Longhorns Country

Texas Basketball Begins Offseason Practice

The Texas Longhorns are getting closer to beginning the first season under head coach Sean Miller.
Zach Dimmitt|
Feb 1, 2025; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA; Texas Longhorns guard Jordan Pope (0) brings the ball up court against the LSU Tigers during the second half at Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images
Feb 1, 2025; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA; Texas Longhorns guard Jordan Pope (0) brings the ball up court against the LSU Tigers during the second half at Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

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Texas Longhorns

The Texas Longhorns men's basketball team has taken the first steps toward preparing for the inaugural season under new head coach Sean Miller.

Both the roster and coaching staff features a ton of new faces, many of whom are just beginning to get to know each other as offseason practice begins.

Texas added five portal players with St. John's guard Simeon Wilcher, Xavier forwards Lassina Traore and Dailyn Swain, Florida Atlanta center Matas Vokietaitis and Purdue forward Camden Heide.

Tramon Mark
Texas guard Tramon Mark (12) drives past Tennessee guard Chaz Lanier (2) during the first half of a Southeastern Conference tournament quarterfinal game at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., Friday, March 14, 2025. | Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Longhorns recently shared a new video on social media of some of these portal additions getting their first practice reps in with the team.

Take a look:

Along with the transfers, the Longhorns retained guards Jordan Pope, Chendall Weaver and Tramon Mark along with forward Nic Codie.

Texas also retained four-star freshman forward John Clark before landing a commitment from 7-foot British center Lewis Obiorah in the 2025 class.

"We want to recruit the high school players moving forward. It's a blend of transfers, retention and incoming high school players," Miller said at SEC Spring Meetings. "You can develop them, you can retain them. And we have such an amazing state that I don't think it would be in our best interest to not make the state of Texas the best high school players in the state a huge priority. To not do that, I don't know if you can maximize who we are as basketball program and university."

"So recruiting high school players, you're going to see us active. I also don't think our entire team, or classes of five or six (transfers) are going to be a part of our future but getting the right two or three, sometimes maybe even four in a class, and then in trying to then add players to the spring, that's our philosophy."

Texas will begin the season on Nov. 4 against Duke at Spectrum Center.

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Zach Dimmitt
ZACH DIMMITT

Zach Dimmitt is the Deputy Editor for Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI. He also contributes as a writer for the On SI channels of the Oregon Ducks, Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans. He was previously the editor-in-chief of Buffalo Bills on SI, Philadelphia Eagles on SI and Seattle Seahawks on SI. Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, Dimmitt received his Bachelor’s Degree in journalism at the University of Texas at Austin in 2022. He originally started with SI’s Fan Nation network in 2021, providing extensive coverage of the NFL and NBA along with college football and basketball. In that time, Dimmitt has published thousands of stories and has reached millions of people across multiple fan bases. You can follow him on X at @ZachDimmitt7

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