Meet Tre Johnson: Texas’ five-star freshman who broke Kevin Durant’s record in debut

Nobody has exploded more than this young talent at Texas.

When it comes to freshmen in college basketball, arguably nobody has exploded more than Texas Longhorns five-star Tre Johnson, who has looked like the real deal through the first week of the season.

Johnson, a top-five recruit in the 2024 class, has immediately taken over a starting spot in head coach Rodney Terry’s lineup, playing a team-high 39 minutes in Texas’s 80-72 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the season opener.

Despite the disappointing loss, Johnson was a bright spot, scoring 29 points on 10 of 20 from the field, hitting 5 for 10 from deep, while filling up the stat sheet and adding five rebounds, four assists, two steals, and a block in the game.

In fact, his 29 points easily eclipsed Kevin Durant’s record for the most points in a Longhorns debut. Durant previously held the title, thanks to a 20-point game against Alcorn State in his debut in 2006.

“Tre’s a gamer. Tre played well,” Terry said after the opener about his five-star freshman guard. “We’ve got to give him a little bit more help in regards to getting some things done around him. And we will. Our guards will play better than what we played tonight.”

Fellow guards Jordan Pope and Chance Weaver struggled in the loss, combining for just 13 points on 5 of 18 from the field, while Texas shot 36.8 percent from the field and 25 percent from deep as a whole.

Johnson aided Texas in their first win of the season, as they beat Houston Christian 90-59 on Thursday, scoring a team-high 28 points in yet another efficient performance, shooting 11 of 18 from the field and 5 of 8 from deep. This time, he got good help from his teammates, as Texas shot 58.1 percent from the field and 47.6 percent from deep as a whole in the blowout win, riding their five-star freshman to a big victory.

Through three games, Johnson is averaging 25.3 points per game, the most of any freshman in the country, while shooting the ball at a high clip, hitting 57.4 percent of his shots and 58.3 percent of his threes on significant volume.

He was named SEC Freshman of the Week, which was no surprise, given his incredible numbers to start the year.

“I’m real comfortable out there,” Johnson said on Thursday, via Texas Longhorns on SI. “I feel like my adjustment was mainly in practice. That’s where I had my adjustment, just going against other good players, older players, and then just what’s been going for me is just playing off my teammates.”

It was a tough year for the Longhorns last season, as Texas bowed out in the second round to the Tennessee Longhorns, one year after making the Elite 8, but Rodney Terry’s crew is looking for more once again in 2024-25, and Johnson is their path to reaching those high expectations.

They’ll continue their season on Tuesday when they host Chicago State, looking for a second consecutive blowout as they look to regain their footing inside the Top 25 this week.