But that optimism seemed a bit dimmer Wednesday inside the SAP Center after the Longhorns’ first shootaround at the West Region headquarters. Pope seemed to twist his ankle in Saturday’s 74-68 win over Gonzaga, and Miller described  it “as a lower leg injury” Wednesday during his meeting with reporters.

“We’re hopeful that he can (play) — we’ve given him a lot of rest since our last game, and I think he’s really responding to it,” Miller said. “We still had a pretty quick turnaround, all things considered, because of the distance between San Jose and Austin and traveling from Dayton to Portland and Portland back to Austin. But yeah, it’s nice to have a couple days in between.”

Pope, who grew up about 60 miles from San Jose in the East Bay town of Oakley, has been playing some of his best basketball of the season in March. He had 11 points, two rebounds and two assists in Thursday’s first-round win over BYU and added another three assists without a turnover to his 17 points against Gonzaga.

If Pope can play Thursday for the 11th-seeded Longhorns (21-14) and continue that type of contribution, Texas will have a better chance to pull off another tournament upset against No. 2 Purdie (29-8). Miller said reaching the regional round in the San Francisco Bay area of all places reads like “a storybook ending for (Pope), when you think about just his journey, where he began his career, how this year has unfolded.”

“Jordan has really grown and emerged as our point guard,” Miller said. “We depend on him in just virtually every category. I think his skill set of shooting, his ability to score at the point guard position, it’s really been vital in our biggest victories this year, including the tournament. I just think his play in general sets the tone for our team. The fact that he’s here, back home, that’s how you want it to end for every player.”

Although Pope didn’t do much more than watch during the shootaround, the 6-foot-1 senior who averages 13.1 points, 2.1 assists and 1.9 rebounds a game seems set on at least testing his injury, which could make him a true game-time decision. He told Kirk Bohls of the Houston Chronicle that he will play and intends on guarding Purdue’s All-American point guard Braden Smith, the NCAA’s all-time leader in assists.

Of course, defending Smith won’t come down to one player regardless of Pope’s playing status. Miami had some success against Smith in Purdue’s 79-69 win in a second-round game by trying to smother the 6-footer with lots of length. On Wednesday, the 6-5 Tramon Mark and the 6-8 Dailyn Swain — two of the Longhorns’ best defenders — seemed ready to help with that defensive task.

“He (Smith) is a great passer, so you’ve just got to make it tough on him throughout the whole game,” Mark said. “Some of these passes are easy darts to his teammates for easy shots. Maybe you can get a hand on it, deflect it, something like that, but all of that requires effort. That’s what we’re going to do.”

Swain agreed with Mark, saying Texas will focus on “taking away those windows, putting longer guys on him, trying to get deflections.”