Associated Press 3:56 p.m. ET3 Minute Read
Can Miami pull off the upset against Texas?
Seth Greenberg explains how Miami can top Texas in the Elite Eight.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Texas forward Dylan Disu, one of the shining stars of the NCAA tournament’s opening weekend, was ruled out of the Longhorns’ game against Miami for a berth in the Final Four on Sunday because of a left foot injury.
The 6-foot-9 Disu was the MVP of the Longhorns’ run to the Big 12 tournament title on the same T-Mobile Center floor two weeks ago and then helped them score the Sweet 16 with 17 points in a win over Colgate and 28 achieve points in a win over Penn State.
Disu injured his foot in the second round game against the Nittany Lions. He made progress with the injury throughout the week and there was some hope he would be available for a Midwest semi-final against Xavier. But after a setback, Disu played just 94 seconds for the Texas No. 2 before watching the rest of the game in a hiking boot.
“Dylan has obviously worked really hard to get to this point in the season now,” said Texas interim coach Rodney Terry, who was trying to get the Longhorns past the Hurricanes and into the Final Four for the first time in 20 years to lead men.
“We got through the Big 12 tournament without Timmy Allen, a guy who had become a real focal point of our offense in Big 12 play. The next man had to step in and do the work for us,” Terry said. “We’re not going to have a different kind of mentality going into the competition against Miami – next man and that’s going to be by committee.”
Christian Bishop got the first chance, slipping into the starting lineup when it was released about an hour before the Kansas City tip. The Missouri native of Lee’s Summit scored 18 points in Friday night’s win against the Musketeers.
Fifth-seeded Miami advanced to the regional finals by one-shot against first-seeded Houston.
“I always say to our boys, ‘We are all we need. We are all we have.’ You know what I mean?” said Terri. “We’re going to find someone who’s willing to go and we’re going to bond like brothers and we’re going to go out and face off against a really, really good Miami team.”