TribLIVE’s daily and weekly email newsletters deliver the news and information you want straight to your inbox.
Two years later, Au’This Toney is still feeling the pain. Worse, he felt more coming after Pitt lost three games in a row.
Since the memory of the 13-game losing streak of 2019 was too real and he still had it in his head, the young striker called teammates and friends Justin Champagnie and Xavier Johnson together. It was time for Pitt’s top three players to meet to figure out how to fill the leadership void and get the team back on track.
Much was said at that meeting, and the results flashed in Pitt’s unexpected 83-72 win over Virginia Tech # 16 at the Petersen Events Center on Wednesday night.
Nobody seemed to benefit more than Johnson, who scored 32 career points with seven assists and five rebounds – most from an ACC player this season.
By the way: It’s not the second time he’s started at Pitt in 80 games.
Johnson is the third major conference player in the last 25 years to hit 30/5/5 from the bank. His 32 points are the most of a Pitt non-runner in program history.
« Be real with each other, » said Johnson. « Tell each other what we didn’t like, what we like. These rose. He said the lack of leadership is ours. »
Toney, who scored 14 points with six rebounds and three assists, said he grew up shortly after arriving on campus as a freshman for the 2018-19 season
« I grew up faster than a normal newbie, » he said, mentally rubbing the scars of a 3-15 ACC season. « I had to have an older mindset. »
« You were: » Yes, I’m glad we met and talked about it. « You were with me the whole time.
« It doesn’t feel good to lose. That’s the feeling we all had in the first year. I just don’t want to go back to it. You felt the pain. »
But they also had a mental advantage that Coach Jeff Capel’s tinkering – and the timing of it – may have caused.
After Saturday night’s 26-point loss to Notre Dame, Capel promised his players on Monday that he wouldn’t start the same line-up against Virginia Tech, and he planned to base his decisions on training.
Not disclosing the starting grid days in advance of the game may have prevented players from spending too much time thinking about it.
Ten minutes before the game, he announced to the team that Johnson and Ithiel Horton, who had started every previous game this season, would be seated to start the game. Nike Sibande and newcomer Femi Odukale would start.
« They were fine. They were great, ”said Capel. « They were all about the team, everything about us. »
« That’s the coach’s call. It’s not my call, » he said. But he added, « If I play like this, it won’t be a problem. »
Capel said he wasn’t sure the short bench was motivating Johnson, who came into the game just over four minutes. Horton followed a minute later.
« I don’t think his mission was to get 32 points, » said Capel. « It was for us to play really well. »
Among his 32 points were four 3-pointers in seven attempts. Horton scored 15 points, also with four 3s, and Champagnie posted his ACC-leading eighth double-double (10 points, 13 rebounds).
Overall, Pitt shot 50 percent off the field and scored 52 points in the second half after the Hokies (13-4, 7-3) allowed 51 points each in two wins against Notre Dame and Virginia. As an added bonus, Pitt came into the game as the worst foul shooting team in the ACC (65.7%) but hit 22 out of 25.
Capel was delighted that his point guard took command when Virginia Tech doubled up Champagnie early in the game.
« The really good point guards have the ability to understand what the game takes, » said Capel. “Sometimes that’s double-digit templates, low scores, and good defense. Sometimes it can be 30 points.
« X has the ability to do both. It is only he who understands what the game demands every day and every game. »
Jerry DiPaola is a contributor to Tribune Review. You can contact Jerry by email at [email protected] or on Twitter.
TribLIVE’s daily and weekly email newsletters deliver the news and information you want right to your inbox.
You are solely responsible for your comments, and by using TribLive.com you are consenting to ours
Terms of Use.
We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide an essential commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed comments that improve the quality of our news and information.
While most comments are posted when they are topic-related and not abusive, they are moderators Subjective decisions. We will do it as carefully and consistently as possible. Due to the amount of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.
We value thoughtful comments that represent a range of views that express their point of view quickly and politely. We strive to protect discussions from repeated comments by the same or different readers
We follow the same taste standards as the daily newspaper. A few things we will not tolerate: personal assault, profanity, vulgarity, profanity (including explosives and letters followed by dashes), commercial advertisements, imitations, incoherence, proselytization, and SCREAMING. Don’t add URLs to websites.
We don’t edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or in extracts from an article. In this case we can correct spelling and punctuation.
We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we do not want comments to stall with discussions about our policies and we will moderate accordingly.
We appreciate readers and people cited in articles or blog posts pointing out factual or highlighting errors and investigating all allegations. But these suggestions should be sent
by email. In order not to distract other readers, we do not post comments suggesting a correction. Instead, corrections are made in a blog post or article.
Ref: https://triblive.com
