Texas basketball coach Rodney Terry provides discouraging Tramon Mark injury update
As if opening the season with a loss isn't bad enough, fans of the Texas Longhorns had to deal with that reality while also seeing that Tramon Mark, one of the top prizes in the transfer portal this past Spring, was on the bench wearing a walking boot on his right foot as the Longhorns suffered an 80-72 defeat at the hands of the Ohio State Buckeyes. Any hopes that Mark's injury may just be a minor one were dashed on Thursday, as Texas head coach Rodney Terry shared that Mark would be out indefinitely .
"(Mark) is going to be out indefinitely right now until we have him at a full slate," Terry said via a Zoom call with members of the media, per Zach Dimmitt of SI.com. "We don't want to have to bring him out and then we have some issues with his ankle situation, and it lingers on for the better part of the season."
After spending three seasons at the University of Houston, Tramon Mark transferred to was Arkansas ahead of the 2023-24 season and was the Razorbacks' leading scorer in what was ultimately a disappointing campaign in Eric Musselman's final season with the team. Musselman left Arkansas for the head coaching job at USC, and Mark announced his intention to enter the transfer portal, where he decided to remain in the SEC and return to the state of Texas to play for Terry and the Longhorns.
The good news out of Austin is that the Longhorns don't expect to have to use a medical redshirt on Tramon Mark, who is already in his fifth college season.
"I don't think it will get to that point," Terry said. "I think training staff and the people that are working with them, our specialist that he's seeing they have a pretty good plan in terms of getting him back to full strength. We just don't want to put a timetable on it. I want to make sure that when we do put him back out there, he's ready to go at a full slate. So I think again, I don't foresee it being that long of a period. But we don't want to set a definite time."
The Longhorns could've used their star transfer in their season opener against Ohio State, but the absence of Tramon Mark did pave the way for 6-foot-6 guard Tre Johnson to make history in his Longhorns debut. Johnson was the #4 player in the 2024 recruiting class, and he performed like it in Vegas, breaking Kevin Durant's record for most points in a freshman debut at Texas. Johnson scored 29 points on 10-for-20 shooting, including 5-for-10 from three-point range.
