Disu's career night showcased offseason work; Terry said he's back in the lineup
Disu poured in a career-high 33 points on 13 of 23 shooting, including 4 of 10 from 3-point range, and the confidence in his long-range game is growing. Teams better put a hand in his face when he steps out there or else they'll be in-bounding it from under the basket.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — As Texas forward Dylan Disu works his way back into game shape, he certainly looked ready for anything after the Longhorns' game against Cincinnati on Tuesday.
Disu poured in a career-high 33 points on 13 of 23 shooting, including 4 of 10 from 3-point range, and the confidence in his long-range game is growing. Teams better put a hand in his face when he steps out there or else they'll be in-bounding it from under the basket.
"It's something that RT (Longhorns coach Rodney Terry) has stressed to me," Disu said about his 3-point shooting. "If they're going to let me shoot, then shoot it. He has a lot of confidence in my ability, and just listening to him and trusting the work I've put in."
No. 25 Texas needed every bit of Disu's big night to top the Bearcats 74-73 on the road. He scored 19 points in the first half in 17 minutes of playing time to stake the Longhorns to a 41-39 lead at the break. Max Abmas hit the go-ahead bucket with 6.2 seconds left for the 14th and final lead change of the game.
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He played 34 minutes against the Bearcats, so as he works back from his offseason foot surgery that kept him out of all basketball activities until the season began, Disu knows as his conditioning develops, the team will too.
"This is a team that if everything jells well, and we play together and we peak at the right time, we can make a run," he said.
Disu had to stretch his minutes out due to a back injury to Kadin Shedrick he suffered against Texas Tech. Late in the game against the Red Raiders, Shedrick was hit in the back trying to get a rebound and stayed down on the floor briefly. He walked off the court but it did enough damage that Terry decided to keep him out Tuesday.
"I knew I had to be more aggressive with Kadin out and that they'd drop on pick and rolls," Disu said. "I knew that would give me top-of-the-key 3-pointers. I was able to get in a rhythm."
Terry said he's ready to insert Disu back into the starting lineup going forward and wants him to be the guy who stretches opposing defenses with his long-range shooting.
"With the amount of time he's put in, he's a green-light shooter for us," Terry said of Disu. "Going into the summer, we talked about it that he needed to be that guy for us to make 2-3 3-pointers."
Texas (12-3, 1-1 Big 12 Conference) hits the road against Saturday to take on West Virginia. The Mountaineers are 5-10 overall and 0-2 in conference play under interim head coach Josh Eilert. He took over for Bob Huggins who was arrested for suspicion of DUI over the summer and the school announced his resignation in June. However, Huggins said he never submitted a formal resignation letter and the statement provided by the university about it was "false." Huggins expressed that after his stay in a rehabilitation facility, he wants to return to coaching.
After his resignation was announced, several of the players left the program and the Mountaineers were shorthanded. Huggins is the third-winningest coach in NCAA Division I history with 935, trailing Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim.