Toney puts an end to his slump
Scores 12 points against vaunted Virginia defense
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — There was a point over the past seven weeks when Au’Diese Toney’s struggles became less about himself and more about those around him.
The missed shots, the squandered opportunities and all of the losses those mistakes came in took a toll on the Pitt freshman, of course, but there was something else that bothered him more.
“Being a freshman, you want to be the best that you can be,” Toney said. “You want to do whatever you can to contribute to the team. When you go into a slump like that, it’s really frustrating.
“It’s hurtful at times.” The beauty of youth and inexperience can be its spontaneity, that in some cases, a rut can end when it’s least expected. Though it came in a 73-49 loss Saturday at No. 2 Virginia, Toney broke out of the longest, most maddening skid of his young career with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting and seven rebounds.
It was his first double-figure scoring outing in nearly two months, the last of which came in a Jan. 12 loss at N.C. State in which the 6foot-6 guard/forward had 17 points, made seven of his 10 shots and pulled down six rebounds in what, considering the level of competition, might have been the best game of his career.
On Saturday, he fared better than any of his teammates against perhaps the best defense in college basketball, a multi-layered and perplexing scheme he was facing for the first time.
“I was just more confident,” Toney said. “I had to get out of the slump somehow. This game was the one.”
That the Cavaliers would be the team against which he would have such a showing was surprising, if only because of what Toney had been able to do for much of ACC play.
In the 11 games before the Virginia loss, a stretch in which the Panthers went 110, the Alabama native made just 18 of his 76 shots (23.7 percent) and 4 of his 23 3-pointers (17.4 percent). In perhaps the surest sign he was struggling with his shot, Toney successfully converted only 11 of his 24 free throws in that time (45.8 percent).
Complicating matters was a hand injury in the days before Pitt’s Jan. 29 loss at Clemson that kept him out of that game and limited him to 10 minutes in the ensuing contest. For a freshman so accustomed to success up until that point — and who would still be in high school had he not reclassified — maintaining poise and confidence was easier said than done.
But he had no other choice.
“It was a mental thing,” Toney said. “When you’re in a slump, you have to find a way to dig out of it. Like the coaches say, just keep your head up, keep playing and be you. That’s what I had to do.”
Against Virginia, he responded admirably. He was active and energetic against a defense that can swallow up passive or overwhelmed players. He was efficient, shooting 71.4 percent while the rest of his team made only 32.4 percent of their field goals. On a day in which the Panthers got good looks at the rim, but failed to convert them — making only seven of their 16 layups — Toney made all three of his.
As he has even in his worst moments, he continued to show himself to be Pitt’s best rebounder, pound for pound and inch for inch. This season, one in which he has been forced to play out of position due to a lack of better options, Toney is pulling down 16 percent of available defensive rebounds while he’s on the court, second on the team only to Terrell Brown (16.6 percent), who is four inches taller.
Defensively, he was matched up for much of the game against De’Andre Hunter, the Cavaliers’ 6-7 guard who is widely projected as a top-10 pick in the upcoming NBA draft. Though Hunter made four of his six shots and scored 12 points, Pitt coach Jeff Capel was impressed with how Toney handled himself in that situation, along with how fellow freshmen Xavier Johnson and Trey McGowens manned the task of guarding Virginia’s accomplished backcourt of Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome.
“I love that they took the challenge of doing that,” Capel said. “It’s something that will certainly help us in the long run.”
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NOTE: Pitt sophomore guard Khameron Davis did not travel with the team for Saturday’s game after getting a concussion and two of his front teeth knocked out in the first half of Pitt’s loss Wednesday against Clemson. Capel said he is unsure of when Davis, who is averaging 2.5 points and 2.2 rebounds in 13 minutes per game this season, will return.