Once a Kentucky target, Tre Johnson is now a ‘terrific talent, real challenge’ at Texas

Remember the name Tre Johnson? He was a top priority for Kentucky in the 2024 recruiting cycle under John Calipari, ultimately picking the in-state Texas Longhorns over the Wildcats and fellow finalists Baylor, Alabama, Kansas and Arkansas as a consensus top-10 prospect out of Dallas.

Now, he’s not only one of the top first-year talents in college basketball, but among the best scorers overall, averaging 19.3 points per contest on 43.9 percent shooting, 38.6 percent from three and 87.4 percent at the line through 23 games.

With nine 20-point performances and one 30-burger, he’s a professional bucket-getter and undoubtedly sits atop the scouting report for Kentucky ahead of its trip to Austin this weekend. Set to take on the projected lottery pick — No. 11 in ESPN’s latest mock draft, in case you were curious — Mark Pope knows he’s got his hands full when coming up with a game plan for the 6-6 freshman.

“He’s a problem because he makes hard shots. He makes bad shots,” Pope said Thursday. “Normally, you go in a game like, okay, we’re gonna force guys to take these shots and we’re going to live with it. It’s hard to live with any shots with him because he just makes every single one. He’s an incredibly talented player. I love — I’ve really enjoyed watching him on film the last couple days.

“He plays hard, he gives great effort. He makes plays for teammates, he’s incredibly creative and skilled. He’s aggressive, he’s fully engaged in-game. He’s a terrific talent, a real challenge.”

How do you put together a blueprint for slowing Johnson down? The staff is working on it, but some of it comes down to hoping for the best. There are a few areas to attack, potentially, but elite shot-makers are elite shot-makers. Do you let him get his and try to take everything else away? Or do you focus on shutting him down while giving up some battles elsewhere? Play everything straight up, even with some difficult injury limitations?

Johnson can put your brain in a knot trying to answer those questions.

“His numbers are interesting because spot-up, he’s like a 0.83, which is super pedestrian. He gets himself in trouble there, which is so counterintuitive. His ball screen ball handling is a 1.041 which is — that’s in the top, I think it’s the 91st percentile. It’s really, really incredible, especially with his volume, so you kind of lean into those a little bit,” Pope said. “With him, you’re going to be surprised absolutely zero times when he makes really tough shots. You go in knowing that and you just try and exert the most pressure you can and bring second defenders as much as you can. It’s hard to do because they have so many other talented guys on the roster.

“It’s an issue, it’s one of those things where you kind of walk into the game like, well, we think these are two or three best-case scenarios. They could work out. Then you hope for the best.”

The Longhorns are currently on the bubble and desperate for a statement win after losing eight of 12 in 2025, but still hold firm at No. 33 in the NET with no bad losses. Johnson is the headliner, but the roster is loaded with talent capable of hurting the Wildcats in the head-to-head matchup in Austin.

Pope sees UT as an all-around group the analytics really like on both ends, one that fits together nicely under third-year coach Rodney Terry.

Point being, don’t let the 15-10 record fool you.

“Well, they’re really efficient. They’re a really, really well-rounded team, I think they’re No. 30 offensively and No. 40 defensively. Like, they’re really solid. They’re very even that way,” Pope said. “They’re over one point per possession as a team. On the offensive end, they’re really efficient. They have four or five guys that are over one point per possession. They have complementary pieces they put together really well.”

Pope singled out 6-11 center Kadin Shedrick, 6-7 forward Arthur Kaluma, 6-5 guard Tramon Mark and 6-3 guard Julian Larry as other players jumping out on film — an all-senior starting lineup to pair with the star freshman.

“Number five (Shedrick), their starting center, is a real short-roll threat — a real threat around the rim. He’ll make a shot from time to time,” he said. “Number six (Kaluma), the transfer from Kansas State, is just a terrific, terrific talent. He’s an incredibly skilled and physical and versatile four man that can hurt you in a lot of different ways. Their starting three (Mark) is incredible, physical and hungry, hungry, hungry as a scorer. And their point guard (Larry) is a 1.4 points per possession, plus assists guys in the 97th percentile.

“So they’re really well constructed. They pose a lot of problems together and they function well together.”

We’ll see if Kentucky can earn a third consecutive win in the SEC when the Cats take on the Longhorns on Saturday with tip-off scheduled for 8 PM ET in Austin, live on ESPN.