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Texas Longhorns Signee Tre Johnson Lights Up McDonald’s All-American Game; Full Highlights
Texas Longhorns fans got a chance to see five-star 2024 signee Tre Johnson put on a show at the McDonald's All-American Game in Houston on Tuesday.
AUSTIN -- Rocking the red bandanna to match his red No. 20 jersey and the Rocket-colored seats all around the Toyota Center on Tuesday, Tre Johnson put on an impressive display of his all-around offensive ability that could, at least for Texas fans, unfortunately be the reason he's potentially in Austin for only one season before inevitably heading to the NBA.
The Texas Longhorns' 2024 signee missed the potential game-winning triple a few steps inside halfcourt in the McDonald's All-American Game, but showed off for the West in an 88-86 loss to the East.
A Dallas native from Lake Highlands that took his talent to Link Academy in Missouri, he's back in his home state for the biggest stage of his young career, but hardly looked fazed in clutch moments. In 23 minutes, Johnson finished with 19 points on 6 of 9 shooting (5 of 7 from deep) to go along with four rebounds, three assists and a steal.
Lake Highlands Wildcats guard Tre Johnson (20).
Jonah Hinebaugh/Naples Daily News / USA
Take a look at the highlights, and there were plenty of them.
After an early turnover, Johnson opened the scoring for the West with a deep NBA-range triple before finding Rutgers signee Dylan Harper for another 3 a few possessions later.
At the start of the second quarter, Johnson continued to show off his effortless shooting ability, as he pulled back in transition for his second triple of the first half.
He secured two outlet-leading rebounds on the ensuing possessions. The first one led to a turnover after a long pass down the floor, but he quickly got a chance to make up for it a few seconds later after a block by the West led to a rebound for Johnson, who tossed a down-court pass once again to Harper for the assist on the transition dunk.
The play-making and elite shooting display continued for Johnson. After the East defense fell asleep following a made basket, he pushed the tempo after receiving the inbound and found Baylor commit VJ Edgecomb on an alley-oop layup from halfcourt for another assist. On the very next possession, Johnson nailed his third off-the-dribble 3-pointer which, of course, hit nothing but net behind a silky release.
Before the four-minute mark of the second quarter, Johnson had nine points on 3 of 3 shooting from beyond the arc along with three assists.
West led by as many as 17, but the East cut it to 44-37 headed into halftime.
Johnson’s offense obviously drew most of the attention, but he showed quick hands and feet along with solid defensive fundamentals.
At the under-8 mark of the third quarter, Johnson casually took the inbound and got all the way to his spot above the right block before spinning off the defender for a fadeaway jumper to reach 11 points on four shots.
With Johnson on the bench, Duke signee Cooper Flagg and the East went on an 8-0 run to take a 55-54 lead thanks to few fastbreak jams.
The fourth quarter began, and Johnson stayed perfect with his fourth 3-pointer of the game.
He eventually missed his first shot of the game on a corner attempt, but immediately followed up his teammate’s miss with a vicious put-back jam.
The East took an 86-83 lead in the final minute, but Johnson took things into his own hands and hit a long 3 to tie the game with 1:04 to play.
Having already hit five 3s, the West entrusted Johnson to potentially hit the game-winner down two with 3.7 seconds left, but his triple a few dribbles inside halfcourt hit back iron and missed.
Johnson showed why he's all that and then some, and Texas fans should be salivating at the chance to watch him next season.
