As one of four returning starters from the end of last season, Vanderbilt’s Joe Toye shouldered significant responsibility heading into 2017-18.
Toye played a key role in the Commodores’ mid-season turnaround a year ago, as he no longer was just a talented athlete with a good outside shot.
His improved defensive awareness and improved play off the dribble earned him head coach Bryce Drew’s trust and showed in impressive late-season efforts at Kentucky and against Texas A&M in the SEC tournament.
A major factor in Vanderbilt’s disappointing 11-18 season, Toye’s prolonged slump weighed down the Commodores. Zero-point performances against Middle Tennessee and Florida stand out, as Toye appeared to lose confidence shooting the ball.
Over the last eight games, however, Toye has broken out of this slump and mostly returned to form.
Starting with the Commodores’ road loss to Kentucky, Toye has scored in double figures four times while shooting 38 percent from three. While his foul on Kentucky’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at the end of regulation bungled away a win, Toye’s 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting constituted his best performance of the season to that point.
Just a few games later, Toye topped that with 16 points, four rebounds and four assists in a win over Mississippi State, KenPom.com’s 29th-ranked team in defensive efficiency. His dunk over Aric Holman even won him plenty of new fans on social media.
“I think this is the first game that I would say was just a flat-out complete game,” Drew said of Toye after the win. “From the time he checked in to the buzzer, he made solid basketball plays and big plays to help us win.”
Toye stood at 19 percent from three before this eight-game stretch, a major departure from his 40 percent three-point shooting over his first two seasons.
“We’ve had a lot of meetings, and I think he got to the point the last couple weeks that he’s got more of a singular focus,” Drew said after the Commodores’ recent win over Florida in which Toye chipped in 13 points. “He’s just going in not worrying about things that he can’t control, worrying about playing the best that he can within the offense, within the defense and things that we’re trying to execute.”
An even better sign for the future might be the junior forward’s 52 percent two-point shooting on what will likely end up as a career-high number of attempts. It’s generally expected that shooters with Toye’s record will eventually bust out of jump-shooting funks, so Toye’s improvement in another key offensive aspect holds significance.
What’s more, Toye’s two-point shooting hasn’t dropped off against the best competition—he’s shot 54 percent from two in Vanderbilt’s 13 toughest games of the season, as measured by KenPom.com.
As important as Toye was for this season, he’ll be even more so next year. While Notre Dame transfer Matt Ryan and incoming freshman Aaron Nesmith might be able to absorb some minutes at small forward, Drew would be playing a dangerous game relying on either. Ryan primarily played power forward at Notre Dame and might not have the quickness needed to survive defensively at small forward.
With Nesmith, it’s difficult to project how quickly he’ll adjust to the college game. It’s easier to assume fellow incoming freshmen Darius Garland and Simi Shittu will thrive, but Nesmith isn’t as highly regarded as either.
For now, however, Toye’s recent play should inspire hope that he’ll be ready to produce during his senior year as Vanderbilt chases a turnaround.
“He’s a great dude, he’ll always works hard, and you never have to worry about him having the right mindset,” Vanderbilt guard Riley LaChance said after the Mississippi State win. “He’s always for the team, and even when he wasn’t playing well, he was happy for guys who were and kept working.”