The Texas men's basketball team is off to a 6-1 start following last year's run to the Elite Eight. The Longhorns have a huge top-25 showdown with Marquette on the road on Wednesday night with Big 12 Conference play right around the corner. To no surprise, Oral Roberts transfer Max Abmas has been a star for the Texas basketball team, and he currently leads the team with 16.7 PPG and a 41 percent clip from three-point land.

Ahead of the Marquette clash, Abmas sat down and answered some questions with John Fanta of Fox Sports. And, like many basketball players, he raved about Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant.

“My favorite player growing up was Kobe. I love Kobe Bryant, and watching Lakers games growing up, I think he helped me fall in love with basketball. Just seeing the work ethic he had, how he played the game, that got me into basketball. So, I focused on basketball from middle school all the way until now.”

This seems to be a common answer for players the age of Abmas. After four years at Oral Roberts, he left and joined the Texas basketball team in hopes of making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

So far, Abmas has shown that he is just as good as advertised. His best performance of the season came against Texas State last time out. He scored 26 points with six assists on 9-of-18 from the field with five three-pointers.

The Texas basketball team needs Abmas to play at a high level if they want to return to the Elite Eight, and Wednesday's game against Marquette will be a big one with Big 12 play coming very soon.