On to the Elite Eight: Texas men's basketball team cruises past Xavier in decisive Sweet 16 win

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Texas had no plans to become part of a wild evening of upsets Friday night, even with Dylan Disu, the Longhorns' best player this postseason, sidelined by a foot injury.

Despite Disu playing less than two minutes with what team officials called a bone bruise in his left foot, No. 2-seeded Texas rolled past No. 3 Xavier 83-71 at T-Mobile Center. The Longhorns never trailed while looking every bit a favorite in a suddenly wide-open tournament.

Houston and Alabama, the two remaining No. 1 seeds entering the round of 16, both lost Friday, which means the NCAA Tournament won’t have a top seed in the Elite Eight for the first time in history. That also means Texas is the only team in the Elite Eight seeded either No. 1 or No. 2, but don’t call the Longhorns a favorite in front of interim head coach Rodney Terry.

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“In the NCAA Tournament, you have to continue to want more,” Terry said. “I mean each round, don't be satisfied with it. Enjoy this victory for one day like we have all year long, and then we'll be on to the next challenge with a quick turnaround.”

That next challenge will come Sunday, when Texas (29-8) faces a Miami team that seems to be peaking at just the right time. The fifth-seeded Hurricanes prevented an all-Lone Star State matchup in the Midwest Regional finals by knocking off top-seeded Houston 89-75.

Their performance caught the eye of Christian Bishop, Texas’ graduate senior forward who scored a season-high 18 points and pulled down nine rebounds while playing extended minutes in place of the injured Disu.

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“They’re tough, man,” Bishop said in the locker room after Friday’s win. “They play hard. We’ve just got to be on point and take care of business and win our matchups.”

Bishop and his teammates certainly did that against third-seeded Xavier (27-10) in almost every aspect of the game. Five players scored in double figures — Bishop, Tyrese Hunter (19 points), Marcus Carr (18), Jabari Rice (16) and Timmy Allen (11). The team held Xavier, one of the nation’s elite offensive teams, to just 43.8% shooting and 12 assists, eight below their national-best average.

Every Texas player seemed to have that one, well, shining moment while helping Texas reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 2008. Allen banged home a running 3-pointer from near the NCAA logo to give Texas a 42-25 lead at halftime, and Rice toyed with Xavier guard Adam Kunkel on the perimeter after the pair exchanged some snide remarks at midcourt. Carr and Hunter filled the box score, but also filled up the space in front of high-scoring Xavier guard Souley Boum, who finished with only 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting.

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Brock Cunningham had his typical game filled with deflections, hard screens and several floor burns, and freshmen Arterio Morris and Dillon Mitchell contributed quality minutes on the defensive end because of Disu’s absence as well as some early foul trouble for the Longhorns' starters.

That teamwide effort was especially needed without Disu, the Longhorns’ leading scorer and rebounder in the postseason.

“We feel obligated to step up for the guys who are down,” said Allen, who missed the Big 12 Tournament earlier this month because of a leg injury. “They step up for me, then we step up for Dylan. We trust and believe that he’s going to be back as soon as possible, (but) we have a team that is so deep that anyone can get it done.”

Disu’s status remains day-to-day, Terry said, but it looked unlikely Friday that he will play against Miami on Sunday. He spent most of the game with a walking boot on his left foot. Team officials said he suffered the bone bruise in the win over Penn State in the second round last Saturday. He practiced some but aggravated the injury late in the week.

“The last thing you want to do is put a young man out there who’s hurt,” Terry said. “I wanted him to start the game and have a couple of trips (up and down the court) because he's worked so hard. He's earned the right to be here in a regional and play in a regional, but we knew we weren't going to have him very much in this game tonight. We'll continue to go day to day with his progress.”

Sunday's game

NCAA Tournament Elite Eight: (2) Texas vs. (5) Miami, 4:05 p.m., CBS, 104.9

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas men's basketball team routs Xavier despite injury to Dylan Disu