Marshall Henderson loves to run off of baseline screens. It is the number one play for Ole Miss. But this year, teams have done an excellent of job defending him as he runs through a maze of screens.
He also gets open threes in transition and off of offensive rebounds, but Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy needs another way to get him open with designed plays. Against LSU, Henderson got wide open looks from seldom used plays.
On a fast break, Ole Miss didn’t have a numbers advantage, but they managed to get Henderson a wide open three.
LSU has all five defenders back. Henderson has run to the corner as Summers dribbles the ball up the floor.
Summers and Henderson are going to execute a dribble handoff to perfection. Summers begins to drive the ball at Henderson, who reverses direction to run behind Summers.
Now, Summers is going to hand the ball to Henderson and set a screen on the defender guarding Henderson.
The screen is perfect; Henderson’s man has no chance to contest the shot. Summers’ man has to honor Summers’ ability to drive to the basket, which leaves no one to close out on Henderson.
The result is one of the most open threes Henderson will get and an Ole Miss lead.
In the half court, Kennedy drew up an elevator screen for Henderson to get him another wide open three.
Summers has the ball, as Ole Miss has two post players at the elbows and two guards in the corner. Henderson is going to run between the posts, as Sebastian Saiz and Demarco Cox will squeeze the elevator door shut on Henderson’s defender.
Notice that all three defenders involved in the screen are below the free throw line because of the screen. This leaves Henderson with no one pressuring him as he runs to the three-point line.
Again, the result is an open three for Henderson because of a perfectly executed play.
However, the best part of the elevator screen is what Ole Miss did late, when they trailed by four with less than 1:20 to play.
Summers has dribbled to his right and the elevator screen is about to be executed. But LSU sees this and doesn’t want to give Henderson an open look, so they over pursue him.
Aaron Jones’ defender looks to take away the pass and hedges up the floor with Henderson. This leaves a vacant lane that Jones will cut through.
Summers makes the pass to Jones who easily finishes, as Demarco Cox’s man chases him from behind. Also of note is how far Henderson ran through the screen. He stretched the defense all the way to half court in order to spread the defense as thin as possible.
It is simple and brilliant. Kennedy dialed up the elevator screens just twice against LSU. He got Henderson a wide open three and Jones a wide open layup. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Ole Miss will need to find more and more ways to get Henderson open looks for threes. Simple, quick-hitting plays like these can be effective in getting the Rebels’ most important payer rolling and other players open looks.
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss men’s basketball, follow @Tyler_RSR and @thedm_sports on Twitter.
— Tyler Bischoff
tfbischo@go.olemiss.edu
