Purdue Boilermakers head coach Matt Painter provided an extremely in-depth answer regarding a defensive scheme following his team’s matchup with the UCLA Bruins.
Purdue HC Matt Painter Drops Pick-and-Roll Defense Wisdom In Insightful Press Conference Answer
The Purdue Boilermakers defeated the UCLA Bruins at home on Friday, Feb. 28, led by their stifling defense that held the Bruins to 66 points. Only two Bruins scored in double figures as the starting lineup produced only 36 total points.
In his postgame press conference, a clip of Purdue head coach Matt Painter breaking down the team’s defensive scheme went viral. For over two minutes, Painter explained how the Boilermakers guarded the Bruins’ pick-and-roll heavy offensive system, truly showing his extensive basketball mind.
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He began by explaining that their plan versus flat pick-and-rolls was to send the Bruins ball-handler to his weak hand. Painter then described the process of defending a Spain pick-and-roll, one of UCLA’s go-to plays.
A Spain pick-and-roll begins just like a normal pick-and-roll, traditionally with a big man setting a ball screen for a ball-handler. But the Spain aspect involves another player setting a back screen on the big man’s defender as he rolls to the hoop, in effect providing an open pass to the big man or, if the defense over rotates, an open shot at the top of the key to the player who set the back-screen.
The play originated from Sergio Scariolo, the head coach of the Spanish national team.
Defending the play can be a headache for opposing coaches — but Painter had an intentional plan to negate the Bruins’ advantage.
“Are you speaking my language? Okay,” Painter hilariously asked a reporter before diving into the action.
“When they wanted to go Spain right there we brought our guy up and switched it up top and we dropped our five [center],” he explained. “But we wanted to make sure our five greeted the five diving so he wasn’t getting a deep post up in time.”
Painter continued, saying how the Boilermakers executed the plan to perfection outside of having to adjust for UCLA forward Tyler Biladeou’s ability to stop short of the big man and nail a couple of 10-foot jumpers. Biladeou finished with 15 points on seven of 13 shooting as the Bruins’ leading scorer.
In the second half, Painter went on to say how UCLA’s guards began to “snake” the Spain pick-and-roll, in effect changing the way Purdue would have to guard the action.
“Snaking” the pick-and-roll is essentially the ball-handler coming off the screen and weaving right back the way he came, in effect cutting in front of the screener. This forces the defense to defend at different angles then a normal ball-screen.
To combat this, Painter directed his players to switch the Spain action and keep contact with the shoulder of the snaking ball-handler, disallowing him to move freely.
“Makes sense?” Painter remarked, tongue in cheek.”Boy, you guys cover the damn sport — he said he was speaking my langauge!” The room burst into laughter.
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In the end, the chess moves proved successful for Painter and his staff as they came away with a 10-point victory, snapping a four-game losing streak.
As one of the most accomplished coaches in all of college basketball, Painter once again proved his hoops acumen for everyone to see.
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