How Jon Teske dominated the Battle 4 Atlantis with his defense

Season School Conf G GS MP FG FGA FG% 2P 2PA 2P% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS SOS
2017-18 Louisville ACC 32 12 10.6 1.4 3.4 .418 0.8 1.5 .542 0.6 1.9 .323 0.3 0.5 .688 0.7 1.7 2.4 0.2 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.9 3.8 9.08
2018-19 Louisville ACC 34 20 18.2 2.5 6.0 .420 1.7 3.4 .496 0.8 2.6 .318 1.8 2.6 .701 1.9 4.3 6.1 0.3 0.3 1.2 0.9 2.5 7.7 11.04
2019-20 Louisville ACC 3 0 14.0 1.7 4.0 .417 1.7 3.3 .500 0.0 0.7 .000 2.3 3.3 .700 1.7 4.7 6.3 0.3 1.3 0.0 0.7 2.0 5.7 -3.77
Career Louisville 69 32 14.5 2.0 4.7 .419 1.3 2.5 .509 0.7 2.2 .316 1.1 1.6 .699 1.3 3.1 4.4 0.2 0.4 0.8 0.6 1.7 5.8 5.45

Malik Williams Stats

duplicate post-up

Very nice dive into the statistics. I am really looking forward to seeing Teske go head-to-head with Wesson.

Two of his fouls against ISU were offensive fouls (both in the first few minutes of the game). So really he’s not fouling on defense against anyone so far.

Side note: I’ve thought for a long time that offensive fouls should not count as personal fouls. The whole point of a foul limit is to deter you from fouling too much. On offense, a turnover is already a huge penalty, and no one is out there fouling intentionally. As it is, offensive fouls have too much of an impact on the outcome of the game, especially since so many of them are judgement calls.

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We could see the defence attempt to ice ballscreens involving a pick and pop threat. The intended ballscreen action would never get started, and it could force the ballhandler into a driving situation with Teske as the help defender. That is not a bad option for Michigan against most players.

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The primary way for an offense to combat ā€œiceā€ is to pick & pop, as well. A defense handles the pick & pop in ā€œiceā€ similar to how it would when dropping in ball screens.

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My thinking was that if the ballhandler isn’t allowed to use the screen, then his best option is to drive the ball away from the screener, which causes the screener’s defender to help on the drive. If the ballhandler’s defender is mindful of the PnP threat, then he can prevent that pass from being made. It’s effectively a switch that challenges a quick hit. Ordinarily, that isn’t an ideal defensive strategy, but with Teske’s size and relative quickness, I’d be confident that he could handle a driving player. We’ve seen him do that very well in the past.

Maybe I’m not correctly understanding the idea of a icing a ballscreen.

That’s kind of what Texas Tech does with their Ice to Switch

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Yup, what you are describing is essentially switching the screen, which the video @ReegsShannon linked illustrates well. Michigan hasn’t shown that they want to use that strategy this year, but it is certainly an option, especially if you are worried about a popping five-man.

Right. TTU ices the ballscreen if the screen is set towards the middle of the floor. That leads to a switch. If the screen is set towards the sideline/baseline, then they simply switch. Basically, they want every ballhandler to dribble towards the sideline/baseline, and eventually be guarded by a taller player.