Dylan Disu is a big that transferred from Vanderbilt to Texas this offseason. He was the second-best player on his team last year behind PG Scottie Pippen Jr., and made drastic improvements from his freshman to his sophomore season. A four-star recruit out of Texas, Disu is coming home to Austin, where his hometown of Pflugerville is only 17 miles north of UT’s campus.
In his injury-shortened sophomore season, he averaged 15 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game on 49.2% from the field. The 6’9”, 220-lbs forward will be the best rebounder on the team coming into the season, as his 9.2 per game was, before his injury, leading the SEC.
Here’s what his game looks like.
Disu likes to get a lot of (but not all of) his points in the paint. He shot 56% from the field this season from two, but also shot 36.9% on threes on about 3.8 attempts per game, meaning he has legitimate stretch-four capabilities.
He’s a fluid athlete with moves when driving the lane, like this move below. He also has the strength to finish through the contact and draw the foul. He had a solid 73.6% on FTs this past year, so when he gets fouled, he converts.
Here’s another example of a smooth spin to the basket, taking the in-bounds pass, facing up, taking a couple of steps towards the rim, faking left, then using his move to the right.
He’s good in these situations. But where does Dylan Disu stand out?
Rebounding, rebounding, rebounding.
Disu is elite on the boards. He’s a high-motor hustler who gets good position underneath but whose athleticism takes him over the top. To re-emphasize, he was leading the SEC in total rebounds per game before his knee injury midway through the 2020-21 season.
His game against Kentucky saw him record 16, including here, where he chases down his own miss and puts it back up for two after a nice mid-air adjustment.
Here’s another clip of his cleaning the glass in the same game, where he immediately puts it back off of a miss and scores.
Here’s another one from Disu that leads to points. Watch how he fights for position under the basket, and uses his upper body strength to fight through the crowd. Also note the flex at the end, because that energy is big for his play style.
Another loose ball. Guess who comes up with it? Disu skies up using his hops to snag the ball off the rim, gathers with a quick dribble, then puts it back up over the defense for the tough two.
Besides his rebounding, Disu also has good touch offensively. Watch this move here, where backs down the defender a couple of steps before turning around and hitting the fadeaway.
He can drive the ball with above-average handles for a forward, and is difficult to stop once he gets momentum going.
He can take guys off the dribble and is big enough to create mismatches when he gets the ball on the perimeter and takes it to the rack. As I referenced earlier, he shows remarkable fluidity for a player his size. Here he is on a reverse layup versus Auburn after taking the flip from Scottie Pippen Jr. and driving. He takes advantage of the switch and makes a basically indefensible move for two.
The biggest concern about Dylan Disu would be the injury from last season. As I stated before, he had knee surgery in February that ended his 2020-21 campaign. Will he retain his athletic prowess and bounce? Will he see any kind of apprehension that would interfere with his aggressive rebounding ability? These are questions that have to be answered. Considering it was not as serious as a torn ACL or something along those lines, I believe he will maintain his explosiveness and continue to be a highly productive player this season for Texas.
Had he not had his season cut short, he would have been all-SEC most likely, meaning Texas would have four all-conference players coming onto the roster this year with Marcus Carr (all Big-10), Tre Mitchell (all-AAC), and Timmy Allen (all-Pac-12). The roster is truly littered with elite talent, and Dylan Disu will be one of the stars.
@KeenanWomack_OB
