Rodney Terry, Max Abmas assess how Texas responded after Dylan Disu injury

Texas center Dylan Disu is dealing with a knee sprain, an injury he suffered during Monday night’s contest against Baylor. Disu would be a critical loss in the long term but not having him out there on the court down the stretch proved to be devastating. His presence was missed and Texas dropped one on the road.

Head coach Rodney Terry preached a next-man mentality to his team following Disu’s injury. Watching a teammate being helped to the locker room can never be easy, especially when it happens so suddenly. Texas has been there before though and Terry was hoping his guys could fight through.

“Anytime you have that kind of adversity, you got to pick yourself back up off the mat and continue to keep working the game,” Terry said. “The next guy has got to come in, pick up the baton, and try to carry his weight with it as well. So, you just keep working the game.

“We’ve been in these situations all year when that’s occurred and we’ve had to continue to playing and keep working the game. It wasn’t the first time we’ve been in that situation.”

Max Abmas took in what Terry was saying, echoing his comments during the postgame press conference. Texas practices plenty of different lineups without Disu and the chemistry is still going to be there moving forward.

“Just staying with it,” Abmas said. “Next man mentality. We practice with everybody so we have chemistry with everybody. So, I thought we missed some good looks on offense in the second half and then porous on the defensive end. We didn’t get enough stops.”

Kaden Shedrick is the obvious replacement for Disu and he got a fair share on minutes on Monday. In 27 minutes, Shedrick recorded 14 points on 5-8 shooting and three rebounds. He will be an important player for Texas moving forward but Abmas wants to see a whole team effort.

“I mean, next-man mentality,” Abmas said. “Everybody has to be better. It means everybody has to play better. And that people take the minutes that he’s playing, they have to step up too.”

Texas will close out the regular season against Oklahoma in Austin. Everyone will be monitoring Disu’s status but if he cannot play, the message from Abmas and Terry is a clear one. Everyone must be ready to contribute in his absence.