Take responsibility for your actions:

Tough players make no excuses.  They take responsibility for their actions.  

Take James Johnson for example.  With 17 seconds to go in Wake's game against Duke earlier this season, Jon Scheyer missed a 3-pointer that bounced right to Johnson.  But instead of aggressively pursuing the ball with a sense of urgency, Johnson stood there and waited for the ball to come to him.  

It never did.  Scheyer grabbed it, called a timeout and the Blue Devils hit a game-tying shot on a possession they never should've had.  

Going after the loose ball is toughness -- and Johnson didn't show it on that play. But what happened next?  He re-focused, slipped a screen for the winning basket, and after the game -- when he could've been basking only in the glow of victory -- manned up to the mistake that could've cost his team the win.  "That was my responsibility -- I should have had that," Johnson said of the goof.  No excuses. Shouldering the responsibility.  

That's toughness.