It’s been an incredible few months for UConn MBB and Head Coach, Dan Hurley, winning the 2023 National Championship in dominant fashion in April, followed by trips to the White House, Connecticut’s Senate and House chambers, and receiving the key to Hurley’s hometown, Jersey City.
We’re taking our own turn to honor the Huskies’ fantastic season this week (not quite on the level of a WH visit) by deep-diving into some core tenants that made this group so difficult to defend. With the help of Coach Ben Ostrow (resume attached) we’ve broken down two of our favorite actions that the Huskies ran this past season, their “Swing Thru” and “Diamond” series.
You can see all the different variations of these two series in this week’s video breakdown, but beyond the design of the sets themselves, what intrigued us most is the clever way UConn mixed up their usage of sharpshooting guard, Jordan Hawkins, at times targeting him as the primary option while disguising him as a clever decoy during others.
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With Hawkins’ unique ability to shoot on the move, off the dribble, as well as in catch-and-shoot situations, the Huskies were able to put the defense in a variety of “no-win” situations where Hawkins’ defender was forced to make difficult “help” decisions at the risk of leaving or switching off of Hawkins. The few situations we’ll look at today are how UConn used his gravity in:
- Clearing and Confusing the Tag, and
- Compounding Actions: Cutting Before Screening Situations (Exit and “Twirl” Screens)
Before diving in with Hawkins, it’s worth noting that UConn’s offense also featured stellar low post play with players like Adama Sanogo and Donovan Clingman, coupled with one of the best “connective tissue” players in the country, Andre Jackson, who UConn relied on to keep the offensive engine running through pops, DHO’s, etc.
The hard rolling/hi-low presence of players like Sanogo mixed with the Curry-like movements of Hawkins is where some of the magic of UConn’s offense starts to shine.
Clearing and Confusing the Tag
#1 – Rim Cut to Pin Down
The first tricky situation we’ll look at is when the Huskies cut Hawkins to the rim before immediately clearing him out off a screen. Here’s an example of the Huskies doing this through a pin down…
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Zooming In: In the example above, Hawkins’ cut to the rim takes his defender to a place where they are technically the “tag” on the ensuing rim roll from Sanogo. Look closer above and you can almost see the thought process of Hawkins’ defender after he makes the cut…
“Ok…we worked on tagging Sanogo’s roll as the low man the last two days in practice. I’m not going to get subbed out for this. I’m here coach!”
“Shit…we also worked on staying attached and chasing Hawkins off screens…”
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And that’s all the indecision needed for a shooter like Hawkins to gain separation and bury a clean look.
Another reason this crafty little action is so difficult to defend (and something we show further in today’s video) is if Hawkins’ defender does stay attached to him after the cut and subsequent downscreen there is no one on that backside to help on the empty corner PNR with Sanogo. This opens up all sorts of opportunities for UConn to throw lobs/pocket passes or “spin and seal” Sanogo after the roll with little fear of a turnover coming from a helping defender.
#2 – High Quad Lift – Single Side Tag
That takes us to another way that UConn could use Hawkins to “clear” or confuse the tag, and that’s in lifting him at or above the wing when he’s behind the Sanogo PNR. We discussed this “High Quad” lift in our podcast with Santa Cruz Warriors Head Coach, Seth Cooper, where he discussed keeping that backside shooter lifted high instead of having him replace up from the corner. This creates a longer tag situation for Hawkins’ defender if he does try and chip Sanogo on that roll. Like mentioned above, this subtle action helps clear his man from the rim and allows a clean lane for Sanogo to roll into…
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Zooming In: It’s also worth appreciating in the GIF above what UConn is doing in front of the PNR as well. Not only does lifting Hawkins behind the action make this a difficult PNR to guard, but you can see how the nice exchange in front of the ball by the other two UConn players also moves the low tag to help create the easy pass and finish on the roll.
#3 – Roll/Replace with Backside Lift
Both examples we’ve gone through so far can be considered “single-side tag” situations, or actions when Hawkins and his defender are technically the only ones behind the PNR while the other two players are in front of it. But UConn could also use Hawkins’ gravity to clear/confuse the tag if they played with him as one of the two behind the ballscreen as well. This came in the form of the Huskies’ middle third “roll/replace” action where Hawkins was again lifted to the wing on the backside while their forward replaced up behind the ballscreen…
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Again, these two simultaneous lifts behind Sanogo’s roll put the defenders in a bit of a pickle. Who should tag the roll? And if they do, one of UCONN’s shooters will likely have a nice “step-in” three attempt on a throwback.
Compounding Actions – Exits and Twirl Screens
#1 – Twirl/Hook Screens
Beyond using Hawkins’ gravity to clear and confuse the tag, there are certainly many situations where UConn used designed sets to call his number. There are a variety of creative ways they did that in 2023, many of which are in today’s video, but here we’ll look at “Twirl” and “Exit” screens for Hawkins after he’s been a cutter and screener himself.
The first is built out of their “UCLA Shuffle” action, where Hawkins sets a shuffle screen before eventually coming off a stagger. What’s different here is how UConn gets to that stagger for Hawkins, opting to “twirl” or “hook” screen with Andre Jackson after he’s come off of Hawkins’ initial pindown…
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Zooming In: This “twirl” action not only takes advantage of Hawkins’ defender likely jumping to the ball or relaxing for a split second after he sets the pindown, but it also allows plenty of opportunity for the defense to miscommunicate on a switch or show after that twirl. As shown above, Sanogo is rolling to the rim after these staggers, so any switch can be immediately punished by a low post seal.
Zooming In 2.0: The Miami Heat have made great use of these “twirl/hook” screens in their Split Actions over the past few years, using the gravity of Duncan Robinson or Jimmy Butler to create an advantage.
#2 – Exit Screens
A few weeks back we dove into the terrific playbook of Tenerife, specifically looking at their sets run for shooters. One of the key components of that playbook was Tenerife’s use of a rim cut followed by an exit screen for the shooter. UConn’s baseline exit screen for Hawkins flowing out of the high split action is another great example of making a defender guard compounding actions.
Here’s a look at the Huskies running this action with Hawkins’ elite ability to shoot on the move on full display…
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Zooming In: Somewhere Zenit HC, Xavi Pascual, is smiling watching that little back pivot by UConn’s big on the exit screen for Hawkins. A few months back we did an entire breakdown on how Zenit changes angles and pivots on screens to (legally) spring shooters free.
In today’s video breakdown you’ll see a ton of “steal-able” sets from the Huskies, and though they are great, the fun part is the “who” and “why” of what they ran this year en route to the National Championship. When you piece together how they utilized Hawkins as a shooter, along with their excellent “Hi-Low” and deep post game with their bigs, and the way they continually opened double gaps for their downhill drivers, you see why they were such an offensive force to be reckoned with.
To view the entire breakdown of UConn’s “Swing Thru” and “Diamond” Series, here is this week’s deep dive breakdown on SGTV…
