Just a few days after losing to Gonzaga with struggles on both ends of the court, the Virginia basketball team didn’t solve all of its problems Wednesday night at Notre Dame, but the Hoos took a step in the right direction in a 66-57 win. The victory kept Tony Bennett undefeated in ACC openers as well.

The Double Bonus is back for a closer look.

3-Man Motion

This edition starts on offense where the Cavaliers committed heavily to their 3-man motion or triangle motion scheme in this game. This isn’t a new concept - we’ve seen it in the past and in a few select instances earlier this season - but this is a great game to revisit what it is plus some new wrinkles the Hoos added to it.

So, first, what is it? The 3-man motion scheme is simple from a basic principles standpoint. The Cavaliers put three players in the middle of the floor; if you draw a pair of lines halfway between the free throw lane line and the 3-point line on the sides on each side, the three interior triangle players stay mostly in between that area and work together through motion to create offense. Typically, there are four basic actions happening between those three players - pass and cut, pin down screen, UCLA back/up screen, or ball screen. The remaining two players spot up outside the 3-point line on the sides. Those two players serve as spot-up shooters, pressure relief valves if the interior three are stuck with ball movement, or as side screen and roll options if one of the three interior players passes and then follows into a ball screen.

Since this set-up is based in motion principles, it can look different possession to possession and even within a possession if one of three interior players makes a read that flashes outside of the middle. Sometimes, though not too often at all, when one of the three interior players cuts outside but doesn’t get the ball, one of the outside players will cut inside and become part of the interior group.

The Wahoos spent almost the entire game in their 3-man motion offense. By my unofficial count, they called for the 3-man set on at least 33 possessions (17 in the first half and 16 in the second half). The Synergy Sports data tagged 50 halfcourt man possessions in total so using those two numbers, UVA ran 3-man motion approximately 66% of the time. Kihei Clark, who thrived in this game with 19 points and 5 assists, talked a little bit about it in the postgame media session. Clark, Sam Hauser, and Jay Huff were used as the three interior players the most.

“I was just trying to pick my spots in the offense when we're in three-game and we got two guys on the wing and me, Sam and Jay are moving around,” Clark said. “You can get catches anywhere in the middle, so whether it's up top or in the post, once I get in a post, I just take my time and I'm just trying to work on it. We work on it a lot in practice, something that we worked on in the past, so we call it the playmaker spot. Just trying to pick my spots during the offense and just being aggressive and taking what the defense gives me.”

Let’s start there and look at some wrinkles within the 3-man motion scheme.

Playmaker feeds

As Clark mentioned, the mid-post feed area is considered a playmaker spot for the Cavaliers. They use that post-up area off the blocks within ‘sides’ motion, isolation calls, and the new 5-man motion scheme we saw heavily in the first two games this season. In fact, when the ball went to a player in the mid-post in this game during a 3-man motion possession, the Hoos blended it with a 5-man motion concept by cutting the ball-side stationary wing player through to the other side to create the same post isolation look. Because of that wrinkle, which I don’t remember the Hoos doing in previous seasons with this offense, it’s easy to get the two motion looks confused.

Examples of feeds to the playmaker spot include:

Huff’s second basket of the game ...

Clark’s and-one play late ...

Kadin Shedrick’s lone bucket ...

Horns to start

Virginia opened many of these 3-man motion possessions with ‘Horns’ entry plays. The ‘Horns’ alignment features two players in the corners and two players on the 3-point line at lane lines extended. The two players near the top of the key act as ball screen options for the point guard to start the play or the point guard can pass to another player first as well. Set plays from ‘Horns’ alignment are extremely popular at all levels of basketball and the options with how to use it are essentially limitless.

UVA entered the offense this way frequently, including the first two possessions of the game, the first man-to-man possession of the second half, and many others as well. The Cavaliers used the ‘Horns’ entry in one of its simplest forms most often: ball screen, roller, and opposite post steps to the top of the key for a potential 3, a potential high-low look, or to start the motion. The Huff iso play above started that way as did this next clip for a Hauser bucket.

To get Hauser into the mid-post iso, Clark passed to the wing, cycled through, and set a UCLA back/up screen for Hauser ...

In the second half, Clark showed another way to use the ‘Horns’ entry. After going off a ball screen for the potential high-low look frequently in the game, Clark refused the ball screen and scored easily here (look at Austin Katstra on the far right after the layup too!) ...

High ball screen to start

The Wahoos also rolled into 3-man motion possessions by starting with a high ball screen entry frequently. Instead of placing two players near the top of the key, they used one player up high to set a ball screen for Clark to begin the possession, while the other player has moved to the short corner/dunk area for the beginning alignment. The two wing players remain in the same starting spots.

An early example using this concept came on the fourth possession of the game. Clark didn’t really attack off of the screen in this case, but fed Huff on a pick-and-pop pass.

The ball cycled to the right wing, back through a middle reversal, and out to the left wing where Trey Murphy III drove from the spot-up spot for a layup ...

Two other high ball screen entries set up two of Clark’s best assists in the game. With a little more than six minutes to go, he used a ball screen from Justin McKoy, waited for McKoy to roll, and when the defense didn’t rotate, he bounced the ball in for a dunk ...

Another example came on the Huff dunk in the final two minutes ...

Hauser Competes

Sam Hauser knew there were expectations coming into this season. So did the media and the fans. As a result, Hauser has been under a microscope for his first seven games with UVA. Looking through a preseason first-team All-ACC lens, fans have not seen what they expected, which would be a potentially dominant scorer and serviceable defender. Hauser, particularly after the Gonzaga game, became a lightning rod for not passing the preconceived eye test despite leading the team in scoring. After the Notre Dame game, Hauser now leads the team in scoring at 12.8 points per game and rebounds at 6.4 per game.

Of course, most of the criticism had little to do with that and everything to do with defense. And to be fair, Hauser has struggled with consistency on that end. The Synergy Sports data rates his overall defense as “below average” at this point in the season as he’s allowed 0.963 points per possession (ppp). Even that seems generous when watching some of the more obvious breakdowns that happened against the Zags.

Still, the Notre Dame felt like a step in the right direction all around. Hauser came through with his first Virginia double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. That included a pair of 3-pointers in the last 8 minutes when the game was still a tight contest. He also had 4 assists with only 1 turnover, while also playing a solid - best half of the season as a whole? - first half on defense. His positioning, timing, and recovery were all better in that first 20 minutes.

Time will tell if this ends up being a break-through type of game.

As for his defense, Hauser knows he needs to get better there.

“I just got to work on my on-ball defense, I think that's an area where I definitely need improve,” Hauser said. “I work at it every day. I think I've gained a lot of experience in this Pack Line in last year and a half. I think I've gotten better and made the right strides to getting better. So, just got to stick with it in practice. I know coach will be on me for that. Ready for that challenge.”

That last line is the key. Hauser hasn’t been perfect during his hotly anticipated debut, but he’s a competitor. That’s one area where I think some of the criticism has been misplaced. Brain freezes do not equate with effort. I think you could see that competitor against San Francisco, Kent State, and Notre Dame down the stretch of close games.

Against the Dons, he had 8 points in the last 8 minutes and had he made the game-winning 3-point attempt, I suspect some fans would have a totally different view of him at this point. Against State, he had 6 points in the 5-minute overtime as UVA pulled out a home win. Then, as mentioned above, he had two 3-pointers in the final 8 minutes against the Irish. In each case, he hadn’t shot the ball as well as he wanted but he found a way to put points on the board in the stretch run.

Let’s see how that all shakes out in the weeks to come.

MIG

Virginia’s defense improved in this game, but as you’d expect there was some good and bad. The good: the Hoos held the Irish to 40% shooting overall. The really good: UVA held the hosts to 25% shooting from 3-point range after they came in at 40.9% (good enough for 14th nationally). The bad: Virginia gave up 47.8% shooting in the second half, a trend early this season. The really bad: two players got what they wanted pretty much with Nate Laszewski going for 28 points on 8-11 shooting and Juwan Durham posting 19 on 7-11 shooting.

The biggest issue has been ball screen defense. The Synergy data captures what we’re all seeing. UVA is allowing pick and roll roll/pop players to score 1.042 ppp for an average rating in the 33rd percentile nationally. On pick and roll plays including a pass, the Hoos are allowing 0.936 ppp for a below average rating in the 15th percentile nationally. For pick and roll plays where the defense commits to the ballhandler, they’re allowing 0.965 ppp for a poor rating in the 13th percentile. Plus, the Hoos are allowing 0.969 ppp for a below average rating in the 21st percentile nationally on spot-up shots; while that last bit of data doesn’t specify pick and roll situations, teams are getting plenty of spot-up chances out of the ball screen actions.

That’s led to a popular fan question: what the heck is going on? Cavalier fans, after all, aren’t used to the repeated wide open layups, dunks, and 3’s that have been appearing during these early games.

I think the answer is two-fold. I think one big part of it is late recognition and hedges by the screen defenders. Look at the possession at approximately 10:00 in the first half, for example, where Justin McKoy nailed the first ball screen but then was late on two additional ball screens, the latter of which left him running into a closeout. Laszewkski drove and drew a foul on McKoy. A late hedge does not deter or redirect the dribbler enough so that ballhandler can more quickly get his eyes back up to scan the defense and, generally, do it a little bit closer to the basket for shorter passes.

The other piece is the help defense. The Cavaliers have been either out of position, stuck in no man’s land trying to react to two things at once, or just late with the rotation. The key to containing that roll player, while still not giving up a 3-pointer on the wing is a low weak-side defender. The term for that guy? The MIG. The Most Important Guy.

NBA coach Mike Budenholzer summed it up when he was with the Hawks (he’s now with the Bucks): "The MIG is a military term, even though I don't have any military background. On a lot of teams that bottom guy, that weakside defender, is critical if something happens and you're broken down off the dribble or you're beat. That person has got to be there."

Clark brought up the term in the ND postgame media session: “We just we watched film, we made some adjustments. We’ve got a guy called the ‘MIG’, we put him in the middle when they're in the ball screen action and we are two guys away. I think that really helped, but I think we did a better job of anticipating when getting to the ball and getting to shooters. I think we could still improve. I think there was times where we did make a couple mistakes, but that's going to happen. I think defensively we did take a step in the right direction tonight.”

So let’s look at some possessions focused on the MIG guy(s).

First, with approximately 12:10 to go in the first half, Durham scored on a pick and roll dunk. The ball reversed through Durham, who followed his pass and set a ball screen for Prentiss Hubb. Durham rolled to the rim, while McKoy hedged out on Hubb. Hauser is the initial MIG here and he does his job well as he absorbed Durham’s roll. Once he thought the hedge was executed, he then has to switch jobs and rotate out to Laszewski, who remember is a 3-point threat. The new MIG then would become Trey Murphy III, who has slid down while covering Nikola Djogo as he exchanged to the other corner.

The breakdowns on this play: McKoy is a little off with his timing and angle so his hard hedge doesn’t quite deter Hubb enough and redirect him farther from the basket. Hauser left one step (or two) too early. Murphy didn’t get over quite enough into the next help spot. This is where UVA is typically so good - those three roles all blend together on time to cover the passing angles and alleys.

On the very next possession, Hauser executes really well in the MIG spot and bothers a shot at the rim. The Irish worked through their version of ‘sides’ motion and eventually Durham moved to set a ball screen for Hubb on the wing. McKoy anticipated his hedge job and Durham decided to slip the screen. Hubb fired it to him, but Hauser was there to bother the shot by building a wall.

The key execution on the slip: Hauser had to switch roles, while the ball screen was shifting into action. On the weakside of the floor, Djogo and Laszewski exchange spots on the wing to try occupy the help defense. That meant that Murphy had to cover the bottom to top rotation, while Hauser had to switch from a gap spot to the MIG spot while Laszewski moved top to bottom. You can see Hauser communicate the job switch as it happens. Hauser nailed it as he let Murphy have space to come through, but didn’t lose sight of the ball. So when that slip happened, he was already in position to rotate and he did.

Finally, here’s another well executed possession. It’s a good one to compare and contrast to the first one where the Hoos gave up the dunk. Notre Dame again sets up a high ball screen look with a screener rolling and a wing player filling up the wing as a replacement cutter. This time, Laszewski set the ball screen for Hubb and rolled. Cormac Ryan lifted from the corner for the replacement.

Virginia executed this well. Hauser jumped out to handle the hedge. Notice how on this hedge, his angle is more toward center court and Hubb is forced all the way into the logo vs. the clip above where his feet just touch the edge of the logo. When Laszewski rolled, Casey Morsell is the initial MIG defender just like Hauser was on the first one. He tagged the roller and then moved on to his next job to recover to Ryan. He released when he thought the hedge job by Hauser was done, which shifted McKoy into the next MIG guy spot. Notice his positioning vs. Murphy above. McKoy is fully straddling the lane line whereas Murphy was completely outside the paint.

When Hubb tried to squeeze the pass into that window again, McKoy rotated and easily knocked it away for a UVA steal, which he doesn’t even get credit for because Morsell recovered the deflected ball. Two small things added up here vs. the first example above: a better hedge stretched out the dribbler and increased the pass distance, while one step farther over in help defense allowed the rotation to get to the ball.

When you wonder where breakdowns are happening and if they’re fixable. Film study like this is the answer.

Bonus “Double Bonus” Thoughts

  • Immediate corrections noticed during this game: defensive stances (prepared to play D), full shot clock possessions on defense, ball security (more crisp passes), and a Kihei Clark “Steve Nash” dribble through on a drive where he kept his dribble alive.
  • One more note on an immediate correction: after 6 turnovers against Gonzaga, Kihei Clark had 0 against Notre Dame.
  • Kihei Clark should have shot the ball on the final drive of the first half. The pass he left off was an equal or worse shot for Kadin Shedrick and Notre Dame had fouls to give so it could have led to a bear hug on the drop-off catch in traffic. (It almost turned into a disaster beyond that but ND’s final shot that went in came a hair too late.) Of note, Shedrick was assigned the turnover in the play by play, which kept Clark’s line at 0. It probably should have been charged to Clark.
  • Jay Huff could have eliminated one foul per game these last two games by knowing when to let one go. His fourth foul vs. Gonzaga and his third foul against Notre Dame both were late attempts to block a shot with a low percentage chance of getting the block. (Yes, I thought the one against the Zags was clean too.) His fourth foul against the Irish was poor mental discipline. He had position and then let one hand come down for a quick block chance. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen that foul called. Just stay straight up, especially when you’re in foul trouble.
  • I thought about writing a full segment on Casey Morsell. He’s improving. Not at the rate some want offensively, but he’s improving all around to my eye. Next step: shot selection.
  • Virginia handled Notre Dame’s zone in both halves. Per the Synergy Sports data, UVA scored on 6 of 13 zone possessions.
  • My kingdom for a fire blanket defender.
  • Wrinkle: Virginia ran its spread ball screen look out of the under-12 media timeout in the second half, but swapped the roles of Kihei Clark and Reece Beekman with the latter using the screen instead of cutting through to spot up in the corner.