Texas Basketball: 2 studs, 1 dud from clutch Big 12 semis win over TCU

The two-seed Texas basketball and interim head coach Rodney Terry got their third straight win while advancing to the final round of the Big 12 Men’s Tournament on the night of March 10. Texas was able to top the six-seed TCU Horned Frogs and head coach Jamie Dixon in a hard-fought battle at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, MO, in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals.

Terry and the Longhorns had to get two hard-fought wins to open up the Big 12 Tournament this weekend. Texas got this win over TCU on March 10 by a score of 66-60 in what was a defensive struggle for most of the game.

And the Longhorns topped head coach Mike Boynton and the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals on March 9 by the final score of 60-47. While the win over Oklahoma State was by a comfortable 13-point margin, Texas still had a pretty inefficient offensive outing by its usual standard.

For context, this was the first time this season that the Longhorns reeled in back-to-back wins while scoring less than 70 points in both games.

Texas continues to find ways to adapt and get big wins over Quad 1 teams in the Big 12. Terry’s squad also gets a shot now at its second Big 12 Tournament crown in the last three years against the one-seed Kansas Jayhawks on March 11.

Christian Bishop gets the two-seed Texas basketball to the Big 12 Tournament final

Here’s a look at two studs and one dud from the Longhorns’ 66-60 win over TCU in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals.

Stud No. 1: Dylan Disu, PF/C

Senior big man Dylan Disu continues to be one of the most valuable players for the Longhorns in the month of March. Disu had another fantastic game for the Longhorns in the Big 12 Tournament, as he scored in the double figures while reeling in at least eight rebounds for the second consecutive game.

I mentioned it following Texas’ double-digit win over Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals on March 9, Disu is giving the Longhorns exactly what they need in the absence of senior forward Timmy Allen. Disu is nearly doing it all for the Longhorns in these last couple of games.

He’s providing the scoring presence inside the arc that Allen usually does for this frontcourt. Disu is also doing more than enough to make up for the loss in rebounding that Texas has in the absence of Allen.

Moreover, this was the second consecutive game, Disu not only led Texas’ starting five in points, but he also led them in rebounds and +/-.

Disu also made some clutch plays on the defensive end of the floor that helped Texas put this game away late, including a key block that allowed senior guard Marcus Carr to get an important bucket in transition.

All told, Disu finished up this game with 15 points on a crazy-efficient 6-of-7 shooting from the field, eight rebounds, one assist, two blocks, and one steal. And Disu would’ve likely had an even more stuffed stat sheet had he not found himself in some early foul trouble. He was limited to just under two dozen minutes on the floor as he racked up four personal fouls.