That was a welcome and convincing victory in a must-win game that, prior to, brought with it more dread than anticipation. Quickly that feeling melted away after an 11-0 run to start the game with the good guys barely looking back the rest of the contest. But, what do you take from a game like that where we were so dominant for the first half and then took our foot off of the gas in the second half with some less-than-ideal bench play?
There are a lot of things you could try to infer from the second half that, per CTB, showed our lack of maturity at times; but I don’t think that would be overly constructive as many of those players who struggled collectively did well when surrounded by a greater number of our starters in the first half. Rarely, if ever, are we going to be playing all of them together in that way in meaningful minutes. For the purposes of this review, I’m going to do something fairly unique to CfTC and focus solely on the 41-13 first half drubbing, as that was when the game was decided and when we were still moving through our core rotations. Because, honestly, this game finished as a 17-point victory and felt so much more dominant than the 24-point margin we registered against the Cardinals earlier in the season. I’m going to first focus on the defense any why it was so smothering, and then am going to scatter-shoot around a few of our players offensively and just touch on some developments or points I think are of note.
Honestly, this feels like an earlier-in-the season Cuts without a broader over-arching premise or theme and just pulling out some random things of interest from a dominating victory. Let’s have at it!
Dominant Defense
No matter who you’re playing, allowing only 13 points in a half of basketball is attention-grabbing. This was a smothering performance – so let’s look at why. The first thing to note is that Louisville starts one true center in the 6’10” Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (#5) and then, mostly, plays four guards around him. Tre White (#22) is 6’7″ and the 6’9″ Emmanuel Okorafor (#34) saw 10 minutes off of the bench, but you’re mostly seeing 4-around-1 perimeter-oriented basketball and their collective size and physicality is not going to punish you in the same way some of these other ACC teams will. In fact, Jordan Minor only saw 10 minutes on the floor in this one due to foul trouble and Blake Buchanan fouled out after 14 minutes of play, but this was a rare game in conference play where Jake Groves was adequate defensively as a center and where Leon Bond could get away with playing the PF. So, holistically, even though much of our improvement on defense over recent games has been a direct result of playing either Minor or Buchanan as our center they played just over half of the game between them and we still weren’t punished for that. That’s one element to all of this that is likely not as translatable against other opponents.
That being said, when I looked at our defense during the first 20 minutes of the game attempting to find the reasons for success, I found a few key things. For one, our on-ball defense was regularly just locked in. This was the single biggest key/trend, and it’s a very simple one. Secondly, Louisville’s style of offense allowed Ryan Dunn (and Leon Bond when at the 4) to switch some on screens rather than our standard hedge defense from the PF position, which added a wrinkle of disruption. Thirdly, our on-ball defenders made a very conscious effort to get depth and sink onto the ball screeners to make passes on hedge defense difficult from slipped screens/rolls. This allowed our post guys to play a little more aggressive with the hedge while making the pre-emptive pass to beat the action more difficult. All together it made for some really rough sledding for Louisville – let’s take a look:
This first clip just showcases Ryan Dunn being incredibly capable as a defender on the perimeter. He’s starting he game on 6’5″ Curtis Williams (#1) where Andrew Rohde is actually on the larger Tre White (#22). Notice how Minor is shading Huntley-Hatfield (#5) as he works the middle of the court looking for screens and post-up opportunities. Louisville executes a dribble hand-off (DHO) to Williams and Dunn stays on him, letting McKneely go behind him while staying on the dribble by Williams. Huntley-Hatfield attempts to set a ball screen on Dunn, which kind of glances off and Dunn stays home on Williams who then passes to Skyy Clark (#55) attempting to screen Beekman in the process. Now, normally here Dunn as our PF would hedge this screen and transition the ball-handler back to Beekman, forcing some rotations and giving Louisville an opportunity to read and react to those. But, in this case given who they were both defending, Dunn just switches with Beekman, taking Clark. With very little time left on the shot clock, Clark attempts to isolate and take Dunn off of the dribble but Dunn does a great job of using his length to bother the dribble, keeping good defensive positioning, and giving an incredibly long and intrusive contest on the fadeaway before turning and gathering the rebound himself.
I love this decision and it’s a great luxury to have our Power Forward be able to replace our All-Conference Defense Point Guard on his man and completely lock him up. It’s good in two regards; for one, there’s the element of surprise in that we’re often hedging with this player. Secondly, Dunn as an on-ball defender with his length is an even more formidable presence to shoot over than Beekman, and making this switch at the very end of the shot clock doesn’t give Clark the ability to reconsider; he has to go with it.
This is a really nice adaptation by us defensively, but it is one mostly predicated on Louisville’s personnel. With a much more sizable PF on the opposition’s side, we might be able to execute a switch like this at the VERY end of the shot clock without them being able to pass back to Beekman’s cover, but it would have to be a very situational, timely (and aware) decision. Against Louisville, it’s something we can play either way at any point in the possession.
This next clip is an introduction to a slight change in the way we’re playing this extended hedge. Historically, not even very long ago this season, we would hard-hedge these screens far from the basket, our on-ball defender would work to get back in the play, and our hedge-defender would then look to recover to his man rolling to the hoop, with our help-side defense tagging the roller. We’ve spent a good amount of time in past games, very notably @N.C. State covering how teams were initiating this action far out to force our hedger a longer distance to recover and then either hitting the roller with the pass or passing the ball to the near-side corner, taking advantage of his man helping on the roller. In recent games, we’ve started defending this by having our hedge defender play it much more flat and less aggressively, improving his ability to recover more quickly but not being as disruptive to the ball-handler. Here, we’re using a slightly different variation as you see at the beginning of this play. Louisville sets a ball screen way out by the logo and Minor shows fairly hard, cutting off the dribble progress. However, instead of trying to get right back to the ball handler, Reece Beekman sags, making a pass to a quick roll undesirable. Instead, Huntley-Hatfield on Louisville flattens out his approach and receives the ball, but Jordan Minor has plenty of time and space to get back into good defensive position, negating the threat. From there you see some good on-ball defense from both Beekman and Rohde, with Rohde eventually knocking the ball loose from Tre White and then diving on the floor to tie it up.
The headliner on that clip is probably actually Rohde playing very good on-ball defense a game removed from really struggling to keep Casey Morsell in front of him. Tre White is a bigger and less quick player – but is also 6’7″ so Rohde at 6’6″ being able to take the cover while giving Dunn the ability to roam/switch as we saw in the first clip is also a big deal. But the subtle change in hedge philosophy is notable. We had been allowing the post player to take a less extreme angle on hedges that far from the basket but, now, kept that action to cut off the path of the dribble, but changed to allow the on-ball defender to sag deeper/to have less urgency to immediately get back to the ball-handler.
This was most notable on this play, below, with Ryan Dunn on Huntley-Hatfield this time. Louisville passes to McKneely’s man who hands it back off to Skyy Clark with Beekman on him. They move to set a ball screen at the wing on Beekman with H-H. Notice that Dunn hard hedges here and H-H fakes and slips the screen rolling to the rim. The goal here being for Clark to immediately toss the ball to H-H with Dunn hard hedging, putting him Louisville in a 4-on-3 going to the rim. Rather than Dunn having to recover here, though, Beekman drops off, reads the pass, and deflects it to Dunn who runs out the other way (getting fouled to prevent a poster).
I don’t normally post clips from other games in these but, for the purposes of contrast, watch how we defended this against N.C. State with McKneely and Buchanan. Buchanan gets carried so far and McKneely recovers urgently to the ball handler.
That subtle change in the Louisville clip of having the on-ball defender drop back while still letting the big man hedge was a good change and I like that idea of mixing that in along with the flat hedge to change up the looks and keep the offense from knowing what’s coming.
Here it is a little less overtly because no turnover comes of it, but still effectively, below. This time Groves is on Huntley-Hatfield and they set the screen out there on Beekman. Watch Groves hedge and Beekman sag all the way back on H-H, basically fronting him at the three-point line while Groves recovers. They attempt to do it again, this time on the three-point line but H-H can’t get a big piece of Reece and Groves flat-hedges this time prior to quickly recovering back. This is followed up with some good on-ball defense by McKneely and a decent contest at the rim, forcing a miss and collecting the rebound.
So even with Groves at Center, this change did a good job of keeping that roll from being open toward the hoop while still offering a more aggressive drive-angle deterrent from the post player.
Here’s a look at a similar concept, below, with Louisville attempting three-way screening action. Leon Bond is covering 6’6″ Kaleb Glenn (#10) and Dunn is on Huntley-Hatfield with Beekman covering Clark at the point. Glenn sets a ball screen for Beekman and Bond stays sagged in the lane, allowing Dunn to flat-hedge on Clark with Bond staying home on H-H. Beekman does take a straighter line of recovery here given that it’s not just a two-man game and Bond holds on H-H until Dunn recovers and then, in turn, recovers out to Glenn on the pass back on the perimeter. Bond then switches the ball screen Glenn sets on McKneely and takes the 6’5″ Mike James (#0) on his curl/drive to the rim, carrying out the same switch concept from the 4 that we saw from Dunn in our first clip. His hands are active and strips the ball away from James for the turnover.
There’s a lot of communication that goes into defending this play and it’s encouraging that Bond’s at the center of it (even if it is at the PF). He and Beekman and Dunn executed the three-man screen interchange very well and then all strategic concepts were on display with that screen switch with McKneely. I take this as a sign, just generally, that we’re definitely getting tighter and more comfortable with our team defense as a whole.
This is the same look from earlier in the game but this time with Minor on H-H and Dunn on Mike James. James screens the ball first again and Dunn drops so that he’s in a similar position that Bond was from the earlier clip. Minor leaves H-H in a somewhat aggressive show but doesn’t directly cut off the driving angle, and Beekman, upon recovering to his man, lingers on H-H such that both he and Dunn are in striking distance of a potential pass. Dunn lingers on H-H as Beekman recovers to Clark, Minor retreats to H-H, the ball goes back to James, who Dunn picks up. Beautiful! As the play continues, Tre White and H-H attempt to execute another ball screen, this time on Rohde, and Minor shows and retreats, Rohde does sag to H-H on his recovery (though not as deep as Beekman was, still is clearly mindful of it) and the ball has to go back out to Curtis Williams (#1). Williams just attempts to straight up take McKneely off of the drive and gives the offensive foul as McKneely maintains great positioning on-ball.
We’re seeing it all work together in these, now, and it’s great that Minor is involved, again, as his man-to-man team defense has been in question this year. These are just really good and communicative defensive rotations and adjustments finished with quality on-ball defense.
High-quality on-ball defense like that from McKneely is just a general staple to the defense, which is why when you see our defenders getting blown by one-on-one as we have from time-to-time this year, it puts so much pressure on the back-end of the defense. Andrew Rohde struggled mightily with this in the last game, but putting him on the bigger Tre White did wonders in this one. In this clip, below, we see the on-ball screen action again with Beekman and Minor, but it’s close enough to the hoop the Beekman needs to maintain a tighter line on his man and can’t sag as much. Here, even though his man has cleared out to the opposite corner, Rohde does a good job of lingering to deter a pass to H-H who would have been open after the Minor hedge. He then recovers out to White and does a very nice job of on-ball defense, first cutting off the baseline, then resisting the back down and giving a nice contest on the fadeaway prior to Minor securing the glass.
I really liked how these were the matchups we started the game with; it wasn’t a reactive shift we made after conceding some buckets. Rohde on White and Dunn on James was intuitive and really highlighted each of their versatility while minimizing the quickness element with which Rohde had been struggling.
Some more looks with quality on-ball defense; this one from Bond at the PF again on Mike James. He’s mobile and strong with the body, slowing up the dribble and allowing Beekman to sink in an tie up the ball.
And here, below, we’ve got Beekman himself hanging right on the hip of the quick Ty-Laur Johnson (#4) and then swatting the shot back to Dunn.
Point just being that the most consistent aspect of our defense in this one was that our on-ball defense held up well which set the tone and forced Louisville into unassisted shot after shot playing what would amount to one-on-one.
For contrast, here’s one of the few times it didn’t hold up as Dante Harris, who has still very much struggled in this area – typically a strength of his – since returning from injury, is over-aggressive on the close-out and gets beaten by the same Ty-Laur Johnson into the lane. This forces Taine to leave Tre White to stop the penetration, and Johnson is able to find him for the kick-out and open three.
It all breaks down when you aren’t sound at the point of attack; something we’re going to need Harris to tighten up sooner than later.
On final thing defensively – we did not double-team the post very often in this one, but did on occasion when Jake Groves was defending and it did look better than it has. Perhaps that was because of the element of surprise since we hadn’t been doing it, but H-H works to get the ball against Groves in the post and by the time he turns, Dunn is there with the double. Reece does a good job getting depth to help on any attempted passes to the cutting Mike James and as H-H uses his retreat dribble he looks to James but is deterred by Beekman attempting to dive on it and Dunn getting back in the play. He passes to James on the baseline and attempts to cut back door on Groves, but Jake reacts well and gets a hand on the pass, deflecting it to Reece.
It’s pretty clear that our decision to double-team the post was tied to Groves playing Center, which only happened for a short period of time and rarely came up defensively. Still, I like that. Unless opponents are just so tuned into the scouting report that they’ll handle one-on-one coverage all game but suddenly expect the help when Groves is in the game (which will be very uncommon), this should act more as a surprise factor rather than something they’re anticipating because it happens so often. Not only was Louisville not ready, but we timed all of the actions well.
While it’s true that playing Louisville has its benefits for us from a talent and a matchup perspective, you still have to be very locked in on the defensive side of the ball to hold any team to 13 points in a half. I thought we were especially locked in on-ball, aided by some savvy lineup assignments from CTB. Additionally, the subtle adjustments we made to this matchup from switching our PF onto ball handlers and changing our hedge/recovery angles from both our frontcourt and backcourt players, all paid off well. Predictability has been something that’s hurt our defense earlier in the season, and I’m a big fan of how we’ve been making these small little variable adjustments in how we defend things from game-to-game. Defending Notre Dame’s size on Wednesday will present an entirely separate set of challenges, and we almost certainly won’t be able to defend it in the same way, so I look forward to checking out the tweaks again.
Offensive Scatter-Shooting
Alright! Confidence is a big deal and it seemed like most of our guys were playing with it on Saturday. Rather than tackle any kind of broader themes, it seems more relevant to highlight a clip or two from some of our guys that address some trends they’ve been dealing with throughout the season (or that just represent important elements to our offense moving forward).
Ryan Dunn Is Starting To Believe
Aside from the defense we saw earlier, Ryan Dunn is just playing so much more confidently on the offensive end. Some of this feels unlocked by the emergence of Minor – but Dunn had a career high 19 points in this one on 8-10 shooting from the floor and Minor only played 10 minutes. While the confidence may have sparked from that, he’s just playing more loosely and opportunistically now, while seeming more confident in calling his own number. Even when he’s taking shots I didn’t like earlier in the season, fading away from the basket rather than going toward it, he’s shooting them more in rhythm and has been knocking them down (which, big analysis here, matters).
Honestly with Dunn, the more he’s just shooting confidently from anywhere (even if he’s not always this hot) I think is growth toward where this team needs to go offensively. This is the kind of shot I’m talking about where he gets a switch when H-H is drawn to defend the ball screen and Mike James (#0) has to come to defend him. Of course, I’d probably rather he just go right at James and force a foul/finish around the rim, but this quick mismatch recognition into a confident fade is fine if it’s working for him.
A big reason it IS working for him is that he’s building his confidence and getting into the mix of the game with big plays like this one (and the many other alley-oops and dunks like the one we’ll see from a Beekman assist, below).
When you do something like that, let alone many things like that in the same game, it does put your confidence at a level where shots like the first just feel like they’re going to fall. I chose to include this one of all of the big dunks in this game (although I did love the functional spin move to the baseline dunk in the second half) because it’s the most awe-inducing.
But with the above, we’re now seeing him play and create for others some with his back to the basket. On this play he has Tre White on him man-to-man with Huntley-Hatfield guarding Groves. He sets a screen for McKneely in Sides and rolls and McKneely finds him with the pass, but not before White gets back into good guarding position. Earlier in the season Dunn probably would have passed this back out and reset. Saturday, he took a couple of dribbles into the lane, drew H-H, and found Groves for the open three:
I kind of wanted to just make a Ryan Dunn dunk reel from this one in first draft – but you can find those clips easily. While they’re important, they’re often saying more about how well everything else is functioning like our defense and our transition offense and our creators, well, creating. But what’s really exciting from him on the offensive end is all of the other things he’s doing – hitting the glass, creating his own shot, creating looks for others. Big strides!
Reece Beekman 7-10 Feet Away
Reece is such a key to our offensive engine that it’s hard just to pick a few things, but this first clip is a huge deal and will continue to be a huge deal as the season progresses, especially the way that Notre Dame clogged the lane against us in our first encounter.
It’s this little runner that he gets off after the pick and roll with Minor. You can see that there really aren’t many other options other than resetting the offense; Minor sets a flare screen for Beekman who takes the pass, and then he repositions to let Beekman run off of the ball screen into the middle of the lane. If you pause between 9 and 10 seconds, though, you’ll see that Beekman draws both defenders (might have had a pass to Minor but the passing lane was tight). He slows his dribble, keeping Skyy Clark on his hip, and forcing H-H to slightly retreat to gain depth in case of a pass to Minor. Louisville has TWO more defenders in the lane, though, one playing Rohde in the short corner and one sagging entirely off of Dunn. This is how many teams, including Notre Dame, played us regularly. Beekman, though, takes the opportunity to land a nice little runner before getting too close into the sea of defenders, capitalizing on the pick and roll action but avoiding Louisville’s cheating.
This shot is a key element to our offense to help burn defensive sagging even when Dunn isn’t punishing it. If Beekman can play off of Minor’s screens and consistently find points in the lane without having to get all the way to the rim, it will be big.
One more look from Beekman illustrating his patience and control of the offense. Initially here he pushes the ball ahead from Harris. Harris has an open look from three but opts to drive the lane instead and then kicks it back out to Beekman. Reece drives into the lane himself and then pivots with his back to his man. He uses his eyes to manipulate the defense like he’s going to kick the ball back out to Harris, but this misdirection allows Dunn to dive right to the basket and Beekman finds him for the easy dunk.
I chose to include this one because it certainly shows that our players are getting more comfortable reading and playing off one another, but it also highlights the unique value that Beekman brings to the team through just his timing and control and patience. He’s not in a hurry to make the play or rushing anything, he’ll wait for you to react to what he’s doing and then do the other thing.
Blake Buchanan – Improving Touch
Blake Buchanan had that big game early against Florida where he seemed like he was trying to dunk everything, getting to the foul line, and even hitting midrange jumpers and then that all stopped abruptly. For a good stretch afterward he just looked lost on the offensive end, not playing confidently with the ball, fading away from the rim, shooting pretty flat hook shots that didn’t have much hope.
That’s also quietly changed and pretty significantly.
Check out this little push shot without hesitation off of a tight-quartered Beekman feed:
I love this shot both because he doesn’t hesitate and because it’s a new wrinkle as to the kinds of looks he’s willing to take.
But, additionally, that hook shot which he’s been working on all season and has been a laser at the rim for most of it, is starting to round into form as well:
Both of these shots are just softer and with more touch than he’s been shooting. They’re less rushed and less frantic and this one’s over Huntley-Hatfield after his defense had been set. If Buchanan is able to chip in a few points per game where he’s having to make some skill shots or his own move, that will also be offense we didn’t have previously.
Andrew Rohde Three Ball
Simply put, Andrew Rohde being able to knock down open threes within the flow of the offense (especially deep ones) would be one of the bigger developments we could hope for. On the back of the significant shooting slump he’d been enduring, he’s down to under 27% from three on the season. But, he was 2-4 from out there on Saturday, including this deep bomb:
We’re a long way from being able to think that this is reliable on a move forward, but I’m happy to have games like this that inspire hope. Of note, the range on this one is well beyond the three-point line, allowing for the punishment of his man sagging in to help on the Beekman drive.
Taine Midrange Murray
I don’t want Taine taking that midrange jumper where he gets run off of the three-point line and takes a step or two inside of it, but I don’t mind this at all where he curls around the Minor screen, takes a dribble to the elbow, and confidently and rises into his shot.
I wouldn’t mind him taking that first look from three, either. It’s good to see him looking for his shot and not just when he’s abandoned outside. Of course, like with Dunn’s fadeaway from earlier, this isn’t the kind of look you’d want to see en masse if he was cold, but confidence is a heck of a thing.
Dante Harris – Drive to Pass!
Last game I called out our offensive struggles with Dante Harris on the floor – with him too often settling for a midrange jumper when he wasn’t on or forcing something while contested at the rim. This play was a positive development where he drove baseline but, rather than looking to pull-up, he surveyed the floor and was able to find McKneely for a clean look on the wing.
That’s good court vision and execution of the pass, and is in contrast with a couple of looks in the N.C. State game where he drew the defense but wasn’t looking for the pass.
Similarly, though, dump this ball back off to Beekman!
It still feels like he’s pressing, even despite the first play. He’s been good at blowing by defenders and finishing, but he hasn’t been great about finishing over quality contests at the rim. That break would have been easy just to draw the defender and lay the ball back to Beekman for a layup/dunk, and he really needs to start making the smarter play more regularly.
Perhaps it’s been clear in my commentary in this one but, if not, I don’t think Dante Harris is where he needs to be just yet. I’m not sold he can’t get there nor that his ankle isn’t still on the mend (he rolled an ankle again in this contest but returned), but there’s still a ways to go on both ends of the floor. He got 9 minutes in this one, down from 20 in the previous, and a good number of them were in the second half. That might have been the rolled ankle, but I’m hopeful that CTB is pulling back a little until his efficacy increases.
Brief Elijah Gertrude Chat
Elijah Gertrude didn’t enter this game until about 5 minutes to go in the game and I’m really not sure why. If burning the redshirt was because he was ready to contribute and it was what was best for him, it doesn’t make much sense not to get him ANY competitive minutes in a game where we were up 30 points in the first half.
Sure, he’s out of the core rotation now and that’s fine. No, he’s not an immediate savior. Yes, his handle looks a little loose. But he still does crazy things on the basketball court and it still, flatly, just doesn’t need to be only end of game minutes for him, especially in a game like this. If he’s in your near-term or serious long-term plans, then you need to find something more for him. If he’s not, we shouldn’t have burned his redshirt.
I’m not going to spend much more on that topic because I’ve shared thoughts on it many times before – but it did seem relevant to bring up again considering how lopsided this game was and how scarcely he was still utilized.
In Conclusion
Strange one because there’s not really an over-arching thesis or anything like that to wrap up in this one, but that’s often what happens when you out class an opponent. Still, the team is clearly playing better which you can see through HOW they’re winning and how they’re functioning together. They were absolutely dominant with the big three of Reece Beekman, Isaac McKneely, and Ryan Dunn on the floor at +31, +25, and +27 BP/M respectively. The next closest was Andrew Rohde at +13. So, it’s both a great sign that your best players are starting to play their best basketball and that it looks like you have plenty of room still to tinker around them.
I really like the continual defensive evolution and the confidence with which most of our supporting cast is playing on offense. We’ll need that to continue along with all new defensive adjustments to get the bad Notre Dame taste out of our mouth.
For now, let’s put a pin in a high-quality half of basketball that led to a comfortable victory and hope for more on Wednesday!
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