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Tre Johnson, Tramon Mark lead Texas past Kentucky for a critical resume boosting win

Joe Cookby:Joe Cook•02/15/25•

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Tre Johnson
Tre Johnson (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

A career high 32 points from Tre Johnson plus a season-high 26 points from Tramon Mark boosted the Texas Longhorns past the No. 15 Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday night, 82-78. The win for Texas is their fourth Quadrant 1 win of the season, a critical addition to the Longhorns’ resume as they remain in the thick of contention for an NCAA Tournament bid.

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Johnson and Mark took over the scoring effort with Arthur Kaluma ruled out for the contest. Johnson scored his 32 points on 11-for-26 shooting and a 9-for-10 night from the line. Johnson made just one three-pointer in eight attempts. He scored 17 points in the second half and played all 20 minutes of the final period.

Mark posted his best point total in a Texas uniform. He had 26 points on 9-for-14 shooting, including a 3-for-5 night from three and a 5-for-6 night at the charity stripe.

Jordan Pope was the only other Longhorn who approached double figures with nine points.

Texas was down 70-67 with 3:11 left after UK’s Otega Oweh made a free throw attempt. From there, Mark scored the next four points to take the lead. Johnson then hit a free throw, Kadin Shedrick tapped a ball in for two, and Johnson had his own four-point flurry to give Texas a 78-70 lead with 34 seconds left.

UK cut the lead down to five with 18 seconds left, but the Longhorns broke the Wildcat press and Shedrick slammed home a dunk to excite the Moody Center crowd for an important SEC win.

Jayson Kent earned his second start as a Longhorn and notched six points. Shedrick added five. Ze’Rik Onyema scored four points and committed four fouls in 12 minutes.

For Kentucky, they were not at full force. Lamont Butler, Jaxson Robinson, and Kerr Kriisa were all out, leaving the Wildcats without a point guard. That guard trio also regularly combines to average over 30 points per game.

UK received 20 points from Oweh and 11 points from Amari Williams.

Texas shot 45 percent from the field, 22 percent from three, and 83 percent from the line. Kentucky was 42 percent from the field, 25 percent from three, and 71 percent at the line. Texas outrebounded Kentucky 41-40, and also recorded six steals.

The win is an important resume booster for Texas, who had lost three consecutive Quadrant 1 games. The Longhorns are now 4-8 in Quadrant 1 games and have additional Q1 opportunities at Arkansas and at Mississippi State.

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Texas needs every win they can get to bolster its NCAA Tournament resume, and got a big one Saturday night over Kentucky to do just that.

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