Texas basketball: Meet the 7 new Longhorns including 6 transfers and a star freshman

Posted by Admin November 3, 2024 Basketball

Texas basketball brought in seven new players who are expected to factor into the rotation this season, including six transfers and one highly touted freshman.

The Longhorns finished 21-13 and 9-9 in the Big 12 last year and won the conference tournament. This year, they are making their debut in the SEC, which had eight tournament teams in 2023-24. Texas lost last year’s starting backcourt of Max Abmas and Tyrese Hunter; the two combined for 27.9 points and 8.2 assists per game.

Let’s meet these seven new Longhorns, who will team with returners Chendall Weaver, a guard; Kadin Shedrick, a forward; Ze’Rik Onyema, a forward; and Devon Pryor, a wing.

Tre Johnson, freshman guard: A 6-foot-6 blue-chip recruit ranked as the top Texas signee since Mo Bamba in 2017 can score at all three levels and reportedly dropped 31 points on Colorado in a closed scrimmage last weekend.

Arthur Kaluma, senior forward: The active 6-7, 225-pound small forward, who has 99 career starts, plays bigger than his size. He averaged 14.4 points and seven rebounds a game last season for Kansas State after spending three seasons at Creighton.

Jayson Kent, graduate forward: A native Austinite who’s father, Jason Kent, once coached Huston-Tillotson, the 6-8, 215-pounder is a heady player with 62 career starts at Indiana State and Bradley who averaged 13.5 points and 8.1 rebounds last season for NIT Tournament finalist Indiana State.

Julian Larry, graduate guard: The 6-3 point guard, a Texas native from the Dallas suburb of Frisco, started 108 of 130 games over the past four seasons for Indiana State and is an all-conference defender as well as a 50% shooter who averaged 11 points and 4.8 assists last season.

Tramon Mark, graduate guard: After three years at Houston, the 6-5 native of Dicksinson, averaged a team-high 16.2 points with 4.3 rebounds for Arkansas a year ago and plays with a physical edge typical of players who tutored under Houston coach Kelvin Sampson.

Jordan Pope, junior guard: The 6-2 point guard and a two-year starter for Oregon State had to carry a heavier offensive load last season while averaging 17.6 points and 3.4 assists a game. He also shot 88% from the foul line a year ago on 107 attempts.

Malik Presley, sophomore wing: A former All-Centex player for the American-Statesman, the San Marcos High School graduate showed potential at Vanderbilt while averaging 2.2 points and 1.6 rebounds in 11.6 minutes a game but could be a redshirt candidate.

Follow the American-Statesman on Facebook and X for more. Your subscription makes work like this possible. Get access to all of our best content with this tremendous offer.