Longhorns' Dylan Disu Has Put Last Year's Injury Behind Him: 'Not Focused on Myself'
AUSTIN -- Following Texas' crushing Elite Eight loss to Miami in Kansas City last March, Dylan Disu sat by himself in front of his locker at T-Mobile Center, looking at his phone in silence as Tyrese Hunter sat about five feet to his left to take some questions from media members, myself included.
The Longhorns were tossing their white jerseys that had just been used to wipe away sweat and tears into a pile on the floor, but Disu had nothing to add to the laundry heap after having to sit out of the biggest game of his life. Instead, he sat wearing the same black hoodie and black walking boot that he had donned for most of Texas' Sweet 16 win over Xavier two days prior.
Disu injured his left foot at some point during his clutch 28-point, 10-rebound performance in a 71-66 win over Penn State in the Round of 32. The Longhorns kept it under wraps all the way up to tip-off of their meeting with Xavier the next weekend. It was there where a source told me courtside right before tip that Disu wasn't going to play, a sudden surprise to say the least.
He got the start anyways, but was immediately pulled after logging just two minutes and one rebound before returning to the bench in that dreaded walking boot. Texas coach Rodney Terry said afterwards that he wanted to give Disu the opportunity to start a Sweet 16 game despite the injury before he was ruled out completely for the Longhorns' matchup with Miami.
Texas Longhorns forward Dylan Disu (1) takes the court ahead of the basketball game against Houston at the Moody Center on Monday, Jan. 29, 2024 in Austin
© Aaron E. Martinez, Austin American-Statesman
It's been about 11 months since the Longhorns saw their championship hopes dashed without their standout big man. Fast forward to this season and Disu is putting together somewhat of his own personal revenge tour.
After missing the first nine games of the 2023-24 campaign, Disu fittingly made his season debut against LSU on Dec. 16 in Houston, which is where the Longhorns would have gone for the Final Four had they held on to their 13-point second-half lead against the Hurricanes.
All of these fitting coincidences are hardly of importance to the five-year vet. He's got this upcoming March on his mind and has already put last March behind him, something he talked about when speaking with the media via Zoom on Wednesday.
"I feel like I'm in a good spot ... but I put last year behind me," Disu said. "I feel really good right now, I feel like the team's in a good spot right now. So that's kind of what I'm focused on, not really focused on myself."
Disu looked like one of the best players in the tournament last season, but is arguably topping that production coming off the injury this year. In 15 games this season, he's averaging 16.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 1.4 steals while shooting 56.4 percent from 3-point range. His current scoring average would be good for fifth-best in the Big 12, but he fails to qualify since he hasn't played in at least 75 percent of his team's games this campaign.
Some of Disu's best games this season include his career-best 33 points, six rebounds and four steals in a win over Cincinnati on Jan. 9 and his 27-point performance in Saturday's blowout win over West Virginia, where he went 7 of 10 from deep.
Against then-No. 14 Iowa State on Feb. 6, Disu nearly willed the Longhorns back from an 18-point deficit in the second half, scoring 16 straight Texas points to cut the lead to three with 2:59 to play. However, the Cyclones held on for a 70-65 win while Disu finished with a game-high 28 points and 10 rebounds.
Since the injury, it's been well documented this season that Disu practiced shooting in a chair as his foot healed during the offseason. He admitted he's noticed the popularity of the chair story due to sarcastic remarks made on social media toward the ESPN broadcast for how often it's mentioned by color commentator Fran Fraschilla.
The famed workout is clearly paying off, as Disu has already hit 31 triples this season, more than double the combined amount he had during his first two seasons at Texas. He shared more details about how this process went down and the timeline in which he went through.
"I didn't have my procedure until June, but with the injury that I had in the tournament, we didn't want to put a lot of weight on my foot," he said Thursday. "We started about three or four weeks after the tournament, so I guess we started in April, and that went up all the way until August. ... shooting flat-footed free throws after that until I could finally jump again (in October)."
Many fans, including Terry as recently as this season, have used Disu's recent performances as "proof" that the Longhorns would've made it to the Final Four if not for his injury.
Texas hangs around the 8-10 seed line in most current March Madness projections with seven regular-season games left. Disu will have a shot at making it back to the big stage where the Longhorns could face more of an underdog role this time around after being a No. 2 seed last year.
Fresh off of winning the Big 12 Player of the Week, Disu and the Longhorns (16-8, 5-6 Big 12) will visit the No. 3 Houston Cougars (21-3, 8-3 Big 12) on Saturday. He posted 14 points and six rebounds in Texas' 76-72 overtime loss to the Cougars on Jan. 29.
Saturday's tip-off from Fertitta Center is set for 12 p.m. CT.
