point line.”

Miller conferred with Pope but left him in the game.

“You hate to give in or give up on a guy at the 3-minute mark of a 40-minute game when he means that much and wants to stay in,” Miller said.

Gonzaga was 3-0 against SEC opponents this season, but that stat didn’t hold up Saturday. Texas prevented the Bulldogs from reaching the Sweet Sixteen for the 11th time in 12 years.

Neither team shot well from 3-point range — Texas was 5 for 15, Gonzaga 4 for 16 — but the Longhorns did more damage than expected on the interior. Gonzaga entered the game leading the nation in points in the paint per game (44.5), but the Longhorns beat them in that category 46-38.

There was a great battle inside between centers Graham Ike of Gonzaga and Matas Vokietaitis of Texas.

Gonzaga’s Graham Ike (15) fires a jumper over Texas center Matas Vokietaitis it a battle of the bigs

Before the game, Ike made this observation about Vokietaitis: "He's a physical player who does a couple of tricky nuance things that we should be aware of."

Not sure I have heard the "tricky nuance" phrase before. A Mark Few-ism?

Ike, a 6-9 senior, wound up pouring in a game-high 25 points on a variety of mid-range jumpers and hook shots but had only three rebounds in 36 minutes. Vokietaitis, a 7-foot sophomore from Lithuania who had torched BYU with 23 points and 16 boards, contributed 17 and nine against the Zags. And he got more help than Ike. The only other Gonzaga player to score in double figures was senior forward Jalen Warley, who collected 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Perhaps the biggest stat for Texas was only five turnovers.

“There’s nothing we talk about more than the value of limiting turnovers, trying to play the game with single-digit turnovers,” Miller said.

Neither coach would go along with the “Cinderella” tag that some connected with the Texas team that entered the tournament as a No. 11 seed and needed to win a play-in game to get in.

“I don’t think we ever want to sign up to be the Cinderella story,” Miller said. “We are the University of Texas, and we represent the SEC as well.”

Few acted offended by the thought, even though on the surface, the designation made sense.

“Some of the monikers we put on everybody, from Cinderella to blue-bloods — I have a hell of a time understanding that,” the veteran Gonzaga coach said. “They literally make no sense. (Texas) is not a Cinderella team. … that is just an 11-seed that had some tough losses during the year.”

And one with one of the biggest budgets in the country, no doubt, which is basically the point Few was making.

And now the Longhorns are moving on to the Sweet Sixteen, and the Northwest favorites are calling it a season.

The Dean of Portland Sports is now on BlueSky.

Billy Richmond Jr., who collected 15 points and 10 rebounds, dunks one for Arkansas

ARKANSAS 94, HIGH POINT 88:

If there were a true Cinderella team in Portland, it would be High Point, the North Carolina-based outfit that caught the fancy of the Moda denizens, of whom all but the Arkansas fans were rooting for the Panthers to pull off an upset.

High Point’s first-round victory over Wisconsin was the first NCAA Tournament win in the school’s history.

“Yesterday was the craziest day of my life,” said its first-year coach, Flynn Clayman. “You talk about Cloud 9 — I was on like Cloud 1,000.”

The Panthers, who end the season with a 31-5 record, came into the Arkansas game with a 15-game win streak and “this chip on our shoulder,” Clayman said, “an everybody’s-against-us type mentality, because we felt like we needed to have it.”

High Point’s Chase Johnston (99 in purple) watches as his corner 3 heads to the basket late in the game

Arkansas (28-8) entered having won six in a row and with two of the nation’s premier guards in freshmen Darius Acuff Jr. and Meleek Thomas. On Friday, a reporter asked Arkansas coach John Calipari for a Mount Rushmore of guards he has coached.

“I would make a lot of people mad,” he said. “I have had 13 players that have been (NBA) All-Stars. I have had two MVPs. Which one of those guys do you pick?”

Those two, incidentally, are Derrick Rose (2007-08) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2024-25).

“I’ve been blessed, folks,” Calipari quipped. “People have entrusted me with their children.”

Arkansas was the most athletic team in the Portland Regional, but High Point was anything but intimidated, matching them point for point most of the way. There were 15 lead changes. Arkansas was in front 43-42 at the half, and neither team led by more than six points until the Razorbacks went ahead 81-74 with 5:05 remaining. The difference was 85-83 inside two minutes left when Acuff scored five in a row to give them a little breathing room at 90-83. When it was over, the breathing on the Arkansas side was a sigh of relief.

“We competed with the SEC champs, lottery picks, guys who are the best of the best,” Clayman said. “I don’t think anybody expected us to do what we did — win 31 games, get to the Tournament, advance, push the SEC champs.”

There was a classic duel between point guards Acuff — a projected top-five pick in the NBA draft — and High Point senior Rob Martin. The 6-3 Acuff was spectacular, finishing with 36 points and six assists while sinking 11 of 22 from the field, 3 of 6 from 3-point range and 11 of 13 from the foul line. But the 5-11 Martin was nearly his equal, slithering to the basket for 30 points with five assists, making 11 of 23 from the field, 3 of 11 on 3s and 5 of 5 at the line.

High Point’s Rob Martin (3) drives on Arkansas’ Darius Acuff Jr. in a duel between two of the nation’s top point guards

Acuff got major help from Thomas (19) points, forward Billy Richmond Jr. (15 points, 10 rebounds) and center Malique Ewin (14 points, 12 boards). Martin’s supporting cast featured Cam’ron Fletcher, a 6-7 sixth-year senior playing for his fourth school. Fletcher, who turns 25 in July, began his college career in 2020-21 at Kentucky under Calipari. He was outstanding against his old coach with 25 points on 11-for-19 shooting to go with eight rebounds.

“I was proud of him,” Calipari said. “Wanted to beat him, but I was proud of him. He put his shoulder down and just did what he wanted to do. I am happy it has turned out this way for him at High Point.”

The Arkansas-High Point affair was a fitting way for the Portland Regional to end. Nearly 40,000 fans through the three sessions and half-dozen games saw a lot of good basketball and some exciting finishes. Now Texas and Arkansas move on to carry the torch to the next round.

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