Texas basketball lured in an experienced guard in Tramon Mark, who will close out his college basketball career back in the Lone Star State.
Mark, who played his first three seasons at Houston under Kelvin Sampson, had a change of scenery last year, transferring to Arkansas to play under Eric Musselman. However, the “Muss Bus” took off to USC and Mark decided to go elsewhere, committing to play for Rodney Terry and Texas basketball.
The move can be seen as somewhat surprising. Mark improved his scoring from 10.1 PPG to 16.2 PPG under Musselman and also shot a career-best 48% from the field. His three-point percentage also stood out at 36.4%.
However, as a Texas native, it does make sense that Mark would like to return to his home state and play in Austin.
What are Tramon Mark’s strengths?
As a shooting guard, you have to look at Mark’s scoring first and foremost. With his improved three-point shot, you have to take all parts of his offensive game seriously, or else he will make you pay. And when he gets hot – it’s all over, which is evident from his 13-for-17 outing against North Carolina, resulting in 34 points. Mark also posted a season-high of 35 against Texas A&M.
While Mark has developed a more consistent outside shot, he does most of his damage in the paint. According to College Basketball Scouting on YouTube, Mark was 73% on shots taken at the rim last season. Nearly a third of his shot attempts came from driving to the bucket.
Still, the lefty picks his spots in the mid-range and while not overly efficient, forces defenders to play keep him honest.
Defensively, Mark disrupts play, averaging at least 1.1 SPG over each of the last three seasons. At 6-5, he’s definitely on the taller side of shooting guards when it comes to college basketball and can guard multiple positions thanks to his style of play.
How does Tramon Mark fit with Texas basketball?
It’ll be a new-look Texas team as Indiana State transfers Jayson Kent and Julian Larry are also joining the Longhorns for the 2024-25 season. Kent looks to be in the running to get minutes at small forward and Larry could be one of the first players off the bench.
Texas does lose a lot of talented players. Max Abmas (graduated) and Dylan Disu (graduated) are the most crucial losses, but Tyrese Hunter (transfer portal) and Dillon Mitchell (transfer portal) are all very key players who will not be playing in Texas unis next year.
As far as key returners, it’s pretty much just Kadin Shedrick and Chendall Weaver. That’s more than some schools (like Mark’s former team), but it will still be a Texas roster made up primarily of newcomers.
For that reason, it looks like Mark will be the team’s first option on offense next season. It makes sense, considering that was Mark’s role at Arkansas, and it will continue to be his role in Austin.
Of course, there will still be more players joining the team, so we won’t know who else will be around Mark and if he will have another star offensive player to pair up with, but right now, he’s in the clear to have a career year.
Grade & final thoughts
A-
After losing Abmas and Disu, Rodney Terry knew he needed to add a talented scorer. Mark is that guy, and you can’t get much better, considering he has four years of playing high-level basketball against Power 6 teams under his belt.
Texas basketball fans should be especially excited when they consider Mark’s efficiency last season. If that can carry over, it can be a nice change. While Max Abmas hit 42.5% of his shots, Mark picks and chooses a bit more, and won’t fire up 30-footers. Of course, that’s Abams’ game and it’s not nearly Mark’s game, but you still can’t go wrong with becoming more efficient.
I still think the Longhorns would be smart to add a talented three-point shooter beside Mark which could pair well with his dribble-drive moves. Regardless, getting a player of Mark’s caliber in the transfer portal is something to look forward to.