Dylan Disu providing punch for Texas men's basketball team down the stretch

In the rugged Big 12, positives can come out of even the most gut-punch losses.

And interim Texas head coach Rodney Terry is positive that Dylan Disu’s big game in Saturday’s 81-72 loss at Baylor can help the Longhorns (22-7, 11-5 Big 12) make a big push for the Big 12 title in this final week of the regular season.

Disu scored 24 points against Baylor, his highest output since joining the Longhorns two years ago after transferring from Vanderbilt. In the process, he showed off his full offensive arsenal while shooting 10-of-15 from the floor. He took the ball to the rim, nailed a handful of short jumpers and showed his range by making three of four shots from behind the 3-point line.

That production, Terry said, can only make Texas, which leads the Big 12 with 79.2 points a game as well as a shooting percentage of .475, even more dangerous as tournament season nears.

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“Offensively, (Dylan) has really stepped it up over the course of the Big 12,” Terry said. “He's making the right decision with the pass or scoring the ball himself. We really challenged him all offseason long to be a guy that stretches the floor for us. Over the last couple of games, there have been a couple of times I've kind of gotten on him a little bit, ‘Hey, you got to shoot the ball, you're open, it may be the best look we get. You got to take that shot.’ He’s really coming along and being more aggressive in terms of trying to score the ball, which has been really good.”

Disu has been particularly effective the past two weeks, when he’s reached double digits and at least 24 minutes in three of the past four contests, including his big game against Baylor. He admits that a steady stream of motivation from Terry has helped ante up that scoring production.

“Yeah, I mean, Coach, he has been kind of harping on me to continue to shoot the ball,” Disu said. “I believe in my 3-point-shooting ability. So that's something that he's just been encouraging me to do. When I got the looks, my teammates get me the ball, and I have to take that shot.”

A Vanderbilt transfer, Disu 'one of the more cerebral guys on the floor'

An athletic 6-foot-9 forward who earned multiple all-Central Texas honors while starring at Hendrickson High School in Pflugerville, Disu signed with Vanderbilt out of high school for its mixture of strong academics and SEC basketball.

He started 48 of a possible 49 games in 2019-20 and 2020-21 while averaging almost 30 minutes a game. He averaged 15 points and 9.2 rebounds during a breakout sophomore campaign that became derailed when Disu suffered a season-ending knee injury.

Disu’s production dropped after he transferred to Texas last season, when he had to work his way back from the knee injury and work his way into a deeper rotation. Last season he appeared in 26 games off the bench and averaged 3.7 points and 3.2 rebounds in just over 10 minutes a game. He’s looked sprier this season despite a knee issue early in the year. He has started in all 28 of his appearances this season and averages 7.5 points with 3.6 rebounds a game on 57.9% shooting while playing 18 minutes a game.

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While Terry welcomes more shots from Disu, he’s also quick to point out that stats don’t sum up Disu’s value to the team. The tallest player on a roster without much size, Disu has more than twice as many blocks (39) as any other Longhorn and provides an effective defensive presence that can track down even the fastest of breaks.

“I think Dylan's had a great year,” Terry said. “He’s probably one of the more cerebral guys on the floor, both defensively and offensively. He really understands the game plan on both ends of the floor and has given us great rim protection this year, whether he's blocking shots or taking charges.”

Disu will likely play a big role on both ends of the court when Texas visits TCU on Wednesday. In the Longhorns’ 79-75 win over the Horned Frogs earlier this season, Disu scored 14 points while making all seven of his shots from the floor. He also has the athleticism to keep up with TCU’s preferred transition game.

If the Longhorns can apply the lessons from the loss to Baylor, Disu said, that will help the team avoid a second consecutive road loss and enter Saturday’s regular-season finale against Kansas on Saturday with a chance to claim at least a share of the Big 12 title.

“We got to take what we learned from this one and apply it to the next,” he said after the setback in Waco. “We have another game with a team that plays fast and likes to run up and down the court. They (TCU) have a great offense and some really good players, so we're just trying to take it and move on to the next.”

Stakes are high for Longhorns down the stretch

Texas enters the final two games of the regular season with plenty on the line. The Longhorns came into Tuesday evening in second place in the Big 12. They trailed first-place Kansas by one game, led Baylor by half a game, and held a one-game lead over Kansas State. Depending on the result of Tuesday night’s game between Kansas and Texas Tech, the Longhorns could finish the regular season anywhere from the undisputed conference champion to the fourth seed entering next week’s Big 12 tournament.

Texas hasn’t won a share of the Big 12 title since 2008, and the Longhorns haven’t claimed an undisputed conference championship since 1999.

In addition to battling for its Big 12 fate, Texas continues to jostle for seeding in the NCAA tournament. As of Tuesday, ESPN’s NCAA tournament analyst Joe Lunardi projected Texas as a No. 2 seed and the sixth overall seed. Two losses in its final two regular-season games may force the Longhorns to make a deep run in the Big 12 tournament in order to avoid tumbling off the second-seeded line.

Wednesday's game

No. 9 Texas (22-7, 11-5) at No. 22 TCU (19-10, 8-8), 8 p.m., ESPN2, 104.9

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas men's basketball is getting a lot from Dylan Disu in Big 12 play