The Virginia basketball team wrapped up the regular season with a 75-60 win against Louisville and a share of the ACC Regular Season Championship. The Double Bonus is back for a closer look.

Virginia Created Zone Advantages

Louisville, like some other opponents at times, mixed in some zone defense to try to break the Cavaliers’ rhythm on offense. It did not work as well as it has for some teams in the past, though. UVA attacked the look effectively on every possession it faced. The key for Virginia in this game was consistently creating either 2-vs-1 or 1-vs-1 situations against a defender.

In this first example, the clip picks up after an offensive rebound and some passes. Kihei Clark drove and flipped a pass to Armaan Franklin, who drove again. Those attacks drew in the defense and then forced closeouts. Both players then ended up located on the left wing, which created a 2-vs-1 situation when Reece Beekman dribbled toward the top to take a top guard defender with him and then brought the ball back to Franklin. The bottom defender in the zone has to close to Franklin or give up an open 3.

When Franklin moved the ball past Louisville’s JJ Traynor to Clark, Traynor then has to quickly try to get back to the corner. That allowed Clark to fake him into the air and drive. The zone’s middle defender had to protect the rim on the left side so now the opposite bottom defender Jae’Lyn Withers is left in a 2-vs-1 moment against Ryan Dunn on the baseline and Beekman, who relocated to the right side during Clark’s drive. Clark froze Withers by looking at Beekman and then dropped the ball off to Dunn for the dunk.

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