Inside the play: DePaul gets a late 3 pointer

I didn’t see the game live but there was a good reaction to this play from Twitter, so I decided to take a look at it in the game archive. I liked the setup and execution coming out of the timeout, so I wanted to give a breakdown of how DePaul got open to take the late lead in regulation.

Here is how DePaul set up after the timeout. Normally, you would expect the two players around the top of the key to start the action to try to get the ball and initiate the play. This is why the flash from the corner works so well to start the play. It comes from a spot on the floor that action does not usually start from – the far corner.

Cleveland Melvin flashes to the near wing to catch the inbounds pass to start the play. Isaiah Armwood is protecting the paint and therefore, Melvin is able to get open with his flash from the far corner. Armwood is not expecting Melvin to be part of the play and lets him get a free cut toward the near sideline.

Stanford’s pick and roll defense against DePaul

In today’s finale of the 76 Classic, Stanford took away any pick and roll action that DePaul tried to run. They did this by hedging hard with the screener’s man or switching entirely. They did not want to give the guards the edge and this mitigated the effectiveness of any pick and roll action.