Rodney Terry discusses Chendall Weaver, Ze'Rik Onyema, dishes on Texas' portal criteria
The Texas Longhorns men’s basketball program officially announced the additions of UT-Arlington guard Chendall Weaver and UTEP forward Ze’Rik Onyema on Wednesday. Hours later at a Texas Exes event in Dallas, UT head coach Rodney Terry spoke about what those two additions mean for the Longhorn basketball program.
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“Chendall is an exciting young player that’s developing every day,” Terry said. “I think he’s one of those guys. He was the WAC freshman of the year last year. We expect him to come in and give us an incredible guy defensively and a guy that can score the ball as well.”
Weaver, a Mansfield (Texas) Timberview product, started 25 of the Mavericks’ 32 games. He played 29.5 minutes per contest, and averaged 9.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.0 assists on 44 percent shooting. He was 40 percent from three and shot 70 percent at the line.
“When you talk about Chendall, he played a lot of minutes as a freshman, so there’s experience there. Guy is going to continue to get better,” Terry said. “He’s a good young player.”
Terry also discussed Onyema, who he coached while in charge of the Miner program in El Paso.
“Ze’Rik is one of those guys who can give us rim protection, can run the floor, and he’s a guy that also can stretch the floor a little bit as well,” Terry said.
Onyema, who scored 10 points in the 2022-23 season-opening game versus Texas via a 3-of-3 night from the field and a 3-of-4 effort from the line, averaged 7.1 points and 4.4 rebounds for the Miners on 55 percent shooting.
“He’s a guy that has a chance to be on the floor, he’s played over the years, and he has some experience,” Terry added.
In addition to Weaver and Onyema, the program officially added Virginia post Kadin Shedrick and Oral Roberts guard Max Abmas. Terry offered high praise to both players on Tuesday.
For Terry to want to add those players to the 2023-24 Longhorns, they had to fit a certain criteria. Terry said on Wednesday the first thing they are looking for when assessing portal players is high character. Then, he and his staff dive into the basketball talent aspect. After that, they assess the fit for the program and if it addresses a need before using analytics to project what a player might do in a certain role.
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“Every guy you take has to have a role for you,” Terry said. “You have to be able to deliver on expectations of what they’re looking for as well.”
The basketball transfer portal window closes on May 11, meaning that players have until the end of Thursday to go to their compliance office and ask for their name to be added to the NCAA database.
Texas shouldn’t see any more defections. However, Terry said they could have additional roster news soon.
Terry said at the same Texas Exes event on Wednesday that the Longhorns are looking to add “three more guys” to the roster. That is in addition to what appears to be the likely return of Tyrese Hunter, who declared for the NBA draft but was not invited to the NBA Draft Combine. Dillon Mitchell, who also declared, received an invite to the NBA pre-draft event.
There’s more work to be done in the portal for Terry and company, who are currently focused on “working real hard on the roster” before addressing the “couple positions” on his staff that need to be filled.
Texas players return to campus in June. Terry hopes to add a few more to the group heading back to the Forty Acres before the calendar turns, but the recent signings were positive additions in the mind of Texas’ new men’s basketball coach.
