Tyrese Maxey: 5 Things to Know About Kentucky's Star Freshman

Tyrese Maxey exploded onto the college basketball scene Tuesday night. Kentucky's latest freshman star dropped 26 points as the Wildcats topped Michigan State 69-62 in their season-opener. Three of those 26 points came on this insane, clutch shot late:

With that in mind, we figured we'd give you five facts you should know about Kentucky's newest freshman phenom.

Maxey was a top 10 recruit according to 247 Sports

He's at Kentucky so you'd assume he was a top recruit, and the 247 Sports Composite confirms that. Maxey was the 10th best recruit in the 2019 class and the third-ranked combo guard.

He was a star at South Garland High School in Texas

Maxey comes to Kentucky from Texas where he was named Mr. Basketball and the Dallas-Fort Worth Area Player of the Year in 2019. He averaged 22.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.7 steals per game for South Garland and was named to the Naismith High School All-America squad as a second-teamer. Maxey was also a McDonald's All-American.

His dad played basketball at Washington State and has coached

Maxey's father, Tyrone, played college basketball at Washington State. He played 61 games from 1990 through the 1992 season, averaging 5.4 points, 2.5 assists and 1.2 rebounds.

The elder Maxey spent the 2017-18 season as the Director of Player Development for SMU's men's basketball team. He was a high school head coach for 11 years prior to taking the SMU job.

He has experience with Team USA

Maxey played on a loaded, gold medal-winning Team USA squad at the 2018 FIBA Under-18 Americas Championship. Maxey played in four games and averaged 8.8 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 18.1 minutes per game.

Maxey's scouting report profiles him as a pure scorer

It doesn't take extensive film study to see Maxey is a pure scorer. He can fill it up from anywhere on the floor and can even hit deep 3-pointers -- as he showed in his debut. He can slash to the hoop, finish around the rim from multiple angles and pull up in transition. He can be an excellent defender when he wants to be, the key is going to be bringing that out of him consistently.

Maxey is a little undersized for a shooting guard, but he's a good ball-handler and could profile as a modern scoring point guard at the next level. If he can continue to develop his handle, he could wind up as a lottery pick.