Film Session: North Carolina

  • 12/02/2022 7:50 am in

While Trayce Jackson-Davis got his own on Wednesday night against the Tar Heels (game-high 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting), North Carolina’s constant attention on the Center Grove grad also opened up opportunities for his teammates.

When Jackson-Davis was doubled down on the right low block, he kicked out to Jalen Hood-Schifino (first half) and Tamar Bates (second half) ball side for 3-point makes.

But the attention North Carolina paid him in ball-screen action is where things got fun. Wary of a lob to Jackson-Davis as Trey Galloway and Xavier Johnson got into the paint, Pete Nance mistook floaters for alley-oops or simply opted to leave them open, retreating to Jackson-Davis as each of Indiana’s ball handlers scored for two instead. Malik Reneau also played the part of TJD once, too.

We’ll take a look at Indiana putting Nance in a pickle in the latest edition of Film Session:

On our first play, Jackson-Davis sets a ball screen for Johnson on the right wing. Nance plays drop coverage on Johnson as he gets to the paint. As Johnson rises in the lane, Nance appears to smell lob, so he retreats/recovers to Jackson-Davis on the right block.

From there, Johnson simply shoots a floater instead with no challenge on the shot. It drops for two points.

In our second play, it’s now Galloway and Reneau in the ball-screen action, but the result is the same. RJ Davis and Nance do a nice job of icing the initial left-wing ball screen, forcing Galloway to the sideline. But Galloway and Reneau link up again on the left slot for another ball screen.

From here, Nance drops on Galloway. As Galloways goes up with the floater, Nance turns his back and recovers to Reneau, the angle looking like a lob.

But it’s another floater Galloway pops in to extend Indiana’s lead to 13.

It’s Galloway’s turn again. Jackson-Davis dribble-hands-off to Galloway on the left wing and sets the ball screen for him. While this is happening, Armando Bacot leaves Jordan Geronimo on the right elbow to go park down under the rim, bringing extra help down low as Jackson-Davis and Galloway move off the left wing to the rim.

As Galloway gets into the lane and rises, Bacot makes no move to the ball and Nance is retreating to Jackson-Davis. Both players are more concerned with the threat of Jackson-Davis.

It’s another largely uncontested floater for Indiana’s ball handler, though Caleb Love does contest from behind as he recovered to Galloway.

In our last play, Johnson rejects the screen from Jackson-Davis and drives left hard. Nance does a nice job of cutting him off on the left low block and stopping a shot attempt.

D’Marco Dunn has not only tagged Jackson-Davis but has him fronted. And Leaky Black is in between Johnson and Jackson-Davis jumping in the air to ward off a pass. There are two Tar Heels in between Johnson and Jackson-Davis.

But Nance has a bit of TJD tunnel vision from here, following an assignment to recover back to Jackson-Davis even though Black is not in a position to stop a shot attempt.

So Johson keeps his pivot and gets the point-blank range shot up as Nance moves away. Nance does realize his error and contests the shot, but Johnson still scores the bucket.

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