Michigan basketball in touch with Oregon State transfer Jordan Pope
Michigan Wolverines basketball has been in contact with Oregon State point guard transfer Jordan Pope, he told The Athletic‘s Tobias Bass. Other schools that have reached out are California, Miami, Florida, Baylor, Texas Texas A&M, Kansas, Xavier, Illinois, Louisville, North Carolina, Arizona and Villanova.
Pope just finished his sophomore season with the Beavers and has two years of eligibility remaining. He’s the No. 23 overall player and sixth-best point guard in the NCAA transfer portal, according to On3’s rankings.
Michigan is reportedly set to hire former Saint Mary’s associate head coach Justin Joyner as an assistant under new head man Dusty May. Pope was recruited by the Gaels out of high school in 2022, so there could be a connection between he and Joyner.
“Saint Mary’s likes me a lot, I talk to them every week,” Joyner told Prospective Insight while going through his high school recruitment.
The 6-foot-2, 165-pounder was named honorable mention All-Pac-12 this past season, averaging a team-high 17.7 points, 3.4 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game while starting 29 contests. With the highest usage rate on the team, he shot 50.2 percent on twos (130-of-259), 36.8 percent on threes (64-of-174) and 87.9 percent on free throws (94-of-107).
The Beavers finished the 2023-24 campaign with a 13-19 record, losing in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament.
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The Oakley, Calif., native was named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman team in 2022-23, when he registered 13 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. He started 28 of 29 contests for the 11-21 Beavers.
A three-star recruit in the 2022 class, Pope attended Napa (Calif.) Prolific Prep. He was the No. 190 overall player and 30th-best point guard in the country, according ton On3.
May joined former Michigan football All-American Jake Butt on a podcast presented by the Champions Circle Collective this week and discussed how he intends on building the program.
“It’s simply finding the right people and staff and personnel,” the Michigan coach stated. “It always starts with the right people, and the characteristics align with what we’re going to be about.
