Freeze Frame: Florida’s Pick-and-Roll Defense
Posted by Brian Joyce on January 20th, 2015This edition of Freeze Frame could have easily gone several different ways. We could have looked at Florida’s season-high 19 turnovers against Georgia on Saturday; dissected Michael Frazier’s inability to create his own shot off the dribble; analyzed Billy Donovan’s lack of a go-to guy; or even criticized his Gators’ struggles to get to the free throw line. Those takeaways, while all relevant, did not represent Florida’s most glaring issue in the 12-point loss. Florida senior Jacob Kurtz said it best afterward: “Our pick-and-roll coverage wasn’t very good.” We went back and analyzed the Gators’ defense on Georgia’s screens, and Kurtz was right. It’s just that simple.
Billy Donovan will need to shore up the pick and roll defense before the Gators meet up with LSU on Tuesday.
Georgia found a number of ways to exploit that defense, shooting 8-of-15 from beyond the arc, getting to the free throw line 29 times, and making Florida’s defenders appear completely lost for most of the game. But as you will see below, their best strategy was the complete variety in their screens. This Freeze Frame will slow down Mark Fox’s offense to determine exactly what they did to confuse the Gators.
Georgia’s Houston Kessler only played three minutes on Saturday, but he made all of them count. On the first play, Kessler screens the ball defender (Michael Frazier) with a simple pick-and-pop.
Screen grab via CBS.
Frazier fights through the screen, but Kurtz stays with the ball-handler as well. Kessler then fades to the three-point line for an open jumper.
A wide open jumper for Kessler. Screen grab via CBS.
Here’s the video to watch in real time.
The second play is a screen-the-screener play. Georgia’s Kenny Gaines catches Kurtz with the back screen. Kurtz then follows Nemanja Djurisic for a brief second before trying to stick with Gaines.
A backscreen and then a little screen the screener action. Screen grab via CBS.
Marcus Thornton then comes down to screen Kurtz again, freeing up Gaines at the top of the key.
That’s all the room Gaines needs. Screen grab via CBS.
Here is video of that play.
The next play is a simple pick-and-roll, but Florida is still a step behind. Thornton sets the screen for Charles Mann and rolls to the basket.
Florida struggles with the simple pick and roll. Screen grab via CBS.
The problem here is that both defenders chase Mann and nobody picks up Thornton.
Hey Florida, did you forgot somebody? Screen grab via CBS.
Georgia made some adjustments in the second half, and this time the Bulldogs catch the Gators on a back screen for an easy bucket.
Djurisic catches Chiozza sleeping. Screen grab via CBS.
We’ve seen a pick-and-pop, a pick-and-roll, screen-the-screener action, and a back screen, so you might think that’s the extent of it, but Georgia had one more trick up its sleeve against the Gators. The Bulldogs used the rare and seldomly perfected butt-screen to prevent the Florida defender from keeping up with Gaines on the three-point shot.
The infamous and rarely captured butt screen. Screen grab via CBS.
And let’s zoom in just so you get a good view of that maneuver.
CLOSE UP! Screen grab via CBS.
Check out Thornton using the butt-screen to free up Gaines in real time.
Georgia ran Florida through screens, screens, and more screens on Saturday, but the Gator defenders never seemed to catch on. If Florida wants to improve its standing in SEC play, it will need to shore up its pick-and-roll communication and execution. Kurtz was right about his team’s defense on Saturday — it just wasn’t very good. We have a feeling that not very good simply won’t be good enough for Donovan for the remainder of this season.
Brian Joyce is an advanced metrics enthusiast, college hoops junkie, and writer for the SEC basketball microsite for Rush the Court.
