Playbook: Wake Forest vs Florida State

Boy does it feel good to be back in the win column. The Deacs put an end to their 7 game losing streak on Wednesday by defeating the Florida State Seminoles by a score 76-72. A couple of things caught my eye during this game, so let’s just jump right in.

The first thing we need to do is talk about how Florida State defends the pick and roll.

As you can see above, rather than hedging, the Noles elect to fight through screens. Whoever is guarding the screener covers the ball handler until his defender recovers, at which point the big must retreat back and find his man. The weak side wing should cover the roll man until his guy can get back into position. Danny Manning was able to take advantage of this by putting a guard at the free throw line to screen the big and pop out for three.

This play starts as a normal pick and roll with Keyshawn Woods handling the ball and Doral Moore setting the screen. Childress’s man, Braian Angola, slides down to cover Doral until Ike Obiagu can recover from defending Woods on the drive. This leaves Childress wide open for three at the top of the key. While he missed this shot, I will take a wide open look any day of the week. The Deacs ran this play a few times throughout the game.

This time we have Childress handling the ball, and Bryant Crawford setting the screen on Christ Koumadje to delay him from getting back to Doral. Angola is once again unable to get back out onto his man, and Wake gets another good look from 3.

Similar looking play here, however this time Keyshawn Woods screens Obiagu as he tries to help on Childress and then pops out for 3. Doral goes right down the middle of the lane, basically blocking anyone from being able to get back on Woods before he can shoot the open 3. The Deacs get yet another open look from downtown, and this time they were able to knock it down.

The Deacs also played pretty good 3 point defense on Wednesday night; the Noles finished the game shooting 6-21 (28%) from beyond the arc. One reason for this was that Wake did a much better job rotating and getting a hand up than they have in previous games.

Bonus gif: Keyshawn Woods, lock down defender.

If the Deacs can build on this game and continue to improve, they should have no trouble getting back to winning games on a regular basis.