Film Session: Purdue

  • 02/27/2023 8:02 am in

Editor’s note: Ryan is out on paternity leave. Zion Brown will be writing Film Session in his absence.

For the first time since 2013, the Hoosiers won at Mackey Arena and swept Purdue on Saturday with a 79-71 win. Jalen Hood-Schifino was the star of the show for Indiana. The freshman finished with a career-high 35 points.

Much of Purdue’s game plan was built around stopping Hood-Schifino. In Indiana’s win over Purdue on Feb. 4, Hood-Schifino destroyed the Boilermakers’ drop coverage as a scorer and facilitator. This time Purdue head coach Matt Painter admitted that he wanted to keep Hood-Schifino away from his left hand, but that didn’t stop Indiana’s talented point guard.

On the first play, Purdue’s Ethan Morton ices Hood-Schifino to keep him from going right. Morton was anticipating a Trayce Jackson-Davis screen that wasn’t coming. This allowed Hood-Schifino to drive down the left side. Caleb Furst showed help, but a glance back to Jackson-Davis put Furst out of position and granted Hood-Schifino a layup.

The Hoosiers successfully flipped screens all night. After Brandon Newman discarded an initial Jackson-Davis screen, he re-screened for Hood-Schifino, who hit a mid-range shot driving left.

Later in the first half, IU aligned in a horns formation (two at the elbows, two in the corners) with the option for Hood-Schifino to use a screen in either direction. Hood-Schifino baited Morton into thinking he was using Miller Kopp’s screen on the left side. Once Morton’s momentum shifted, Hood-Schifino returned to the right side, where Jackson-Davis was screening.

Jackson-Davis realized Morton was behind, so instead of fully setting the screen, he rolled to give Indiana an advantage. Purdue center Zach Edey was in his drop and didn’t want to fully commit to Hood-Schifino, who laid it in with no contest.

Indiana went to a double-drag look a couple of times in the first half. Early in the shot clock, Kopp and Jackson-Davis lined up to screen for Hood-Schifino going right. In both instances, Purdue miscommunicated and sent two defenders at Hood-Schifino, which left a popping Kopp open in the left corner. Hood-Schifino made a pair of accurate live-dribble passes, and Kopp went 1-for-2 on these 3-point looks.

In the second half, Morton was again icing screens to keep Hood-Schifino going left. Malik Reneau read Morton’s positioning and flipped it into a flat ball screen. Hood-Schifino started going left, snaked to the center of the foul line and nailed a jumper over Trey Kaufman-Renn, who was too deep in his drop.

The Hoosiers (specifically Hood-Schifino) are uniquely built to beat Purdue’s drop coverage because of their mid-range shooting. The Boilermakers could not find an answer for Indiana’s pick-and-roll game in either meeting this season. Saturday was the shining moment of Hood-Schifino’s freshman season. He combined his size, handle and intelligence to make play after play in Mackey Arena.

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