Film room: CTC play of the day

There was a lot to like on the offensive end last night. That tends to happen when you score 88 points. While the biggest play of the game may have been a Juanie Newton block on the defensive end that lead to points, this was my favorite play on the offensive end and has been crowned the first ever CTC play of the day.

The situation:

UTA is making their run. After trailing the whole game by double digits, a Reger Dowell three pointer has cut it two with 11:00 remaining. On the ensuing possession, Lucky Jones drove down the lane and passed it to Aaron Tate who missed a lay-up. The rebound was tipped back to Chuck Oliver and that’s where we’ll pick it up.

Oliver gets the ball at the top of the key. He looks for point guard Anthony Myers-Pate in the corner. Karvel Anderson is on the wing to the right of Oliver. Keep that in mind.

Myers-Pate drives to the hoop. Look at how the defense collapses around him and look at the court spacing. Three very good shooters are on the perimeter. I love this lineup, especially against smaller teams or teams that play a zone. UTA happened to be a bit of both. Myers-Pate leaves his feet with three defenders around him and kicks out to Lucky Jones in the corner.

Lucky could have taken this shot and it would have been a good look, but his shot was a little off and he kicked it to Chuck Oliver on the wing, who also probably could have taken the shot. The defender had a nice closeout on Chuck.

 Finally Oliver passes it off to Karvel Anderson for the three. Moving the ball around the arc like that was beautiful and getting it to the best shooter on the floor was just a bonus. This isn’t bad defense per se, but that’s too much space for this guy. You’ll take that every time.