Virginia ripped off another ACC win on Monday night when it took down Maryland 61-53. The Double Bonus looks at another victory for the Hoos.

A 1-3-1 Look

Maryland threw a variety of looks (man to man, 1-2-1-1 three-quarter court press, 1-3-1) at Virginia. I didn’t think any of the defenses caused too much trouble for the Hoos, but one holds some interest with Clemson up next. The Terps flashed a 1-3-1 zone near the 9:00 mark of the first half (of note, neither London Perrantes nor Malcolm Brogdon was on the floor for Virginia, but they both subbed in shortly after that defensive look appeared). Later, Maryland used it again but 6’8″ Jake Layman got inadvertently poked in the eye while at the top of it.

With that said, the 1-3-1 is worth visiting because Clemson pulled a version of that zone out of its bag of tricks at Notre Dame on Tuesday night. Comparing the two zones, the Tigers had a much more aggressive mindset in their version than the Terps. Of course, the games were under different circumstances too. Maryland used it mostly early in a game that was close, while Clemson tried it trailing late in the second half at Notre Dame. Still, the Tigers got back into the game and forced two overtimes in part due to their success with the 1-3-1. They were much more aggressive and looking to take periodic traps with it and denying entry passes as much as possible, none of which the Terrapins did much against Virginia.

The Irish didn’t attack the look aggressively enough on many of their possessions though, settling for back-and-forth passes over the top defender while doing relatively little to influence the man in the middle of the defense. Of course, they may have been a little too passive in trying to milk the clock with the lead too. Regardless, ND did show where the weaknesses in a 1-3-1 are and that Clemson is prone to give up open looks in those spots. The two key areas are the baselines and corners along with the wings after ball reversals. Notre Dame hit a wing 3-pointer and a corner 3-pointer against the zone and that was enough to win.

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