Comment # 1 on bug 908071 from Bernhard Wiedemann

It is >1400 texlive packages.
In earlier times tex was just one big 300MB rpm
so any minor change would need a huge update.

you can try
zypper in --no-recommends texlive

which gives
9 new packages to install.
Overall download size: 946.8 KiB. 
After the operation, additional 1.3 MiB will be used.

but I guess then you will be missing many things.
I am not sure, what is the best way to get a working but not bloated texlive