Kevin Durant among the Longhorns fans saluting Tre Johnson as future NBA star blossoms during SEC play

Johnson is going through the normal ebbs and flows of a freshman season. He can go off for 29 against Ohio State and 24 against UConn and then put up back-to-back bland 11-point games early in SEC play.

But this isn’t just a normal freshman. Johnson has been compared to Kevin Durant, which really cranked up the expectations. That wasn’t coming from random railbirds, either. Coach Rodney Terry embraced that comparison, too.

Durant’s been watching from afar. After Saturday’s game, the Texas ex reposted a message from the Longhorns men’s basketball account and added “Heem.”

“I talk to him whenever I reach out, I would say,” Johnson said. He hasn’t tried to initiate any communication lately, though. “We’re both in season, and plus, I really ain’t gotten to talk about.”

Well, that’s not exactly true. Johnson was named the SEC freshman of the week for his exploits against A&M.

Through 18 games, Johnson is averaging 18.8 points while shooting 45%, numbers that would make any coach swoon. He’s scored at least 16 points in four of the last five games and will likely turn it up Wednesday at No. 23 Ole Miss (15-5, 4-3).

If fans see Johnson out there shouting, pointing, bopping himself on the head, don’t worry.

“If I’m yelling, it’s mainly at myself, because there’s a lot of mistakes and things that I make throughout the game,” Johnson said. “A lot of just little things that nobody else sees, but only I know that I messed up on. Really, if I’m yelling that’s mainly at myself, just to be better or focus in more on little stuff.

“I’ve always had the type of emotion even when I was, like 6 years old playing little rec league,” he added. “It’s just the love I got for the game, and I just been trying to channel my emotions and not let them show because others tend to not like that, I guess. But still, that's just the love that I got for pretty game and the love I got for winning and competing. That's really all it is.”