Tobey’s strong play started the very first time he touched the ball.
After a Moundou-Missi miss, Virginia’s junior Justin Anderson brought the ball up the floor and tossed it to backcourt-mate London Perrantes. Parrantes found Tobey on the block, and the center forced a shot up over the outstretched arms of Smith. The shot went in while Tobey drew contact, earning the three-point play.
On the next Cavalier possession, guard Malcolm Brogdon found Tobey open along the three-point line. With his foot on the arc, the seven-footer knocked down the deep jump shot to put his team up five.
A minute later he got fouled and sunk both free throws. Next, Brogdon found Tobey once more, sending a pass from the right elbow to the left short corner. The bucket was good and Tobey alone was up on Harvard, 9-0.
Tobey’s 10 boards—nine of which came on the defensive end—marked the second time that the junior has notched double-digit rebounds this year. His 15 points, a season-high, also gave him his second double-double of the season.
“[It was] a terrific offensive performance,” Amaker said. “I thought the efficiency by their ball club and their big guys on the interior were outstanding.”
ONE-BID IVY?
When Yale beat Connecticut, the national defending champion, on Dec. 5th, a rumble began amongst those who know Ivy League basketball best.
While the Ivies are allotted only one automatic ticket to the NCAA Tournament every year, it suddenly seemed like a possibility—albeit a distant one—that an Ancient Eight team could get an at-large bid to the Big Dance this season given the RPI ratings and strong play of the Crimson and the Bulldogs.
But this weekend did not go as planned for Ivy hoops. Along with the Crimson’s loss in Virginia, Yale fell to a struggling Albany team that it was supposed to take down.
While it’s still early in the year, Harvard and Yale’s respective losses likely decreased the probability of either program receiving an at-large bid for the Big Dance. When playing in a conference such as the Ivy League, squads need every nonconference win possible to stuff their resumes. The tournament may still be three months away, but it’s likely that these December losses will hurt one of these teams in their marches to Madness.
—Staff writer Juliet Spies-Gans can be reached at juliet.spies-gans@thecrimson.com.