For the past two seasons, junior guard A.J. Slaughter learned the ins-and-outs of the guard position from former Toppers such as all-Sun Belt Conference selection Tyrone Brazelton and 2007-08 Sun Belt Player of the Year Courtney Lee, a first round pick of the NBA’s Orlando Magic.
Now, the learning experience is over, and head coach Ken McDonald thinks it’s time for Slaughter to step up and take a leading role.
“A.J. has just jumped all in,” McDonald said. “I think he’s established himself as a go-to guy, so to speak.”
Slaughter will have a big role to fill.The graduation of Lee and Brazelton combined created a loss of 34.8 points and 5.8 assists per game. Add in the graduation of former guard Ty Rogers and his 6.4 points per game, and the guard spot will be lacking a few key components that will need to be filled.
Slaughter said he’s ready for the challenge, thanks to what he has learned the past two seasons.
“It’s a big jump,” he said. “Coming out last season, playing under Courtney and Tyrone, I got to play behind them and didn’t have to be the main guy. I think it’s going to be a really big jump for me. Teams are going to key in on me and try to bully me like Tyrone and Courtney. I’m just going to try to do some of the things they did and just use some of the things I learned from them.”
The Toppers have supplied Slaughter with some help on the perimeter. Senior guard Orlando Mendez-Valdez will see significant minutes, and help at the point guard position comes in the form of junior-college transfer Anthony Sally. Freshman guard Dejan Cvoro adds to the depth, and sophomore guard/forward Steffphon Pettigrew has spent the off-season improving his perimeter game.
“This year, I’ve been working on my game,” Pettigrew said. “Working on the outside, playing the outside guard. Hopefully, that pays off in the season.”
Another role that was synonymous with Lee and Brazelton was the ability to take the big shot with the game on the line. It’s another role McDonald and Slaughter agree will now primarily belong to Slaughter.
McDonald said Slaughter has plenty of motivation to be the team’s number one option this season.
“I think he’s been good from day one, but he’s taken it to another level these last few weeks,” McDonald said. “We talked a lot about how, you know, why not him? When the preseason (all-conference selections) came out and he was third-team, I used that and talked to him about that. That’s a slap in the face. That’s an absolute mistake picking him third-team. Why not first-team?”
Slaughter agrees with the notion. “I feel that if I just work on my game and work the hardest, that it’ll pay off in the end,” he said. “I believe it’s a goal that I can accomplish.”
Reach David Harten at sports@chherald.com.
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