In a clash between top 10 teams Saturday to open ACC play, the Virginia basketball team made a laugher out of the showdown with Florida State. The Hoos pulled away late in the first half and were never threatened in a 65-52 win. The Double Bonus is back for a closer look.

Follow The Leader Repeat

Last season, one wrinkle UVA added to its sides motion concept became a regularly featured piece of the puzzle offensively. It’s still in play now and it led to a big 3-pointer for Kyle Guy late in the first half. I call it a ‘follow the leader’ cut because the two guards away from the ball both cut off the same screener in succession.

Against FSU, the play in question came with 1:00 to go in the first half. With Guy riding a red hot shooting streak that eventually reached 11 straight made 3’s during the Marshall and Florida State games, the Cavaliers wanted to try to free him up for a late-half look. Ty Jerome dribbled the ball on the right wing to allow the screening action in sides motion to work to that side where Guy already had a 3-pointer a few moments earlier.

Forward Mamadi Diakite positioned himself just off the block in a screening spot, while Kihei Clark and Kyle Guy aligned just below him on the block. Clark made his cut off the screen first, but as the design calls for in this concept, he immediately wrapped around the screen regardless of what path his defender took. In this case, FSU’s Trent Forest shot through the gap between Diakite and his defender Harrison Prieto before he turned to follow Clark back toward the lane. This wrap cut is designed to create interference for Guy’s defender, in this case State’s Anthony Polite, if he chooses to try to get around the screen like Forest did with Clark. It essentially forces defenders to take a lock-and-chase path and follow Guy around the screen as the second (or ‘follow the leader’) cutter because there’s not enough room to get through around the high side of the screen.

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