Sean Miller Highlights Two Experienced Shooters on Texas Longhorns Roster

The Texas Longhorns men's basketball program will look very different in the 2025-26 season.

With the coaching change to Sean Miller came heightened personnel turnover, including eight newcomers who arrived through the transfer portal and recruiting.

Discussing his roster with the media on Tuesday, Miller was asked about the standout shooters on his team. He highlighted returning Longhorn Jordan Pope and Purdue transfer Camden Heide.

What Miller had to say about Pope and Heide

"The experience and the know-how, I think it's the first ingredient that I feel really good about when I look at this coming year," Miller said about his roster overall.

Texas Longhorns guard Jordan Pope (0) is incredulous about a foul called on him against Texas A&M during their second round game of the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, March 13, 2025. | Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

And Pope is one of the leaders in that department for Miller. The point guard is entering his senior season after spending two years at Oregon State and last season at Texas. Pope has averaged double digit points in all three of his collegiate seasons, including 11.0 points per game as a Longhorn.

Regarding Pope, Miller emphasized that there is "real value" in experience when you return to a school and have the opportunity to build off the time already spent in that program. The prospect of individual progression while helping in the team's transition between coaching regimes defines the importance behind Pope's retention.

Pope played noticeably less minutes per game in Austin last season than he did during his time at Oregon State. He averaged slightly worse field goal and 3-point percentages as a junior than he did as a sophomore. But with Miller's confidence behind him, Pope will certainly get good looks this season as a valuable shotmaker for the Longhorns.

Miller's second mention, Heide, spent two years under Matt Painter in West Lafayette before coming to Austin this offseason. And Heide's three-point capability is no secret.

"If you look at [Heide's] track record at Purdue in the Big 10, his percentage speaks loud and clear," Miller said.

Heide, a 6-7 forward, averaged 45.0 and 39.2 percent from three-point range in his two seasons as a Boilermaker. Heide took a step in Painter's program between his freshman and sophomore year, increasing his minutes per game to 19.7 to become a consistent rotational piece. Additionally, he contributed well in NCAA Tournament games.

"When we recruited Cam, shooting no doubt [was a factor]," Miller said. "But playing at Purdue, playing in the Big 10, playing in that winning culture, that's something that was exciting for us to add."

Improvement on rest of roster

Miller didn't stop at just Pope and Heide. He sees shooting potential across the roster.

"We've worked very hard in the past four months," Miller said. "We have a number of others that are solid and consistent, and my hope is that there will be storylines of their improvement shooting -- where they shoot more, they make more, they shoot a higher percentage -- whether that be from the free throw line or from the three point line."

Specifically, he raised guards Chendall Weaver and Simeon Wilcher as guys that've worked hard as shotmakers this summer.

"They've shown that they can do it, they're experienced and I think they'll be able to do that better for us," Miller said of Weaver and Wilcher.

With the college basketball offseason is officially heating up, the storylines out of the Texas camp about the team's shooting talent and more can be expected to proceed accordingly.