DURHAM N.C. -- This should be an Au'Diese Toney story ... but it isn't.
Because all Toney did throughout Pitt's 79-67 loss to No. 9 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium was stuff like this:
And this:
... and this:
It wasn't just that Toney scored a career-high 27 points on this chilly Tuesday night in Durham. It was how he scored them. Dunks. Transition lay-ins. Threes. Sharp, smart backdoor cuts to feast upon Duke's aggressive defense.
"It’s the best game he’s played here," Jeff Capel said in his post-game press conference.
The numbers reinforce Capel's words, but so do plays like that look to Justin Champagnie in the second gif above — a beautiful feed after some slick handles to set his teammate up for the bucket.
Toney showcased vision and finishing and efficiency — scoring his 27 on an 11-for-19 performance from the field, including a 3-for-4 breakout from beyond the arc. And he had it all while registering zero turnovers and playing all 40 minutes in one of the team's grittiest ACC performances to-date.
"I mean, really nothing different," Toney was saying of his game. "It was just making shots, picking your shots and being comfortable knocking it down."
For close observers, though, this performance shouldn't come as a complete surprise. It's been brewing under the surface with Toney, bubbling like lava just waiting on its chance to greet the world. Tuesday night, it erupted.
Through 13 games to start the season, Toney averaged 6.4 points per contest, never topping 13 during that stretch. Then, he went down with an elbow injury in practice, missing the team's first two games in January — a road win against North Carolina and a home loss against Wake Forest — as a result.
When Toney returned to the lineup, his offense clicked at a new level. He put up a season-best 16 in a win back at the Pete over Boston College and now, after Tuesday's loss to Duke, Toney's averaging 12.6 points per game post-injury. Yeah, I like easy math too. That's almost exactly double his pre-injury clip. He's still efficient, too, shooting 56 percent during the hot stretch.
"Yeah, it just was a setback," Toney was saying when I asked him about that post-injury burst of offense. "Just sitting out for the injury, letting myself heal and actually getting in the gym and using that time when I was trying to get healthy and pick my spots and stuff like that."
Does that sound too ... obvious?
It sure does. And that's the beauty of it.
"Well, he's keeping it simple," Capel said of Toney's recent burst. "For the most part, he's taking really high-percentage shots. And he's playing with confidence."
I can get down with that line of thinking, if only because I watched it play out in the night's most emphatic play on either side. It didn't affect the outcome at all — just 40 seconds left, Duke up by 14. The game was a wrap.
But there goes Toney:
"Yeah, I surprised myself. I just [saw] it coming off the rim and just went for it," Toney said of that particular play when I brought it up after the game.
I mean, my goodness. I left the sound on that video for you when you press play, but pay attention to the totality of the clip, and keep it all in context. There's the play itself — an insane putback slam over Cassius Stanley. There's the energy in the roar from Toney. There's the Pitt bench standing in unison and the commotion from the home crowd as a soundtrack for it all.
The game was long gone, but that's Toney — a player who earned a short stay on cruise control more than anyone in blue and gold on this night — jamming the pedal to the floor and squeezing out every last drop of horsepower from his being. And he knows that passion's the single greatest asset he brings to the court.
"Yeah, I feel like my offense can keep us going and give us the spark plug," Toney said when I brought up his energizing effect.
Only tonight, that wasn't enough. Take all the highlights, all the slams, all the roars and all the bravado and file 'em away under "L" on this evening for the Pitt Panthers.
"You're coming back close, but at the end of the day, you still got that 'L' on the right-side column," Toney said. "We're close, but it's not good enough, like Coach says."
Coach Capel does say that. Like, verbatim moments earlier during his presser:
"It’s not good enough," Capel said. "And I want our program to get to a point where we’re not satisfied with being close. We have to get to a point where we can minimize the mistakes and capitalize however we have opportunities. We’re not there yet, but we’re getting closer."
That idea of "closer" felt happy and joyous at one point for these Pitt Panthers, even as recently as in the team's loss to Syracuse in upstate New York. But when you fall behind by 17 in the second half against Duke then work all the way back to striking distance — within three — before sputtering and stalling to fall to 13-8 and 4-6 in the ACC?
It gets old for all parties involved.
It's the kind of loss that can outshine a career night and linger bittersweet.
• Today's game ball for Pitt goes to — OK, this one's a joke. It's obviously Toney. You read all that stuff above, right?
• You'd have to go to Duke's side to find a contender for Toney in the "Best Player on the Court" race. Vernon Carey certainly made a case for himself, scoring 26 points on 11 for 17 shooting while also adding 13 rebounds, four assists, a block and seven fouls drawn.
Pitt knew he'd be a problem coming into the game. We heard Capel repeatedly mention his name in the lead-up.
And it didn't matter.
“You can have a game plan, but when you get out there and you see the size and the footwork and the strength that he has, and then when you have the touch that he has, it’s a difficult cover," Capel said of Carey.
Sounds right — and it sounds familiar. Kind of like when he said preparing for West Virginia's Oscar Tshiebwe earlier this year was a problem. Or preparing for the length and size of Syracuse's zone. Or preparing for Florida State's Redwood Forest frontcourt.
Sensing a theme?
Pitt's lack of size isn't just a problem on game day. It affects their preparation as well. On the positive side for Panthers fans, Capel's next recruiting class seems specifically aimed at addressing that issue. But it's not here yet, and they'll have to live with that reality in the interim.
• Mega yikes for Trey McGowens and Xavier Johnson. Sorry to jump sports on you here for a second, but remember when Mike Tomlin said "He didn't kill us" when asked about the play of undrafted rookie quarterback Devlin 'Duck' Hodges? It was Tomlin's way of being nice. He wasn't ready to gush over Hodges' early wins when he took over the starting quarterback role. He was simply acknowledging the fact Hodges wasn't hurting the team, either.
I felt that way about McGowens and Johnson after a relatively ho-hum performance against Syracuse. The points weren't there like usual — but the turnovers were tame. The decisions were, for the most part, sound.
But tonight?
Nah. Not at all.
The two combined to go 3 for 17 — including an 0-for-3 showing from three — with five turnovers against nine assists. The positive assists-to-turnovers ratio is something, but going 3 for 17, with McGowens going 0 for 7 specifically, isn't going to cut it. There's no doubt defenses are adjusting to Johnson's and McGowens' respective skill sets and looking to eliminate them from games.
And there's also no doubt those sophomore guards have done a poor job in adapting as we continue to climb deeper into ACC play. They'll need to figure it out. And fast.
• Duke opened the game shooting 1 for 6 from three-point land — then closed the half at 7 for 14, a 50-percent clip. That means after their sluggish start, they shot a ridiculous 75 percent (6 for 8) from deep, largely fueled by Jordan Goldwire and Jack White.
Pessimists will be quick to call for a defensive adjustment, but the reality here is this: Duke got hot. That's it. They made shots. Oftentimes, it's that simple in basketball, and in this case, it is. You can't trade twos for threes and win the game, and Pitt's long ball was atrocious all night, ending at just 4 for 12 (three from Toney and one from Champagnie).
• The loss marks Pitt's 20th consecutive road loss against an AP-ranked opponent.
• Weird moment of the night alert!
Late in the first half, the Cameron Crazies chanted what sounded like "Jeff Capel, sit with us!" during a Pitt free-throw attempt ... and Mike Krzyzewski lost his mind:
Here's Coach K going nuts on the Crazies yelling what I *believe was* "Jeff Capel, sit with us!"
h/t @CardChronicle for the assist on finding the video. #dkps #unleash pic.twitter.com/M10bBjgLfj
— Hunter Alek Homistek (@HunterAHomistek) January 29, 2020
Capel was asked about the moment after the game, but he offered little clarification, saying he didn't even know what happened in the moment.
"I didn't know what they were saying," Capel said. "I was locked into competition."
Krzyzewski, meanwhile, cleared the air on it in full. He misunderstood the Crazies, and that led to his outburst.
“It was a mistake on my part, but I’d rather make a mistake in protection of my guy,” Krzyzewski said. “I went at the end of the half and said, ‘Look, he’s our guy.’ And that’s said. So I apologize. Let’s think of a different cheer.”
• Before the game, Duke and Pitt each paid tribute to the late Kobe Bryant by wearing warm-up shirts featuring "8" on the front and "24" on the back — Bryant's two numbers throughout his 20-year career.
Duke honoring Kobe with their warmups. “8” on the front, “24” on the back. #dkps #unleash pic.twitter.com/ylNr4q7yZm
— Hunter Alek Homistek (@HunterAHomistek) January 29, 2020
They also held a 24.8-second moment of silence inside Cameron Indoor in remembrance of Bryant and the eight others who lost their lives in the tragic helicopter accident in California on Sunday. It was a genuinely powerful moment.
"I think everyone is shocked," Capel said. "It's been emotional, especially for our guys because he was a hero, an idol, to those guys as a player ... When you're in the conversation of one of the greatest ever, then really nothing else has to be said, really, basketball-wise."
• The single biggest takeaway from this one: Yes, the comeback bid was cool. But it's not enough. And it's not satisfactory.
"Our guys have to get to a point where you're kind of offended when people say that ['close' is good enough]," Capel said.
Taking Toney's words above into account, I think the message is getting through.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE STARTING LINEUPS
For Capel's Panthers:
Xavier Johnson, guard
Trey McGowens, guard
Au'Diese Toney, guard
Justin Champagnie, forward
Eric Hamilton, forward
And for Krzyzewski's Blue Devils:
Tre Jones, guard
Cassius Stanley, guard
Jordan Goldwire, guard
Matthew Hurt, forward
Vernon Carey, center
THE SCHEDULE
Pitt will have some downtime after this one, returning Super Bowl Sunday for a rematch against Miami at the Pete. I'll be back in town for all the coverage of that one. Here's what happened when they met earlier this month in Florida.
THE COVERAGE
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