Texas basketball: 3 bold predictions for opener vs. Ohio St

Head coach Rodney Terry and No. 19 Texas basketball opens up the 2024-25 regular season on Monday night in Las Vegas against the Ohio State Buckeyes. The game tips off at 9:00 CST and will be broadcast on TNT and truTV. The Longhorns are 2.5-point favorites, with the total set at 146.5 (per FanDuel).

No. 19 Texas basketball opens up the 2024-25 season against Ohio State in Las Vegas

If you have not been keeping up with Texas basketball this offseason, you may hardly recognize any of the players set to take the court Monday night. The Longhorns turned over a significant portion of their roster, losing eight scholarship players from a season ago.

This, however, is not uncommon in the transfer portal era of college basketball.

Coach Terry and his staff were very active in the portal, bringing in six transfers who all look to be immediate contributors this season. Joining them on the Forty are four freshmen, led by consensus five-star shooting guard Tre Johnson. Chendall Weaver, Kadin Shedrick, Ze'Rik Onyema, and Devon Pryor are the only scholarship returners.

Change is not necessarily a bad thing, as last season's squad struggled with turnovers and long-lasting offensive droughts.

If two preseason closed-door scrimmages are any indication, this team will not struggle to score the basketball.

Ohio State elevated interim head coach Jake Diebler to the full-time role after he led the Buckeyes to an 8-3 record after taking over in mid-February. At just 38 years old, Deibler is one of the youngest major conference college basketball coaches in the country. Is he poised to turn around an Ohio State program that has not made the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament in nine years?

The Buckeyes have a talented roster, paced by junior guard Bruce Thornton. Thornton led the team in scoring and assists last season and has the talent and moxie to take over a game.

Joining Thornton in the backcourt is South Carolina transfer Meechie Johnson, who returns to Columbus for his fifth season of college basketball. Johnson, an elite scorer in his own right, creates matchup problems with his ability to score at all three levels.

Despite not having a number next to their name, Ohio State garnered enough votes in the preseason AP Poll to sit at No. 33 in the country. The analytical models of Bart Torvik, EvanMiya, and KenPom all have the Buckeyes as a preseason top-35 team. This will be a significant early-season test for a Texas squad that lacks continuity.

Here are three bold predictions for No. 19 Texas basketball's opener against Ohio State.

Jordan Pope leads team in scoring

Oregon State transfer Jordan Pope was a terrific get out of the portal for Coach Terry.

Last season in Corvallis, Pope averaged 17.6 points and 3.4 assists per game, shooting 37.1 percent from three. He slots in as the starting point guard for a program that saw the departures of Max Abmas and Tyrese Hunter this offseason.

I am a huge fan of Pope's game. His scoring prowess cannot be understated after he finished fifth in the Pac-12 in points per game last season. Pope can create his own shot and is deadly from all three levels. He plays at a controlled pace, which is what Coach Terry and the Horns want to deploy this season.

Despite his ability to score from anywhere on the floor, Pope is a very willing (and good) passer. He did not have much help last season at Oregon State, but watching his tape, it is clear he possesses the qualities of an old-school point guard.

Much of the offseason hype for this team has been around five-star freshman Tre Johnson, highlighted by his 31-point outburst last Sunday against Colorado. However, on Monday night against the Buckeyes, there is a good chance Pope leads the Horns in scoring.

The moment of tipping off the season in T-Mobile Arena against a formidable Ohio State squad will not be too big for him. Pope lets the game come to him, but I project opportunities for him to play isolation basketball as the Horns' offense finds its footing.