Au'Diese Toney Player of Game Despite JD Notae's 30 Points

Eric Musselman called Toney's 18 points, 11 rebounds "clearly" best performance in opening win

Andy Hodges | Nov 10, 2021

Au'Diese Toney Player of Game Despite JD Notae's 30 Points /

JD Notae got more points, but Au'Diese Toney may have done more work.

Arkansas downed Mercer on Tuesday night at Bud Walton Arena and Notae led everybody scoring with 30 points.

He also took note of what Toney did for his 18 points and 11 rebounds.

"Au'Diese was phenomenal," Notae said later. "He was just everywhere. Every time we missed a shot and we thought they were going to get it, Au'Diese was right there."

Eric Musselman said later it wasn't even close ... Toney was the player of the game.

Nelson Chenault/USA TODAY Images

"We did not run one play for him and he scored 18 points in the most efficient way you possibly can going 7-of-9 from the field," Musselman said. "He had five O-boards and 11 total boards. He was phenomenal."

He hustled for his points.

Notae just kept putting up shots, going 11-of-26 from the field but Musselman wasn't overly concerned with that right after the game.

"Obviously we needed JD's points," he said. "He's been working on those logo shots. Took a couple. One was decent."

It wasn't just Notae. The Hogs shot 47.3% from the field for the game and had to heat up to 55.2% in the second half to get that.

They weren't exactly taking the shots Musselman wants to see.

"We have to work on our shot selection across the board as a team," Musselman said. "I'm just going to start rambling and get off the subject, but we've got to have a better assist-to-turnover ratio."

Toney took advantage of the missed shots by simply out-hustling everybody for loose balls.

"When you're taking three-point shots a lot, the majority aren't going to go in so it's a long rebound," Toney said. "Just crash ... crash the glass. The key to this game is Mercer wasn't going to the glass."

Against Mercer the Hogs had 13 assists and 15 turnovers. Jaylin Williams had the most assists (five), but also had four turnovers.

Davonte Davis struggled, getting zero points, turning the ball over five times. He did get three steals and four rebounds so it wasn't a complete disaster.

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Published Nov 10, 2021

ANDY HODGES

Sports columnist, writer, former radio host and television host who has been expressing an opinion on sports in the media for over four decades. He has been at numerous media stops in Arkansas, Texas and Mississippi.