Rodney Terry reflects on Dylan Disu's growth

Dylan Disu isn’t one of Texas’ leading scorers but he perhaps the most irreplaceable piece on the team as its starter center and only true big man. When Chris Beard originally put together this roster, he loaded up on guards and wings but left the cupboard pretty bare down low. Instead, Texas has had to convert wings like Timmy Allen and Dillon Mitchell into forwards while Disu himself slid over to center after playing as a 3 or 4 most of his career. This small-ball attack makes the Longhorns a tough cover offensively, since they can spread you out and attack on the perimeter at all five spots. However, the team only works if Disu is taking care of the dirty work down low.

According to head coach Rodney Terry, Disu has filled his role excellently:

“I think Dylan’s had a great year. You know, this past summer and fall he got a chance to really work. Last year, he didn’t have the privilege of doing that and I think he carried it over into a really good year for us. Dylan’s one of those guys that’s probably one of our more cerebral guys on the floor, both defensively and offensively. He really understands the game plan on both ends of the floor. He’s giving us great rim protection this year with blocking shots or taking a charge. He’s been one of the best rim protectors in the in the Big 12 this year.”

With his pterodactyl arms and light feet, Disu is a nimble rim protector and a huge cog in the team’s highly-ranked defense as well. As for his offense, well, Terry would like to see even more out of him.

“Offensively, he’s really stepped it up over the course of Big 12 play, scoring the basketball for us. We had a lot of teams trying to trap Marcus (Carr) in ball screens and Dylan’s been great in the short roll. You know, whether he’s making the right decision with the pass or scoring the ball himself, we really challenged them all season long to be a guy that stretches the floor for us.”

Per Terry, Disu needs to be shooting even more threes and can’t afford to pass up open looks.

“We really wanted him to try to make one or two threes a game for us. Over the last couple games there’ve been a couple of times I’ve kind of gotten at him a little bit…’hey, you got to shoot the ball if you’re open. It’s maybe the best best look we get in that position in that possession, you got to take that shot. So I would say that he’s really come along and been more aggressive in terms of trying to score the ball for us, which has been really good.”

Dylan Disu went for 24 points in his last game out and continues to be more of a go-to option for the Longhorns in the front-court, a nice development as we barrel towards March.