Notre Dame successfully screens the bottom of the zone

I have had several posts highlighting how screening a zone can be a successful action against the zone (see here and here). One screen that is under-utilized is screening in a shooter in the corner. I briefly touched on it here with Belmont but Notre Dame ran it beautifully tonight.

Coming off an offensive rebound, Ben Hansbrough reset the Irish offense against a 2-3 zone. He called for a ball screen on Maalik Wayns on the right wing, which would be set by Scott Martin. Villanova (mainly Corey Fisher) realizes what is coming and calls out the shooter running baseline to the corner.

Belmont screens the zone

Earlier this season, we looked at how William and Mary screened the one of Syracuse to get players open to drive the ball or get open looks (see post here). They mainly focused on screening the top 2 players of the 2-3 zone and I remarked how a screen on the bottom of the zone could have gotten the corner runner open.

Watching the Belmont game last night, they effectively screened the bottom wing player of the zone to get an open three point shot. Watch and see how effective screening a zone can be.

Gonzaga screens the bottom of the zone

Earlier this season, I took a look at W&M screening the top players of the zone, helping them get open looks (seen here). One thing I noted I would have liked to have seen them do is screen the bottom players of the zone. This can be equally effective in getting a teammate open and Gonzaga demonstrates that in this play.

William and Mary screens the zone of Syracuse

One aspect of offense that is often lost in playing against a zone is the use of the screen. When used properly, the screen can still be effective against a zone defense.

W&M showed they were committed to screening the zone against Syracuse to find some openings. They screened in several different ways and was often effective in getting open looks.