The UConn Playbook
My five favorite plays from UConn and Dan Hurley's playbook.
Happy Holidays!
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In this week’s edition of The Starting Five, we wrote about: Houston’s three-point defense, UCLA’s ball screen offense, a Kansas triple gap set, and an Arizona decoy elevator set.
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Because we’ll be taking next week off for the holidays, we wanted to send out a bonus newsletter this week for you to enjoy.
In today’s edition:
A new episode of Solving Basketball with Ken Pomeroy
The UConn playbook — five sets out of Dan Hurley’s offense
Solving Basketball with Ken Pomeroy
Ken Pomeroy returned to the Solving Basketball podcast for a mailbag episode. We took questions from Twitter on the season as a whole, Ken's rankings, and basketball analytics/philosophy.
Some topics include:
Preseason priors in Ken's ratings
The "rubber band effect" when a team takes a big lead
The current use of analytics among coaching staffs
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Additionally, if you are already Hudl user, check out our Sportscode Secrets and Tips tutorial video from last May.
The UConn Playbook
Sitting at a perfect 13-0, the UConn Huskies are off to one of the best starts in the country. Currently, they are the only team in the top 10 in both kenpom offensive and defensive efficiency.
Offensively, Adama Sanogo is the go-to guy for the Huskies. But Dan Hurley’s team is very deep — with a deep playbook as well.
On Twitter this week, I detailed one of the set plays UConn uses for sharpshooter Jordan Hawkins.
That’s just one of many set plays UConn uses to generate offense for one of their stars.
I watched every UConn made basket so far this season and picked my five favorite sets. That list is below.
[1] Middle pin hi-lo for Sanogo
We start off with one of UConn’s most used plays for Adama Sanogo in the post.
The play starts — as you can see below — with two players criss-crossing each other to opposite sides of the floor.
Sanogo sets a pin down right around the restricted area for #3 Joey Calcaterra, and then immediately ducks in his man.
The goal of the play is to go right inside to Sanogo off of hi-lo action.
It’s a very popular play to get a big man the ball in the middle third of the court. Memphis, for example, used it for James Wiseman back in 2019.
[2] DHO and rip for Sanogo
For play number two, we stick with the theme of getting Sanogo a post touch, but this time it’s on the block instead of the middle third of the floor.
The play starts out with Sanogo receiving a pass out on the perimeter.
After receiving the pass, Sanogo hands the ball off to a guard. As that’s happening, the point guard (in this case #2 Tristen Newton) sets a rip/cross screen for Sanogo to go to the opposite block.
When UConn runs the play they aren’t necessarily looking to steal an easy layup. Instead, it’s usually just to get Sanogo a touch on or just off that block and to then let him go to work from there.
The play has some similarities to Wichita State’s DHO and rip or Bellarmine’s DHO and flex.
[3] Stagger series
UConn uses a lot of off-ball screening action in their offense, most notably for Jordan Hawkins and Joey Calcaterra.
In early offense, they start a good chunk of their possessions with stagger screens. From there, they have a variety of sets they get into if the stagger doesn’t immediately lead to a shot.
I highlighted three of those different variations in the tweet below.
Another team that used stagger screens effectively was UNC Greensboro back in 2019 under Wes Miller.
[4] Buckeye slip
UConn doesn’t rely on the ball screen as much as the average offense, but they do still have a few different set plays for ball screens.
Their “Buckeye” — named by Gibson Pyper due to Thad Matta’s use of the play — set was my favorite ball screen play by the Huskies.
Tristen Newton cuts to the weak side of the court off of a screen from Sanogo, but then the ball ultimately winds up back in Newton’s hands.
#11 Alex Karaban runs up to set a ball screen for Newton, but then automatically slips to the basket for the layup.
It’s the same play Chris Mack ran at Xavier and Louisville. And it’s probably not a coincidence that former Xavier and Louisville assistant coach Luke Murray is now on staff at UConn.
[5] Lob for Jackson
Finally, we have a special set I’ve only seen UConn run once this season: A lob for Andre Jackson.
The play starts out with Jackson passing the ball to the wing and setting a rub screen for Karaban. UConn then clears out a side by running Newton off of a triple screen. After that, Karaban sets the lob for Jackson.
Jackson is one of the most athletic players in the country, so it makes sense that Dan Hurley tried (successfully) to set up the lob play early in the game versus Oklahoma State.
The beginning of the play starts slightly reminiscent of Michigan State’s horns rub.
That’s all for today’s edition, thank you for reading!
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