How good was our defense?

[Alan Smithee]

Here's how good:
Just prior to the game, BTN showed a graphic illustrating that Ethan Happ leads his team in points, rebounds, assists, blocks, steals and FG pct. He is the ONLY player in college basketball to lead his team in all of those categories.

So how good was our defense? Good enough to force Wisconsin to voluntarily sit that player for most of the second half.

 

[purplejustice]

The best defensive effort of the year against Wisconsin.

 

[Sec.112]

How good was that strategy?!?! How good was that execution?!?!?

 

[DaCat]

This game could've gotten away from us on a couple of occasions but the defense kept us in it. Impressive.

 

[Medill90]

I've watched Happ all year. He's a terrific big man on both ends of the court. But on offense he's lethal, unlimited number of moves near the basket.

I have no idea how NU stopped that. (Haven't watched the game, was at a wake).

 

[EvanstonCat]

Now let's get another shot at Swanigan!

 

[NU Houston]

I've watched Happ all year. He's a terrific big man on both ends of the court. But on offense he's lethal, unlimited number of moves near the basket.

I have no idea how NU stopped that. (Haven't watched the game, was at a wake).

NU threw a swarming, unpredictable defense at him. Usually double teamed, but not always immediately and often with different second defenders coming in. Really took him out of his comfort zone.

 

[Cincy Cat]

I've been lurking on this board for years, as I know even less about basketball than I do about football (which itself is not much).

But -- a few questions for the basketball savvy:

Did Collins do something that no one else has this year against Happ?

Did NU just provide the game plan as to how to play Wiscy the rest of the year?

Should the coach of a 7th ranked team have been able to come up with a better in-game adjustment to how NU played Happ than to sit him on the bench for so long?

 

[PURPLECAT88]

If "have someone as talented and savvy on the defensive end as Sanjay Lumpkin" is something other team can imitate, then they all should be able to double-team Happ as effectively as the Cats did. Sanjay, as he was no doubt coached to do, came at Happ from different angles with quick hands and feet in a way that I don't think Happ had seen all season.

 

[FloridAlum]

I've been lurking on this board for years, as I know even less about basketball than I do about football (which itself is not much).

But -- a few questions for the basketball savvy:

Did Collins do something that no one else has this year against Happ?

Did NU just provide the game plan as to how to play Wiscy the rest of the year?

Should the coach of a 7th ranked team have been able to come up with a better in-game adjustment to how NU played Happ than to sit him on the bench for so long?

Look who's here! Why don't you stick around; we're having a lot of fun. I do not include myself among the basketball savvy, but I can give you part of your answer. We double teamed Happ every time he got the ball to reduce his open looks close to the basket. This left us a bit exposed to the outside shots (we sort of did the same thing against Purdue, but they started raining three-pointers at us), Then we got a bit lucky that Koenig had an off night going 0-5 on 3 pointers. He is often a deadly shooter. They finished with seven threes, same as us, but we were able to reduce their points in the paint.
If you have not seen Wisconsin play before this year, Happ is seriously very good and usually scores a ton of points inside.

 

[NU Houston]

If "have someone as talented and savvy on the defensive end as Sanjay Lumpkin" is something other team can imitate, then they all should be able to double-team Happ as effectively as the Cats did. Sanjay, as he was no doubt coached to do, came at Happ from different angles with quick hands and feet in a way that I don't think Happ had seen all season.

We're going to miss Sanjay next year. Everyone is understandably excited about the rest of the team (minus Taphorn) coming back, plus the addition of Falzon and Rap. Sanjay is such a smart defender, though, and those intangibles will be missed.

 

[hdhntr1]

I've watched Happ all year. He's a terrific big man on both ends of the court. But on offense he's lethal, unlimited number of moves near the basket.

I have no idea how NU stopped that. (Haven't watched the game, was at a wake).

Hope you recorded it or they replay again. The double teams had him guessing all nite and completely knocked him off his game. He scored 7 of Badgers points and then they put on the double team. Not all the time but enough to make him have to think rather than just react and play.

 

[hdhntr1]

I've been lurking on this board for years, as I know even less about basketball than I do about football (which itself is not much).

But -- a few questions for the basketball savvy:

Did Collins do something that no one else has this year against Happ?

Did NU just provide the game plan as to how to play Wiscy the rest of the year?

Should the coach of a 7th ranked team have been able to come up with a better in-game adjustment to how NU played Happ than to sit him on the bench for so long?

Execution was something to watch. Not sure if others had tried or not but if they did, they didn't execute like NU did. At the beginning they played sort of straght up and Happ had 7 of first 9 points and it looked like we were in trouble but then the adjustment and sort of sprung it on them and Happ was done. But they took two players out as they also shut down a major 3 pt threat, Koenig, and held him to two points and 0-5 from three. So effective that we actually outscored them inside

 

[SmellyCat]

That move he made after Pardon blocked him early on was beautiful, but it seemed to be the last good move he made the whole game (I think it was his last basket).

 

[hdhntr1]

Look who's here! Why don't you stick around; we're having a lot of fun. I do not include myself among the basketball savvy, but I can give you part of your answer. We double teamed Happ every time he got the ball to reduce his open looks close to the basket. This left us a bit exposed to the outside shots (we sort of did the same thing against Purdue, but they started raining three-pointers at us), Then we got a bit lucky that Koenig had an off night going 0-5 on 3 pointers. He is often a deadly shooter. They finished with seven threes, same as us, but we were able to reduce their points in the paint.
If you have not seen Wisconsin play before this year, Happ is seriously very good and usually scores a ton of points inside.

Not every time but often enough and from different places that he had to think about where the double was coming (even when it wasn't)from rather than just react and play and it totally took him out of his game. Yes he had 5 assists but he also had 4 turnovers.

 

[Bradleywildcatsfan]

How good was our defense? Nearly flawless! One of the best defensive games I have seen all season, which is how it needs to be played when our leading scorer is out. Our offense was good too as other players stepped up, but the defense played like they needed too. Hopefully we get a few more wins before the Big 10 Tournament.

 

[TheC]

We double teamed Happ every time he got the ball to reduce his open looks close to the basket.

But that's not quite right. We didn't double him every time and some times we would pounce on him as soon as he touched the ball and other times we would delay the double team. Sometimes we would fake coming over and then leave him. I think he was confused much of the night.

 

[Alaskawildkat]

But that's not quite right. We didn't double him every time and some times we would pounce on him as soon as he touched the ball and other times we would delay the double team. Sometimes we would fake coming over and then leave him. I think he was confused much of the night.

It was almost like the Cats had a code word that they would yell out that signaled them to move into double team formation on Happ.

(For anyone who watched Friday night's episode of Hawaii Five-0 it was like when Danny cried out "Chicken Salad" to signal McGarrett to bug out while on their Valentine's double date.)

 

[ricko654321]

But that's not quite right. We didn't double him every time and some times we would pounce on him as soon as he touched the ball and other times we would delay the double team. Sometimes we would fake coming over and then leave him. I think he was confused much of the night.

Yeah - I think it was left mostly to Sanjay's discretion, which is pretty incredible that a coach would have that much trust in him to make the call from possession to possession depending on situation and location on the floor. Gard did make an adjustment early 2H - starting sending the guy he was guarding (usually Hayes) on dive cuts when Sanjay left, and/or having a G (Showalter or Koenig) flare away from the rotation to the far side and Happ look for him. They got us a couple times to start the half, but as you mentioned Sanjay started varying the pace more, and faked the double team once or twice. His quick hands also helped, along with Dererk playing good on ball defense (or Skelly providing help a couple times). The length we had up front prevented him from finding the passing lanes over the top.

So to answer the questions posed -- yes the strategy of doubling has been tried by multiple teams, but no one was able to execute it nearly as effectively. And I think that effectiveness was largely due to the strong on-ball play and length of Pardon, coupled w the craftiness of Sanjay on the double team.

 

[Well cataloged]

It was almost like the Cats had a code word that they would yell out that signaled them to move into double team formation on Happ.

(For anyone who watched Friday night's episode of Hawaii Five-0 it was like when Danny cried out "Chicken Salad" to signal McGarrett to bug out while on their Valentine's double date.)

Or Charlie Hall's mother patting her head when she wanted Jerry to bail her out of a boring and interminable conversation...

 

[hdhntr1]

That move he made after Pardon blocked him early on was beautiful, but it seemed to be the last good move he made the whole game (I think it was his last basket).

I never understood why defenders don't shade to the baseline rather than inside where there is help. How many times do you see guys cutting along the baseline to get the open shot? After that was when they started to double him when he got the ball.