On Thursday night at the 2024 Legends Classic, Texas opened the event with a 70-66 win over Syracuse in spite of a hostile crowd inciting a comeback effort from the Orange.
Though Texas’ offense went cold late into the contest, it was former Creighton recruit and Kansas State transfer Arthur Kaluma leading the way with a team-high performance.
As the Longhorns rushed out to a 41-30 lead at the half, Kaluma paced the scoring with 10 points, five boards and three assists. Eventually, he’d finish with a double-double of 16 points, 10 rebounds and four assists including some clutch free throw shooting to stave off the late Syracuse push.
Despite fouling out with 10 seconds left while freshman star Tre Johnson scored the final six points to secure victory, Kaluma’s confidence as the veteran leader on this roster is blossoming.
“I do feel comfortable out there,” Kaluma said. “That confidence comes from the work that I put in, the team that coach has surrounded me with and everybody [across the coaching staff.]”
With several transfers headlining for Texas this season alongside a handful of freshman, it’s been a process getting this team acclimated according to head coach Rodney Terry.
You could see it during the Longhorns season opening 80-72 loss to Ohio State, in which Texas struggled to find consistent scoring outside of Johnson’s 29 points
“Your team learns through experience,” Terry said. With ten new guys, game situations where the freshman has played phenomenal, being in big moments or big situations. This was a great stage for us, it was a great stage for our team to persevere and close the game out.”
Since, Kaluma has stepped up and slotted into the experienced veteran role out of necessity which allowed Texas to settle in and rattle off four straight wins.
While Syracuse threw multiple different defensive looks at Kaluma to try and hinder his production, the way he expects the pressure and adjusts accordingly speaks to his growth as a leader.
“I feel like I take more of a facilitating role when I work the middle and I’m able to spread my teammates to get easier shots,” Kaluma said. “If they go man-to-man it’s still the same facilitation mindset, but I have more opportunities to score. Finding those different shades of when I score or when I facilitate and just working within the game.”
Though Kaluma was undoubtedly the star of the show amongst Texas’ transfers, graduate guard Tramon Mark made his Longhorns debut featuring for 19 minutes of action off the bench.
The former top-100 prospect arrived following stints at both Houston and Arkansas and has been battling injuries after coming off the best offensive season of his college career.
With Mark finally getting back on the floor, adding six points and two rebounds in the win, bringing him up to speed will be a major priority for Texas’ staff over the coming weeks.
“[Mark’s] been out almost four weeks,” Terry said. “He’s a high-level player [though] and was played extremely well before he got injured. We’ve got to ease him in here right now but I thought he came in during the first half and got into the flow a bit. It’s going to take time to get his timing and footing back but when he does, he definitely makes our team better.”
Elsewhere in the backcourt, Oregon State transfer Jordan Pope filled out the statsheet despite contributing just six points, adding five rebounds, four assists and three steals.
However, for Syracuse, it was former Colorado forward Eddie Lampkin leading that comeback attempt with a total of 12 points after halftime to bring the Orange back into contention.
Though J.J. Starling carried the offensive load for Syracuse the majority of the night and led all Orange scorers, Lampkin finished with 14 points, five boards, six assists and a blocked shot.
When asked about having to guard the 6-foot-11, 265lb forward, Kaluma said he was prepared for the challenge but gave all the credit to an experienced veteran in Lampkin.
“Eddie’s huge,” Kaluma said. “It’s hard to really stop him, he has good footwork, good touch and he’s able to pass the ball. That’s a really good player.”
Amidst the win, Texas advances to the Final of the 2024 Legends Classic which will be back at the Barclays Center at 9pm ET tonight against Saint Joseph’s. With the Hawks coming off a major upset over a former Big 12 Longhorn rival in Texas Tech, it’s another valuable test for this growing Texas lineup.
While it’s still a young season as Terry pointed out, a win against a well-respected program like Syracuse brings early confidence that this program is trending in the right direction behind Kaluma and Co.
