Home-grown Longhorns Brock Cunningham, Dylan Disu prepped for their final Texas home game
Brock Cunningham may soon trade in brisket for shrimp on the barbie and Barton Springs for Bondi Beach. But before the Texas forward leaves his hometown to try and play professional basketball in Australia, he has some unfinished business in Austin.
Specifically, he wants to take care of business against Oklahoma and add a footnote to the UT record books befitting a native son who graduated from nearby Westlake High School. Assuming he can play with a broken thumb suffered against Baylor on Monday, Cunningham will tie AJ Abrams — another home-grown product from nearby McNeil High School who played at Texas from 2005-09 — for the most appearances in UT history, with 144. And better yet for a player who measures success solely by the scoreboard, he could move into a tie with Abrams and Abrams’ former teammate, Connor Atchley, for most wins by any Texas player at 109.
Do the math, and that’s a winning percentage of 75.7%. And that rate of success matters more than any personal record to Cunningham, who will earn his master’s degree in advertising in May after six years at Texas, which includes a redshirt season in 2018-19 that doesn’t count toward the game or win totals.
“I haven’t thought about it that much,” Cunningham said Thursday. “I mean, it's more of a program records. I've been around so many great players and great coaches that have made that happen. I’ve just been along for the ride and helped out a little bit, but it's been fun. Looking back, it’ll be a cool title to have.”
More: Texas basketball updates Dylan Disu injury status ahead of Oklahoma game Saturday
‘March in the air’ for Cunningham, Texas basketball
Cunningham isn’t ready to look back quite yet, since he thinks the Longhorns have plenty of basketball to play in the next few weeks. But before Texas travels to Kansas City, Mo., next week for the Big 12 Tournament followed by a likely berth in the NCAA Tournament, he and fellow seniors Dylan Disu, Ithiel Horton and Max Abmas will participate in Senior Day festivities before Saturday’s regular-season finale against Oklahoma.
“It'll be amped up because it is Senior Night, and March is in the air,” Cunningham said. “You can smell it. You can feel it. We’re playing on Saturday to make a run in March, so every minute is valuable, every game, every possession. We're still trying to get better and play our best basketball in the next couple of weeks.”
Disu, another Austin-area native who played his high school basketball at Hendrickson High in Pflugerville, said Senior Day could be especially emotional for himself and Cunningham considering they grew up watching the Longhorns.
“I always dreamed of playing here when I was a kid,” DIsu said. “And so (Saturday) will be my last game here in Austin. It will be sad, for sure.”
But Disu, Cunningham and their teammates still have lot of ball to play, Cunningham said. The 6-foot-6 forward has returned to his familiar role as a bench energizer after starting 13 games earlier this season. Those starts partially explain why he’s averaging a career-high 22.1 minutes a contest this year for a Texas team that's 19-11 overall and 8-9 in the Big 12 and currently projected as a No. 8 or No. 9 seed by NCAA Tournament prognosticators.
But Cunningham’s contributions go beyond his modest stat line averages of 4.5 points and 3.8 rebounds, which are almost the same as his averages from last season. Head coach Rodney Terry always praised Cunningham’s team-first mentality, which helps set the tone for the program — and has helped amass those 109 wins.
“The thing I’ll miss most about working with Brock is his competitive spirit that he brings every day to practices and to games,” Terry said. “And he's a pretty cerebral guy as well. We will miss his leadership.”
More: Texas basketball's Brock Cunningham bids farewell to Texas Tech, long rivalry
Down Under dreams: a good fit for the Australian league
Cunningham’s skill set seems like a good fit in Australia’s National Basketball League, a 10-team association that emphasizes physical play and the fundamentals over high-flying dunks and a barrage of 3-point bombs.
The laid-back Aussie vibe seems like a good fit, too. Cunningham is most comfortable in jean shorts and sandals, ideally with a shirt as an option instead of a requirement. He’d rather sit around a campfire than in front of a computer, and he spends his free time in the summer tooling around the American West in a cranky old truck.
“I like to do the outdoorsy stuff,” he said. “And it seems like they’re good people over there. Every Australian I've ever met, we just hit it right off. It just feels right. I have a gut feeling about it, and I’m going to make it happen.”
And what would he do to fit it quickly, if he lands a job playing in the NBL?
“I'd get a mullet if I went over there, so I’d really endear myself to the Australian culture,” he said.
Saturday's game
Oklahoma (20-10, 8-9) at Texas (19-11, 8-9), 1 p.m., ESPN, 1300
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas basketball's Brock Cunningham nears records, reveals post-Texas plans
