Texas Longhorns freshman guard Tre Johnson left little doubt about his elite-level ability in Monday's 80-72 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes in Las Vegas. In his collegiate debut, Johnson finished with a game-high 29 points on 10 of 20 shooting and 5 of 10 from deep while adding five rebounds,

1. A star is born. Forget his birth certificate. True freshman Tre Johnson may already be a bona fide star after scoring a Texas rookie school record 29 points — breaking Kevin Durant’s mark of 20 in his debut against Alcorn State in 2006 — albeit ...

He also converted four of his five free-throw attempts while playing a team-high 39 minutes. Johnson broke the freshman school scoring record previously held by Kevin Durant, the perennial NBA All-Star who scored 20 points in his first game at Texas in 2006.

Luckily for Texas, this was just the opening night of a long season, and they were without Arkansas transfer Tramon Mark, who averaged 16.2 points last season. The pairing of Mark and Johnson could end up being a lethal one, as Texas appears to have a case for one of the most talented backcourts in the country.

Texas Longhorns men's basketball is starting off the 2024-25 regular season with a loss in Las Vegas. No. 19 Texas (0-1) got a game-high 29 points from true freshman guard Tre Johnson but the Ohio State Buckeyes never trailed and hit 14 3-pointers en route to an 80-72 win at T-Mobile Arena in the Hall of Fame Series.

The freshman phenom dazzled scoring 29 points in his first game, breaking Kevin Durant’s team scoring record for a collegiate debut, but Johnson’s teammates let him down in the loss.