Ole Miss has played a lot of 2-3 zone this year, and it has been extremely effective as Ole Miss picked off lesser offensive teams in their first five games.
When Ole Miss is in their halfcourt 2-3 zone, they are allowing .678 points per possession. They have held opponents to a 29.2 percent shooting from the field. But their first five games came against weak offensive teams, as all of those opponents were outside of the top 200 in offensive efficiency this year. But Penn State had a top-20 offense, and has five players shooting over 35 percent on threes.
The Ole Miss zone faced its biggest challenge against Penn State, and despite giving up nine three pointers and some open lanes, the defense still performed well.
Penn State had success against the 2-3 zone by getting a guard into the middle of zone and letting him facilitate the offense. Here, Jarvis Summers is denying that pass into the lane. However, this leaves an open shooter on the wing. In this case, it is Brandon Taylor, who is shooting over 40 percent on threes.
The ball was passed to Tim Frazier on the wing, and he looked to drive to the hoop, which kept Summers in the lane because the middle man, Demarco Cox, was aggressive in defending the short corner.
Frazier skips the ball over to Taylor, and Summers has no chance to close out on the shot. Fortunately for Ole Miss, Aaron Jones was aware of the shooter on the wing and did a tremendous job of closing out, then contesting the shot that Taylor missed.
The zone struggled the most when Penn State used ball screens to attack Ole Miss. First, they used their big man who can shoot – Brandon Taylor again – to set a screen on Derrick Millinghaus.
Taylor then popped to the three-point line as Millinghaus fought to get back on Frazier. Frazier sent the ball over to Taylor who got an open look at a three.
Notice Penn State’s spacing. LaDarius White can’t come out of the corner, because he is guarding a 36 percent three-point shooter, which leaves Millinghaus to defend both the ball handler and the screener.
Also, notice Graham Woodward of Penn State on the near wing. He is too high, which allows Sebastian Saiz to stay high to provide potential help on Frazier driving.
But Penn State fixed that when they used a double screen on both Henderson and Millinghaus in the 2-3 zone. Penn State has shooters in either corner, making sure the zone is spread thin, and daring Ole Miss to leave a shooter.
The high screens prevent either Henderson or Millinghaus from defending Tim Frazier as he comes into the lane. Sebastian Saiz can’t fully commit to Frazier, as Woodward is in the corner.
Frazier knocks down the long two-pointer, which is alright for Ole Miss. But more concerning is that Frazier could have pulled up for three or swung to Woodward for an open three.
Ideally, Jones in the middle would step up to cut off Frazier, and Saiz would be able to close out on a pass to the corner. This would leave White on the far side having to defend the roll man with an open path to the basket and the shooter on the three point line, but that is forcing Penn State to make one more read and pass that they might not see or execute.
Ole Miss can be more effective in their zone due to length. Aaron Jones, Sebastian Saiz and Anthony Perez have tremendous length and can close out on shooters plus deny guards in the lane. (Add Demarco Cox in the lane protection.)
Contesting shots and keeping teams out of the paint will be key for Ole Miss to stay in their zone all season. Henderson and Millinghaus are better defenders in the zone than they are in man-to-man defense, so getting excellent play from the bottom part of the zone is critical for playing Henderson and Millinghaus together.
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Photos courtesy of Synergy Sports
— Tyler Bischoff
tfbischo@go.olemiss.edu
