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Nothing about Au’Diese Toney’s stat line Saturday night jumps off the page when glancing at a box score.
The senior finished with seven points and two rebounds in Arkansas’ 53-48 win over New Mexico State in the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament, but he certainly had a major impact on the game.
Even though it can’t be quantified by traditional statistics, Toney turned in a defensive performance for the ages to help send the Razorbacks back to the Sweet 16.
“Au'Diese Toney, the way that he played individually tonight was as good as any defender that I've ever coached,” head coach Eric Musselman said.
What made Saturday’s effort stand out in a season full of great defensive showings was the fact Toney was tasked with guarding Teddy Allen — the WAC Player of the Year who has earned the nickname “Teddy Buckets” because of his prolific scoring abilities.
That was on full display Thursday night, when he scored 37 points in an upset win over 5-seed UConn. As the team’s top defender, there was no question Toney would be assigned to Allen and Musselman let him know that’d be the case shortly after Arkansas got by Vermont.
“When he told me that the night they won, he just said, ‘You got a big responsibility,’” Toney said. “The man can play ball. He is a bucket getter, so my mindset was just to keep him under control and not let him get loose.”
Allen, who spent time at West Virginia, Wichita State, Western Nebraska C.C. and Nebraska before transferring to New Mexico State, came into the game averaging 19.8 points on 14.4 field goal attempts.
Knowing how important he was to the Aggies, Musselman leaned on his time in the NBA for a game plan on how to slow him down, as he used to have to figure out how to defend the late Kobe Bryant as the head coach of the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings.
“I still have all my notes in my email, so I opened up my emails and went through (them) because I keep all my postgame notes,” Musselman said. “And I thought we did a pretty good job except for maybe one or two games against Bryant.”
The goal was to hold Allen to 10 or fewer points because Musselman said he felt like that would give Arkansas an opportunity to win the game. He ended up scoring just 12 points on 5 of 16 shooting, which included 2 of 6 from beyond the arc and no free throw attempts.
The Razorbacks did it by constantly switching up their defense, sometimes forcing him right only to change and force him left later in the game and also changing when and how they brought an extra defender.
“They just doubled, basically, pretty much whenever I had a ball in any type of attacking position,” Allen said. “Credit to them. They had a good game plan. We still could have executed, but sometimes it doesn't work out.”
The one constant throughout the game, though, was Toney. The 6-foot-6 wing admitted it was a challenge because of how much he moved, but he stayed on Allen wherever he went and made life difficult.
Arkansas held Allen scoreless for a stretch of nearly 26.5 minutes and, with Toney all over him, he took just one shot between the 8:52 mark of the first half and 14:01 mark of the second half. Until a dunk with 2 seconds left, each of Allen’s shots were heavily contested.
“I guess when a couple of possessions later on in second half, he started getting a little frustrated, and that was my key then to just keep doing what I was doing,” Toney said. “A couple of possessions, the last game he had, when he had 37, he was aggressive. He just wanted the ball more, and this game he really didn't seem like he wanted the ball as much, so I just kept trying to be locked in on that.”
Playing so hard on the defensive end was likely a factor in Toney’s limited offensive production. He did throw down the dunk on Davonte Davis’ fantastic bounce pass during a fast break that capped a 9-0 run, but his seven points were shy of his season average of 10.7.
However, Musselman has said throughout the season that most of Toney’s points aren’t from set plays, but rather from cutting or running in transition. Plus, losing some offense to get his incredible defense is a tradeoff he’s willing to make.
“When you think about the energy that it takes to guard the best player every night, it probably sacrifices some of his offense, quite frankly,” Musselman said. “He is a guy, sometimes, that I want him to rest a little bit offensively because of the energy (he needs on defense).”
It may be hard to see on the box score, but those at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y., or watching on TNT will probably always remember Toney’s defensive effort that kept Arkansas’ 2021-22 season alive.
