Texas players share key to defeating Kansas in Big 12 Championship

The Big 12 was the best conference in basketball all season long — and its two best clubs are meeting in the conference tournament championship as No. 1 seed Kansas faces No. 2 seed Texas. A title is on the line in Kansas City this afternoon as is the possibility of a one-seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Jayhawks seem to be locked in on the one-line but a Texas victory could push the Longhorns into one territory themselves, where they may threaten Kansas’ own position if they’re able to beat KU two out of three.

So the stage is set. Two of middle America’s finest ball clubs, neither of which will be led by their coaches from the start of the year, have 40 minutes to fight it out for the Big 12 championship. And it will most certainly be a fight, according to Texas forwards Christian Bishop and Dylan Disu. The duo spoke to media on Friday after their semifinal victory, where Bishop emphasized energy as a likely difference-maker in the rubber match vs. Kansas.

“The team with the most energy tomorrow is going to probably win the game, so we gotta come out with some pop and be ready to go,” said Bishop. His buddy Dylan Disu concurred: “Yeah, what CB said basically. It’s been a long week and it’s going to come down to who wants it more, and that’s going to show in the energy.”

Put your chinstraps on for this one, folks!

Disu opens up on impact of Texas’ coaching change ahead of Big 12 Championship

Texas hoops dealt with some drama earlier in the season when head coach Chris Beard was fired. But interim Rodney Terry has stepped up and proven to be more than capable at steering the ship.

Terry — or as Disu affectionately calls him, RT — has had a tremendously positive impact on the Longhorns, being a steadying force when Texas needed him most. As the program prepares to take on Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament Championship Game, Disu elaborated on the impact, or lack-thereof regarding the coaching change from earlier in the season.

“I mean, I love RT. We loved him before so it was a seamless change, as difficult as that may be to believe,” stated Disu. “RT has done this for a while. He’s old so he knows what he’s doing, man, so it wasn’t no difficulty in learning to play for RT.”

Regardless of the timing, Disu is right, Terry has been a coach for a long, long time, and was more than prepared when the opportunity arose.