New Texas basketball coach Sean Miller continued to fortify some of the Longhorns’ biggest weaknesses from this past season with a portal commitment from Lassina Traore Monday.
First reported by Travis Branham of 247Sports, the signing of the 6-foot-10, 245-pound Traore will help strengthen the team’s rebounding and interior defense. The Longhorns struggled with both in the 2024-25 campaign, when they went 19-16 overall and 6-12 in the rugged SEC.
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After playing in 19 games as a freshman at St. Louis in the 2021-22 season, Traore averaged a double-double per game (12.4 points, 10.4 rebounds) over two seasons at Long Beach State before transferring to Xavier prior to this past season. He suffered a season-ending knee injury in an intrasquad scrimmage on Oct. 9 and missed the entire season while drawing an injury redshirt. Traore will be a fourth-year junior with two remaining years of eligibility this fall.
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Former Xavier forward Lassina Traore reportedly committed to Texas in the transfer portal Monday, giving new coach Sean Miller another big body in a rebuilt frontcourt.
Miller, who left Xavier to replace the fired Rodney Terry as the Texas head coach March 24, released a statement at Xavier after Traore’s injury praising the forward’s work ethic and presence on the court.
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“Lassina was a starter on this year’s team,” Miller said last October. “He had a great summer and preseason, where he improved his game as much as any player in our program. He emerged to be our team’s best rebounder, low post defender and shot blocker. He was in superior condition and became a tone setter for everything that impacts winning. We will miss Lassina’s ability and presence. No one player can replace him. All of us will have to do more, be better and step up in our respective roles. And, we will eagerly await his return to the basketball court in the 2025-26 season.”
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That return will now take place in Austin. Traore will likely start alongside fellow portal arrival Matas Vokietaitis, a 7-foot, 245-pound freshman post from Florida Atlantic. A native of Lithuania, Vokietaitis averaged 10.2 points and 5.4 rebounds a game and shot 67.7% this past season while earning the American Athletic Conference’s freshman of the year award.
Those big men join small forwards Dailyn Swain (Xaxier) and Cam Heide (Purdue) as portal additions for Texas. Returning guards Tramon Mark, Chendall Weaver and Jordan Pope have also announced their intentions to play one more season at Texas.
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Reserve forward Nic Codie has also said he’s returning to Texas, and forward Jamie Vinson has yet to announce whether he’ll return after playing 44 minutes this past season.
John Clark, a four-star forward from Houston and the only member of the Longhorns’ 2025 recruiting class, has also apparently stuck with Texas. That leaves Miller with up to five scholarships available for next season, pending expected approval of the NCAA settlement that would pay college athletes and expand scholarship limits to 15 roster spots for men’s basketball programs. However, a program does not have to fill all 15 scholarship spots each season.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: NCAA transfer portal: Lassina Traore commits to Texas, Sean Miller
