When it comes to college basketball freshmen, perhaps no one has exploded more than Texas Longhorns five-star recruit Tre Johnson. He looked like the real deal until the first week of the season.
Johnson, a top-five recruit in the 2024 class, immediately took over the starting spot in head coach Rodney Terry's lineup. Played a team-high 39 minutes in Texas' 80-72 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the season opener.r.
Despite the disappointing loss, Johnson shined, filling the stat sheet with 29 points on 10-of-20 shooting, 5-of-10 from deep, and 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals. Added 1 block-in. game.
In fact, his 29 points easily surpassed Kevin Durant's record for most points in a Longhorns debut. Durant retained the title in his 2006 debut, scoring 20 points in a game against Alcorn State.
“Tre's a gamer. Tre played well,” Terry said of his five-star freshman guard after the opener. “We've got to help him a little bit more in terms of getting some things done around him. And we will. Our guards are going to play better than they played tonight. .”
Fellow guards Jordan Pope and Chance Weaver struggled in the loss, scoring just 13 points on 5-of-18 shooting, while Texas shot 36.8 percent from the field overall and 25 percent from deep.
Johnson scored a team-high 28 points on Thursday as the Texans defeated Houston Christian 90-59 with an efficient performance, making 11 of 18 from the field and 5 of 8 from deep. He contributed to the first win of the season. This time, with some good help from his teammates, Texas led the five-star freshman to a big win, shooting 58.1 percent from the field and 47.6 percent from deep.
Through three games, Johnson is averaging 25.3 points per game, the most of any freshman in the country, shooting the ball at a high clip and hitting a respectable 57.4 percent of his shots and 58.3 percent of his threes. There is.
He was named SEC Freshman of the Week, which was no surprise as he put up incredible numbers to start the year.
“It feels really comfortable outside,” Johnson said Thursday. via Texas Longhorns on SI. “I feel like the adjustment was centered around practice, where I adapted and played against other good players and older players, and then just played against my teammates.”
Last season was a tough year for the Longhorns, with Texas losing in the second round to the Tennessee Longhorns a year after reaching the Elite Eight, but Rodney Terry's team will be looking for more action again in 2024-25. Johnson has a long way to go to reach those high expectations.
They continue their season at home against Chicago State on Tuesday and are looking for a second straight win to regain their footing inside the top 25 this week.
