Max Abmas leads four Texas players on Big 12 preseason teams

Four Texas players – led by graduate guard Max Abmas – have garnered all-Big 12 Conference awards in the preseason as voted on by the league’s 14 coaches and announced on Thursday. Coaches were not permitted to vote for their own student-athletes.

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Abmas, a transfer from Oral Roberts University, was named to the five-player Preseason All-Big 12 Team. Longhorns graduate forward Dylan Disu, junior guard Tyrese Hunter and sophomore forward Dillon Mitchell were each listed on the league’s 11 player honorable mention list.

Other members of the preseason all-Big 12 team were senior center Hunter Dickinson and junior guard Dejuan Harris Jr. of Kansas, senior guard L.J. Cryer of Houston and senior forward Emanuel Miller of TCU.

Dickinson, a transfer from Michigan, was named preseason player of the year and newcomer of the year. Ja’Kobe Walter of Baylor garnered preseason freshman of the year notice.

Joining Disu, Hunter and Mitchell on the honorable mention team were Jalen Bridges, RayJ Dennis and Walter of Baylor, Jamal Shead of Houston, Kevin McCullar Jr. of Kansas, Arthur Kaluma and Tylor Perry of Kansas State and Jesse Edwards of West Virginia.

A rundown on each of the Texas players who were honored the preseason team:

Max Abmas

Abmas begins his only year on the 40 Acres as the NCAA Division I active career scoring leader (2,562 points) and career scoring average leader (20.8 ppg). He played and started 123 career games in four seasons at Oral Roberts and racked up 2,562 points (20.8 ppg), 395 assists (3.2 apg), 408 rebounds (3.3 rpg) and 140 steals (1.1 spg) in 4,280 minutes (34.8 mpg). 

Abmas converted 38.8 percent of his shots from 3-point range and 88.1 percent from the free throw line during his time at ORU. He is a three-time honorable mention All-America selection by the Associated Press and twice honored as Summit League Player of the Year (2021 and 2023), guiding Oral Roberts to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2021 while leading Division I in scoring (24.5 ppg) and ranking second nationally in three-point field goals made per game (3.6).

Last year, Abmas averaged 21.9 ppg, 4.0 apg and 4.4 rpg in 36.1 mpg and ranked ninth in Division I in scoring and fifth in free throw percentage (.919). 

Dylan Disu

Disu returns for his third season at Texas having played in 111 career games (with 84 starts) during his first four years of college at Vanderbilt (2019-21) and for the Longhorns. He has registered career totals of 908 points (8.2 ppg), 579 rebounds (5.2 rpg) and 118 blocks (1.1 bpg) in 2,370 minutes (21.3 mpg). 

As a senior in 2022-23, Disu played and started in 36 of UT’s 38 games. In Texas’s five postseason games in which he was healthy, Disu averaged a team-best 17.8 ppg and a team-high 9.0 rpg in 25.8 mpg while converting 72.2-percent (39-54) from the floor and 84.6-percent (11-13) from the free throw line. He was named Most Outstanding Player in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship, averaging a team-best 14.7 ppg and 8.3 rpg in 25.5 mpg while hitting 73.9-percent (17-23) from the floor.

Tyrese Hunter 

Hunter will be in his second campaign with the Longhorns after having played and started all 73 career games during his first two years of college at Iowa State (2021-22) and Texas. He has registered career totals of 777 points (10.6 ppg), 268 assists (3.7 apg) and 236 rebounds (3.2 rpg) in 2,273 minutes (31.1 mpg). 

As a sophomore for the Longhorns in 2022-23, Hunter played and started all 38 games and ranked second on the team in minutes (30.3 mpg), third in assists (96), fourth in scoring (10.3 ppg) and fifth in steals (31) despite battling an ailment that kept him at less the 100 percent for the majority of the season

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Dillon Mitchell

Mitchell looks to be more of a contributor in his second season at Texas after playing in and starting all 38 games as a freshman last year. He led the team in field goal percentage (.636) ranked third on the team in rebounding (3.9 rpg), second in offensive rebounds (52) and fifth in blocks (12) while averaging 4.3 points in 17.5 minutes per contest. He reached double figures in scoring six times and double digits in rebounds twice.