A couple points to add:
We get very aggressive with help defense. Creighton designed quite a bot of their offense to tke advantage of this. They found the man who was open (due to his defender helping on the ball handler) and they hit the open threes (I believe at one stretch they had made eight of nine). We aren't going to see many teams with the passing ability to pull this off and even the best shooting teams will seldom be as hot as Creighton was during that stretch. Credit to them for doing what they did.
A year ago, our (in season) difficulty kind of began when at Creighton, they left Jackson wide open from three point range and basically dared him to shoot. He missed early and had zero confidence almost immediately because of that. They did the same thing last night to Castle and it got into his head. He was tenative after that, quite often passed up an open shot to drive into traffic or pass to a covered teammate. Once he travelled because he seemed to decide as he went up to shoot that he shouldn't shoot there. He'll easily move beyond this but I want to know what it is about that place that causes this.
Good points.
Why were the Huskies helping off shooters? That, to me, is insane.
Consider.
1. Creighton guarded the 3 at all cost. Newton had 21 shots, hit 10, and probably should have hit 5 more 6 footers. They decided to let Kalk protect rim.bland were gonna live with Newton making shots. He wasnt going to pass to Karaban or Spencer for 3.
2. UConn, playedtraditional inside out. You are taught to always defend the rim first. You need to make a conscious effort to trust your teammates have the driver handled by the big man
When Clingan was in the game, absolutely no reason to help on the drive. Inexcusable. With Johnson? Hurley gotta find a way to guard the rim when Johnson/Kataban are at the 5. Helping off driving was not a good strategy.
Also? The hard hedge got punished. Once they beat the quick hedge, it was 4-on-3. Someone is open because the defensive wing drops to pick up the role man, leaving the wing open for 3.
They should have stayed with drop coverage with Johnson and made Creighton hit mid range shots.
It’s just an adjustment.