On Feb. 19 against Kansas State, graduate student point guard Max Abmas became the 12th player in Division I men’s college basketball history to score 3,000 career points.
Abmas, from Rockwall, Texas, transferred to the Forty Acres after spending four years at Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma. In Tulsa, he was a three-time honorable mention All-American by the Associated Press and was named Summit League Player of the Year twice, in 2021 and 2023. He entered the 2023-24 season as the NCAA Division I active leader in both career scoring, with 2,562 points, and career scoring average, racking up 20.8 points per game.
With his last season of eligibility, Abmas chose to transfer to Texas to return to his roots. The Longhorns’ constant desire to win was a major factor that stood out to him when deciding to move from Tulsa to Austin.
“Being from this state, it means something to be able to come home and represent the home state,” Abmas said to Fox Sports.
So far, Abmas has already made quite the impression on the Texas program, as he reached 3,000 career points against the Wildcats on a foul-line jumper with 14:04 left in the second half. He is only the third player in NCAA Division I men’s basketball history to record both 3,000 points and 500 assists. Even after reaching this accomplishment, he remained humble after the game, saying this momentum is something to build off of to continue to get better and that this milestone was not his main focus going into it.
“I’m super grateful for it, but the important thing was that team win tonight, a game that we needed to protect the home court,” Abmas said.
Fellow graduate student and teammate Dylan Disu praised Abmas after the game for not only this massive accomplishment, but also his presence as a whole, emphasizing how valuable he is to the team.
“3000 points is pretty cool. I don’t know anyone personally that has scored 3,000 points, so that’s a really big milestone,” said Disu. “He’s a great teammate. He shows up every day, has the same great attitude everyday, does what he’s supposed to do when he’s supposed to do it, how he’s supposed to do it. That’s exactly what you want your point guard to do and that’s what he’s done.”
When asked about whether Abmas felt pressure to reach that 3,000-point milestone, Head Coach Rodney Terry said that he thinks Abmas did not center himself on achieving that feat, but rather being a positive presence for everyone else on the court.
“I think his biggest objective going into this game was to be a great floor general, be a great teammate and compete as hard as he possibly could,” Terry said. “Knowing what we’re playing for every single game, I think that he plays that way all the time. He plays to win, and everything kind of just takes care of itself.”
With this year being Texas’ last in the Big 12 and Abmas’ last year of eligibility, Abmas has his eyes set on putting himself and the team in the best position to win a Big 12 championship and a national championship.
“I want to go out there every single night and give it my all, and make this last year worth it,” Abmas told Fox Sports.
