High Five (+5): Opening Week

After Illinois won their Big Ten season opener at Ohio State last December, we rolled out the High Five video clip feature. The Illini would go on to win 12 of their next 13 games - a stretch which would establish themselves as one of the best teams in college basketball and laid the foundation for a what ultimately became a Final Four caliber season. I’m not saying that the High Five series had anything to do with that, but it seem conveniently coincidental in retrospect. Regardless, the High Five posts were a ton of fun to do so, of course, we’re going to run it back this season.

You know what else is a ton of fun? Going 2-0 in opening week while unveiling a blitzkrieg of an offense which racked up 232 points in wins against Fairleigh Dickinson and Penn. You may have been alerted to the changes in our offensive scheme compared to last season in an article by CJ Moore of The Athletic. Hopefully you also found further insight in my offensive scheme section of the IlliniBoard season preview.

I’m not sure anyone expected the offense to already be humming along at the level of efficiency it displayed this week, but humming it was. “Overwhelming” is the word which comes to mind. So, in our first installment this season, it seems kind of obvious we should take a look back at the first two games to highlight some of the actions and concepts which make this new offense so potent in this extended edition of High Five…

1- The first and most obvious difference with this offense compared to last season is the scarcity of ball screens. Last season, Illinois scored more points off of ball screens than just about any team in college basketball. In the opener against Fairleigh Dickinson, I didn’t count a single basket which came as a result of a ball screen. Heck, I barely counted any ball screens period in that game. We are still spreading the floor and still hunting mismatches, but we’ve replaced ball screens with perpetual motion. This offense uses crisp and decisive ball movement, dribble penetration, and cutting from everywhere on the floor to hunt for shots in two main areas - at the rim and from the three point line. Against FDU and Penn, cutters keying off dribble penetration was the bread and butter. The concept is actually quite simple - cutters follow the ball.

For example, if the dribble drive is from the wing - the cutters can follow from the opposite wing or from either corner along the baseline. In this first clip, the weak side cutter (Zavier Zens) follows the ball from the wing as Stefan Vaaks drives, but also watch Jason Jakstys. He could also be a cutter on this drive, but he smartly reads the rotation of the help defense. The help drops to the baseline so he stays home and Zens has the open cutting lane...

2 - If the help should rotate up from the baseline instead, you can probably guess where the cutter is coming from. I give you Quentin Coleman to Big Z…

Four passes and a dunk - in eight seconds. That’s the “Q-factor”. Coleman puts Penn in rotation immediately by pushing the pace. Look at the driving lane he creates for himself with the quick throw ahead to Vaaks. After a lightning fast ball reversal Coleman easily splits that gap and it’s Flush City for Z.

3- Option 3. If the dribble penetration comes from along the baseline, the cutters will follow down the lane from the middle of the floor…

This offense will attack teams from everywhere on the floor.

4- Another key concept of this offense is keeping the floor spread. If the spacing gets clogged, passing and driving lanes can get blocked and it becomes much easier for the defense to stay home and protect the rim. The fundamental at play in keeping the floor spread is simply to rotate to replace the cutter…

As the ball is advanced you see the Illini immediately spread the floor in their familiar five-out alignment. Vaaks drives from the wing and Jakstys follows him from the weak side baseline - vacating the corner. To keep the spacing intact, the Illini just keep the wheel spinning. Zens slides down to the now empty corner and Tomislav Ivisic rotates from the top of the floor to occupy the wing. Penn is once again caught up in rotation and Zens stakes his claim to the Jake Davis Corner.

5- Here’s a carbon copy of almost the exact same rotation on a later possession after a skip pass gets Penn scrambling again…

6 -Defenses are either going to have to negate the mismatches and prevent dribble penetration, or pick their poison on rotation. Here you can see the effect of getting repeatedly burned on defensive rotations. Two Penn defenders are gun shy about helping off their man and that‘s fine, it just leaves the rim wide open…

7 - And while we’re on the subject of Ethan Brown - I just want you all to enjoy the lightning fast release on his three ball…

That will play.

8 - Illinois wants to impose immediate stress on opposing defenses by getting into their offense as quickly as possible. One way to do that is by not wasting time hunting for an outlet pass after a defensive rebound. “Whoever gets it - brings it” Underwood likes to say. By far the best weapon on this team in doing this is Andrej Stojakovic who in this clip gets it, brings, it, and booty balls it…

9 - The offense may not use many ball screens, but you will certainly see plenty of off ball screen action as this clip from the very first possession against Penn highlights. On the very first possession against Penn, with Tomislav Ivisic operating in the “Mirk” role at the top of the floor, we stagger two back screens to free up Stojakovic for the bucket plus one…

10- And finally, let the record show the Illini offense can still effectively use high ball screen action every now and then. In truth, Tomi technically slips the screen, but he once again reminds us how comfortable he is as an offensive facilitator…

HIGH FIVE!