Texas Longhorns' Sean Miller Shares Injury Update on Tramon Mark, Lassina Traore

AUSTIN -- Texas Longhorns men's basketball head coach Sean Miller met with the local media Tuesday for the first time since his introductory press conference, speaking for about an hour about the state of the program headed into his first season at the helm.

The Longhorns have finalized the roster with a handful of intriguing portal additions, key retentions and two international freshmen.

However, Miller admitted that he won't have a complete feel for this year's team until a pair of injury recoveries are 100 percent done.

Tramon Mark

Both Mark and Xavier transfer forward Lassina Traore are set to be among the most important pieces on the 2025-26 squad but have yet to completely finish their respective recoveries coming off of injury.

Mark, who is returning to Texas for his final year of eligibility, underwent surgery on a torn labrum in his shoulder earlier this offseason. Miller said that Mark has not been cleared for full contact yet.

"Good news is he got that corrected in the spring, and he's probably about four weeks from being cleared for contact," Miller said of Mark. "He's fine. You watch him, he can shoot, he can do everything other than take the chance here prematurely of putting him out there against others. So we haven't had Lassina or him in terms of that. And both of them are key pieces to what we do."

Lassina Traore

Traore suffered a torn ACL in October 2024 ahead of his first season with Miller at Xavier. He ended up never playing a single game for the Musketeers, but has worked his way back to full health since arriving at Texas.

Miller said that Traore has made a "full recovery" but hasn't returned to full contact quite yet.

Mar 20, 2024; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Long Beach State 49ers forward Lassina Traore (23) addresses the media during the NCAA first round practice session at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

"He's made a full recovery," Miller said of Traore. "If you do the math, he's entering that ninth month (of recovery). We've been very cautious. We've probably over trained him. He's been cleared for non-contact, but he hasn't done anything contact wise this summer."

Miller added that Traore brings a "warrior mentality" to a frontcourt that, outside of him, has a ton of youth headed into the season.

"Lassina is 23, going to be 24 years old. This is his final year," Miller said. "He's been through a lot of things, good and bad in college, and I think he brings a warrior mentality to what we do, physical rebounder, knows our system."

Both Mark and Traore are expected to be starters when Texas opens up the regular season in Charlotte against the Duke Blue Devils on Nov. 4.