For SLU’s Dylan Warlick, the decision to drop his redshirt and play was an obvious one

St. Louis University freshman Dylan Warlick sat down with coach Josh Schertz in the lobby of the team’s hotel in Normal, Ill., the night before SLU’s game with Illinois State. It was there that Schertz asked Warlick if he would be willing to drop his plan to redshirt this season and suit up for the Billikens instead. Schertz gave him some time to think about it.

“Give me your answer anytime,” Warlick recalled him saying. “If you want, it can be in the morning.”

Warlick didn’t have to sleep on it and four hours later made it official. In the meantime, he talked to his parents and his high school coach, but he really didn’t need that long.

“As soon as he asked me, I knew what my answer was going to be,” Warlick said, “because I want to play, I want to help the team. … My answer was to play.”

The saga of Warlick is another strange aspect of a curious SLU season. Warlick had surgery after his high school season to repair a torn left hip that he played through and which at times left him in so much pain that he couldn’t walk after games. When the SLU season started in November, Warlick wasn’t fully recovered from the surgery, so he opted to sit out the season and save that year of eligibility for later.

But then freshman guard Josiah Dotzler tore his knee ligaments. Junior guard Larry Hughes II left the program. Sophomore guard Kellen Thames kept coming down with severe cramps that at times kept him out of the game. Suddenly the guard/external gunner’s cabin at SLU was almost empty.

“When Coach Schertz first brought me up to redshirt, I was really surprised,” Warlick said. “But neither. We lost a lot of guys, but it was like just being anxious about it and being excited to get a chance to actually play. I just didn’t think it was going to end up happening, especially when I first came to the team. I really thought (that redshirt) was going to run the whole season. I’m both excited and excited about it.”

The only uncertainty Warlick had about saying yes to his return is that he still has concerns about his fitness after undergoing surgery recently. His hip had been bothering him since his junior year of high school in Oklahoma, but he pushed through the pain because he felt that not playing would ruin any chance he had of getting a scholarship. He finally had surgery after his senior season and was on the mend, but then he also did something to aggravate the hip right around SLU’s season opener. Had Schertz asked two weeks earlier, Warlick said he would have said no because he didn’t feel ready to go. But Warlick felt he made a lot of progress in the two weeks and wasn’t far off when the question finally came.

“Part of me was like, I’m going to be back 100 percent, no question, because I’m about seven, eight months post-op. So I could definitely take more time with my hip,” Warlick said. “I think I’ve done pretty well so far. Schertz talks to me about being able to play my defensive level and guard ball screens, stuff like that. I think it just comes with more time, like getting more 100 percent fit again, getting my legs under me more. And I think as the season goes on, hopefully if I continue to play the way I am, my minutes will develop as well.”

An even harder part was the mental side of things. When the decision was made in November to redshirt, his brain understandably went into “relaxation mode.” He attended training but played on the other team. While teammates had to get psyched up for games, he didn’t. He was supposed to be a spectator.

“That’s honestly the biggest problem for me,” he said, “almost like a mental block because when you redshirt, you obviously don’t have the pressure to ever go into a real game and for that to change say, just like one night and then the next day you have to go out to play. I’d say the biggest thing, just my focus level back to having to play, having to go in there.”

Against Illinois State on December 15, six weeks into the season opener, Warlick played just under six minutes and made a free throw for his first point. Three days later at Chaifetz Arena against Wofford, he hit a 3-pointer and two free throws in five minutes of playing time.

He had been to Chaifetz before for a match, but this was the first time he was in the match.

“It was very different,” he said. “I’ve never really played in front of the school crowd. Obviously been around to the games, but it was also a weird feeling right there, just because I’ve been there and never really thought I’d ever play this year, and then to go out there in front of all of them and actually get minutes, score a little bit, it felt really good to get to play defense.”

Warlick is more than just someone who adds depth to the thin SLU roster.

“Dylan has a good basketball IQ,” Schertz said. “He brings some things that we don’t have on the table. He has a physicality, a toughness that is not innate in this team. He is quite capable. He can handle basketball. There really isn’t an analysis you can assign to him. He just understands how to win. He is impactful.”

Now he must have that influence. He played just three minutes against Grand Canyon, and didn’t come off the bench in the second half as Schertz ran his starting five hard. That’s part of one of the complications to all of this for Warlick. He had already missed nine games, almost a third of the season, and 12 games he has played in just 15 minutes. To make it worthwhile, he needs to be able to play more minutes.

“I definitely think I’ll get there,” he said. – It is clear that my wind has improved after not playing for a very long time. So I think it’s getting up there. I feel like I’m back to 100 percent.”