Texas Basketball: Ranking the Top 15 Pure Scorers in Longhorns History

Two of Texas basketball’s greatest players may have been point guards—T.J. Ford and Hall of Famer Slater Martin—but that doesn’t mean the Longhorns haven’t produced their share of scorers. Kevin Durant’s alma mater has a rich history of stars who could scorch the nets.

The newest entry in the Longhorn offensive pantheon is shooting guard Jordan Hamilton. The soon-to-be Denver Nugget averaged 18.7 points a game to lead last season’s 27-7 squad.

Read on for more on Hamilton and the rest of the best point producers to wear a Longhorn uniform.

15. D.J. Augustin (2006-08)

Even while running the point, D.J. Augustin put up elite scoring numbers for the Longhorns. The 6’0” sniper’s career .402 three-point shooting percentage and his 731 points as a sophomore were both good for fourth-best in school history.

Augustin had a breakout season as the Charlotte Bobcats’ point guard last year. He set career highs with 14.4 points and 6.1 assists per game in his first year as a starter.

14. Jordan Hamilton (2009-11)

Tristan Thompson’s inside presence may be missed more, but none of Texas’ many NBA draftees this spring put points on the board better than Jordan Hamilton.

The 671 points Hamilton poured in last season tied for the seventh-highest total in school history.

Hamilton’s 18.7 points a game earned him a first-round selection by the Dallas Mavericks, though he’s since been traded to the Denver Nuggets. Presumably, he’ll join the Nuggets whenever the NBA lockout ends.

13. Ron Baxter (1976-80)

Ron Baxter keyed the 1978 Longhorn squad that won the NIT title, winning co-MVP for the tournament. The 6’4” guard averaged 19 points a game that season, and his career total of 1,897 points is sixth-best in school history.

Like many good college scorers, Baxter’s defense wasn’t quite up to pro standards. Baxter was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers, but never played in the NBA.

12. Joey Wright (1988-91)

The most accurate three-point shooter in Texas history, Joey Wright hit 41.5 percent of his career treys. In all, Wright racked up 1,819 career points, the seventh-best mark for a Longhorn.

Wright was drafted by the Phoenix Suns, but never made it into an NBA game. He’s currently coaching in Australia’s National Basketball League.

11. Damion James (2006-10)

Whether playing in the post or on the perimeter, Damion James was an offensive force. The 6’7” forward averaged an impressive 9.3 rebounds a game for his career while finishing fifth in Longhorn history with 1,917 points.

James played sparingly as a New Jersey Nets rookie, averaging 4.4 points in 16.1 minutes per game. He had better luck on the glass, pulling in 3.4 boards a night.

10. Lance Blanks (1988-90)

Lance Blanks provided the B in Tom Penders' BMW Ultimate Scoring Machine offense (paired with Travis Mays and Joey Wright).

The 6’4” Blanks averaged 20 points a game in his two seasons in Austin, the fourth-best career mark in school history.

Blanks went on to a brief, thoroughly unsuccessful NBA career in which he averaged all of 7.4 minutes a game in three seasons with the Detroit Pistons and Minnesota Timberwolves.

9. Jim Krivacs (1976-79)

Jim Krivacs was an Academic All-American in 1979, but it was his on-court performance that made his name in Austin.

The sharp-shooting guard led the 1978 Longhorns to the NIT championship—winning co-MVP and All-America honors—and finished with the sixth-best scoring average (19.5 points a game) in school history.

Although he was drafted by the Sacramento Kings, Krivacs never made it into an NBA game. He went on to become a sports agent, representing baseball stars including Don Mattingly and Fred McGriff.

8. Larry Robinson (1971-74)

Larry Robinson was the best of the first group of black recruits to play basketball at Texas.

Despite the immense pressure of integration at an SWC school in 1971, Robinson thrived on the court, scoring 21.5 points a game for his career (the third-best mark in program history).

Robinson was drafted by the Houston Rockets, but never made it into an NBA game.

7. B.J. Tyler (1991-94)

After spending his freshman year at DePaul, B.J. Tyler transferred to Texas and started lighting up scoreboards.

Tyler averaged 19.8 points a game in his career, the fifth-best mark for a Longhorn, and his senior-year average of 22.8 points was the school’s fourth-best single-season performance.

Drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers, Tyler was more effective as a passer than a scorer in the NBA, averaging 3.2 assists but just 3.5 points in his lone season on the Philly bench.

He was an expansion draftee of the Toronto Raptors, but never appeared for the team thanks to a career-ending knee injury.

6. Reggie Freeman (1993-97)

A rare transplant to Austin from the Bronx, 6’6” Reggie Freeman brought a New York City swagger to the Texas backcourt.

He also brought a terrific shot that helped him average as many as 22.4 points a game for a season and score a total of 1,958 points (fourth-best in Texas history).

Questions about his defense and ball-hogging tendencies torpedoed Freeman’s chances with NBA scouts. He went undrafted and never played in the league.

5. A.J. Abrams (2005-09)

A three-point shooter extraordinaire, A.J. Abrams shattered the Texas record for career treys with 389 (143 better than the previous mark). All those triples led to 1,969 career points, third-best all-time in a Longhorn uniform.

Standing 5’11” and lacking a point guard’s passing touch, Abrams didn’t get much of a look from the NBA. He’s currently playing in Europe.

4. Terrence Rencher (1991-95)

A classic combo guard, Terrence Rencher was a solid distributor who averaged 3.5 assists per game.

The 6’3” Rencher was even better as a scorer, topping 19 points a game in three of his four seasons and setting the Texas career record with 2,306 points.

Rencher’s scoring average in the NBA was 2.9—0.9 more than the number of times he was traded in his brief pro career.

After a draft-day deal sent him to the Miami Heat, he split the 1995-96 season between the Heat and Suns and then never played in the league again.

3. Travis Mays (1986-90)

An undersized shooting guard at 6’2”, Travis Mays showed that there was nothing small about his game.

Mays posted the third-best scoring season in Texas history (24.1 points a game), and he graduated with a school-record—since broken—2,279 points.

Drafted by the Kings, Mays averaged 14.3 points per game in his lone season as a Sacramento starter. His most notable NBA accomplishment was being traded for Spud Webb, after which an ankle injury short-circuited his career.

2. Raymond Downs (1954-57)

Amazingly, Kevin Durant’s meteoric freshman season was not the highest-scoring year in Longhorn history.

That honor belongs to Raymond Downs, who averaged 26.4 points per game as a junior and 22.3 (second only to Durant) for his career.

A power forward who also averaged 8.4 rebounds a game for his college career, Downs had the bad luck of being drafted by an Atlanta Hawks team that already featured Hall of Famer Bob Pettit at the four spot. He never played in the NBA.

1. Kevin Durant (2006-07)

In the one year Kevin Durant spent in Austin, he put on a show like nothing Longhorn fans have ever seen.

He averaged 25.8 points—a new career record for the school—and 11.1 rebounds a game while leading a freshman-laden squad to a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Had Durant stayed four years at Texas, he’d have been an NBA rookie last season. Instead, he made his second straight All-Star team and won his second straight scoring title for the Oklahoma City Thunder.