Scouting San Diego: NC State's half-court concerns, Purdue's pick-and-roll offense, BYU "Snaps" its fingers

More on NC State's offensive struggles, Purdue finding matchups, Trey Kaufman-Renn inverted pick-and-roll, and BYU's Spain action

NC State’s recipe for success early on this season started with its ability to get out in transition. With Michael O’Connell pushing the pace and organizing the secondary offense, the Wolfpack scored better than 1.1 points per possession in four of their first five games, albeit against mostly middling competition. There were some concerning indicators, like the lack of 3-point shot volume, but the sample was small and noisy. What would happen when the level of play jumped up? Would NC State be able to find success with its half-court offense?

With the calendar now flipped to December, an offense that lost its top two playmakers from a season ago — DJ Burns and DJ Horne — was finally tested out in San Diego. After losing to both Purdue and BYU, there’s work to do on both sides of the floor for NC State.

Shot Chart

During the matchup with Purdue, State still scored 1.03 points per possession — thanks mostly to a low turnover rate (13.6 percent) and steady shooting in the midrange area. The Pack attempted only 17 3-pointers in the game (32.1 percent of their total FGA), making four (23.5 3P%).

Purdue, on the other hand, recorded only six turnovers (10.2 percent TOV rate) and mashed NC State on the offensive glass, rebounding nearly 41 percent (13) of its missed field goals. With the Boilermakers taking care of the ball and controlling the paint, the Wolfpack lost the Four Factors and, more importantly, never really got in transition.

According to CBB Analytics, a whopping 87.3 percent of NC State’s field goal attempts against Purdue and BYU came in the half court. The Pack shot a lowly 35.4 percent on those half-court attempts and produced only 11.5 assists per 40 minutes (52.3 percent assist rate).

Overall, only 25.4 percent of NC State’s field goal attempts vs. Purdue and BYU occurred at the rim at the rim, with the Pack shooting only 53.6 percent on those attempts. That’s not an unusual percentage of attempts at the rim for NC State; the half-court court offense under Kevin Keatts relies on steady pick-and-roll operation, which lowers turnover numbers but also results in a lot of off-dribble 2-point attempts in the midrange.

NC State shot 19-of-36 on 2-point attempts (52.8 2P%) against Purdue; however, the Boilermakers pounded the paint and attempted 30 field goals at the rim, per Bart Torvik’s shot data, which was a catalyst for drawing fouls. Purdue finished the game going 20-of-26 from the free-throw line.

To counter Purdue’s power, Keatts went to his double-center lineup with both Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and Ben Middlebrooks on the floor at the same time. There were some good flashes; both guys are skilled and mobile enough to make it work for spurts. However, the overall lack of stretch, especially when those two play with a shaking guard shooter like Marcus Hill, is apparent.

Here, NC State flows from its Iverson series into 5-out Delay Zoom action for Jayden Taylor. Huntley-Hatfield initiates the dribble-handoff with Taylor and rolls. Middlebrooks pops after setting the pindown for Taylor. Hill spaces to the weak side, but he’s a step or two inside the arc. As Taylor turns the corner, State has only two guys outside the 3-point line — one of whom (Middlebrooks) has made two career 3-pointers in four seasons of college basketball.

Take note of how many Purdue defenders have at least one foot in the paint when Taylor takes this midrange 2-pointer at the nail, and think about how this look differs if DJ Horne, for instance, is spaced to the weak side.

On this possession, NC State runs empty-corner screen-roll with Taylor and BHH. As Taylor dribbles right off the screen toward the middle, he hits Huntley-Hatfield on the short roll with a pocket pass. In many cases — with the corner emptied out — this would be a dunk for BHH. However, with Hill spaced to the weak-side corner, Purdue mostly ignores him and sends early help at Huntley-Hatfield’s: Camden Heide is all the way over in the restricted area, right at the front of the rim.

Instead of rolling all the way to the rim for a dunk or layup, Huntley-Hatfield settles for a contested short-roll jumper from outside the lane, which he misses. The 6-foot-7 Heide makes his presence felt as a back-line help defender.

This is a similar setup from the prior possession: NC State flows from its Iverson series into empty-corner pick-and-roll with Taylor and BHH. Once again, Taylor hits BHH with a pocket pass on the short roll. This time, though, Purdue has the 6-foot Braden Smith marking Hill. Smith shows early help, too, but he doesn’t offer nearly the same level of resistance.

Similarly, BYU showed early help and sent an extra weak-side defender to paint when NC State went to empty-corner actions. Plenty of teams will load up like this, and Hill is rather clever cutting around in the dunker spot and running the baseline, but it just requires the defense to cover less ground.

The Pack suffered a near-total power outage against BYU, too: 0.94 points per possession, their least efficient offensive performance since the matchup with Purdue in last season’s Final Four.

When playing man-to-man, BYU was comfortable sitting its centers in drop coverage and going under plenty of screens — daring NC State’s guards to beat them off the bounce in the midrange.

NC State flows from 5-out into empty-corner screen-roll with Trey Parker and BHH. Keba Keita hangs deep in the paint, taking away the roll for Huntley-Hatfield, while the 6-foot-9 Egor Demin is happy to go under the screen and then use his length to contest the pull-up 2-point attempt.

First-year head coach Kevin Young is implementing a lot of different stuff with BYU this season. The Cougars played at least 10 possessions of zone defense, often transitioning from a 2-3 zone to a matchup concept. At times, NC State tried to run its man-to-man offense against the matchup zone. The Pack also ran some zone offensive looks: flashing a big to the nail and trying to play out of it, which didn’t work.

In both cases, the results weren’t great. Going forward, though, I’d be curious to see what Hill looks like flashing to the nail the next time NC State sees a zone look.

Up-Hill Battle

Marcus Hill was outstanding through the first five games this season as the Bowling Green transfer injected his funky, off-beat drive game and creativity into the offense: 13.2 points (63.2 2P%), 3.8 free throw attempts and 2.3 assists per contest.

Hill, however, is a reluctant 3-point shooter: 2-of-8 from beyond the arc on the season. He’s also quite reliant on his dominant left hand to uncork his dribble-drive offense. Some defenses have sagged off of the southpaw at times this season, inviting him to take off-dribble 2-pointers in the midrange, while also trying to pushing him to drive with his right hand.

Purdue dialed up this approach as well. Matt Painter’s club “weaked” or “downed” ball screens involving the left-handed Hill. This starts with the on-ball defender — Braden Smith — angling himself between Hill and Huntley-Hatfield’s screen and pushing Hill to his weaker right hand. Trey Kaufman-Renn waits below the level of the screen in drop coverage.

On this play, Hill comes up the Zipper screen from Huntley-Hatfield, who chases after Hill and sets a ball screen. Smith stays on Hill’s left hip in rearview pursuit, Kaufman-Renn stays solid in his higher drop coverage, helping to take away the drive. Both weak-side defenders peel in and help vs. BHH’s dive. Hill must settle for a pull-up midrange 2-point attempt from the elbow, with a good contest from Smith.

Here’s the same setup from earlier in this game; this time, though, Hill draws a foul with Fletcher Loyer digging down and reaching in from the strong-side corner.

Out in San Diego, Hill scored nine combined points in 36 minutes vs. Purdue and BYU, shooting 2-of-9 on his 2-point attempts. NC State needs more from Hill for its half-court offense.

Hill is just going with the angle of BHH’s screen on this late-game drag pick-and-roll possession, but there seems to be some discomfort trying to finish around/over size with his right hand.

Hill will undoubtedly be a valuable offensive player this season for NC State (he’s too good), but the quirkiness of his game will create challenges at times.

Forward Mike James, who has yet to play this season due to a knee injury, is a career 34.8 percent 3-point shooter. When James is able to return to the lineup, his spot-up shooting should provide for better floor balance, but NC State may need to pull more than one lever.

Once again, I wonder if/when NC State will need to play more of Paul McNeil Jr. just to get more shooting on the floor.

Inverted Pick-and-roll

While NC State’s offense lagged, the defense had its issues, too, against two of the best offenses in the county: 1.20 points per possession for Purdue, 1.11 points per possession for BYU.

So far, Purdue has adjusted to life without Zach Edey rather well. Once again, the Boilermakers have a Top 10 offense in terms of adjusted efficiency, and they’ve scored 1.20 points per possession or better against four Top 100 teams through first eight games of the season.

Moreover, Trey Kaufman-Renn is playing like an All-American as the featured frontcourt target in Purdue’s offense: 19.1 points per game (up from 6.4 last season), 29.7 percent usage rate, 21.1 percent assist rate, 60.9 percent shooting on 2-point attempts and he’s drawing 7.1 fouls per 40 minutes, a Top 50 number nationally.

Purdue is, of course, posting Kaufman-Renn up (something they established early in the second half vs. NC State) and deploying him as a target in the screen-roll game, where he’s making plays as both a finisher and a short-roll passer.

The Boilermakers are also using Kaufman-Renn as a ball handler in inverted pick-and-rolls, too. Purdue ran two inverted ball screens — with the center, TKR, initiating as a a guard sets the screen — against NC State and scored both times.

Here’s the first play of the game: Kaufman-Renn lifts to the elbow and Loyer shuffle cuts off of him, clearing to the weak-side corner while Myles Colvin shakes up to the right wing. With Hill top-locking Smith to deny a handoff from TKR, Smith simulates a pulling offensive guard in football and just pushes Hill into the back of Huntley-Hatfield. Kaufman-Renn dribbles off of Smith’s screen and turns the corner with no resistance, scoring around Taylor’s rim contest.

Now in the second half, Purdue runs “Elbow Get 51” pick-and-roll. On this inverted action, Smith enters the ball to TKR at the elbow and chases after his own pass to set a ball screen for his center. Hill tries to show on the screen, but Kaufman-Renn uses a nice hesitation dribble to catch Hill leaning back in the direction of Smith. BHH never gets back in the play and Kaufman-Renn has another easy layup.

Defensive Styles

Painter and Purdue did a nice job attacking NC State’s defensive scheme with simple pick-and-roll concepts. Generally speaking, NC State likes to switch screens/exchanges between positions 1-4; this is the advantage of having a rangy, athletic 4 like Dontez Styles: he can switch out and defender opposing point guards and shooting guards in space. When the screens/exchanges involve a guard and the center (1-5), NC State has a variety of different coverages it can go to depending on personnel and location on the floor: Ice, Weak, Hard Hedge, At The Level and Drop.

This is where things get a little tricky, though. While NC State doesn’t switch many 1-5 exchanges, though there are exceptions, the Wolfpack will switch screens when the 4 (Styles) is defending the ball and the 5 (BHH or Middlebrooks) is defending the screener.

For example: from the 2024 ACC Tournament, Mo Diarra, the 4, defends Quadir Copeland. When Maliq Brown, the 5, screens for Copeland, Middlebrooks switches to Copeland and Diarra takes Brown.

In theory, the 4 and 5 are closer in size than, say, the 1 and 5, so it’s easier for them to pass off assignments, switch and keep the ball in front. This, however, can be exploited.

Knowing NC State wants to switch 1-4 and 4-5, Painter ran some screening action early in the possession to get Styles switched onto Smith, his point guard, and then have Kaufman-Renn, the center, set another ball screen. If NC State opts to switch 4-5 — Styles and BHH/Middlebrooks are the defenders in the action — then Purdue has a matchup with the opposing center trying to stick with its point guard in space.

Early in the game, Purdue runs a little Weave action, which gets Styles switched on Smith. After the switch, Smith gets away with another push-off to create some separation between he and Styles, which is followed by a step-up ball screen from Kaufman-Renn. Styles and Huntley-Hatfield switch the screen and now Smith can go to work 1-on-1 against the center. Smith gets just enough airspace and drains a 3-ball.

This is less of Purdue’s machine-like off-ball motion; instead, it’s a more targeted approach: space the floor and use ball screens to dictate matchups.

On this sideline out-of-bounds play, Heide sets a screen for Smith, which Styles switches. Kaufman-Renn lifts out and sets a ball screen, which Styles and BHH switch. Huntley-Hatfield does a decent job containing Smith, and Styles is rugged enough to battle in the post. However, Kaufman-Renn is just a bit too much to contain. He scores on the late post duck-in.

NC State deviated at times against Purdue and had BHH switch out on Smith — even when it was a 1-5 exchange. Purdue runs Spain pick-and-roll on this possession, with an empty corner. Huntley-Hatfield switches on three separate ball screens during this possession and puts a nice contest on Smith’s late jumper. In general, State does well on this possession, but the switch does leave a smaller defender left to box-out an opposing center.

On this possession, Purdue runs an early guard-guard screen to get O’Connell switched on Smith. When TKR sets up to run 1-5 pick-and-roll with Smith, O’Connell tries to “weak” the screen and push Smith to his left hand — with BHH below the level of the screen but very high up the floor. Smith takes the space to his left and dribbles into the space, right at Huntley-Hatfield, who morphs from his initial drop-back stance into a “veerback” switch, which leaves O’Connell on Kaufman-Renn. As Smith dribbles out from under the rim, TKR ducks in and draws another foul.

Bringing the Paella to Provo: BYU’s Spain Pick-and-roll

The Phoenix Suns made it all the way to the NBA Finals back in 2021. In the following season, the Suns won 64 games. Phoenix finished both seasons ranked Top 5 in the league for offensive efficiency. Those Suns teams featured a sophisticated pick-and-roll offense — quarterbacked by Chris Paul and Devin Booker. Phoenix was especially fond of using different types of Spain pick-and-roll action: middle ball screen action with a screen set by a big and a simultaneous back screen set by a guard on the ball-screen defender

At this point, seemingly every team runs some version of this pick-and-roll action. Many teams will refer to this as “Stack” or “Money” or, as the Suns called it, “Snap.” NC State runs several different versions of these stack look, though the primary one comes out of the team’s “Ram” series — with some screen-the-screener action before launching into the Spain ball screen. This play was especially powerful when pairing the initiating talents of Dereon Seabron with Terquavion Smith’s movement shooting in the 2021-22 season.

What made the Suns so potent with Snap extended beyond the All-Star talents of Booker and Paul. Those Suns teams were very clever with how they launched and disguised their sets — running the point guard off a couple screens before flowing into the ball screen and finding different ways to spring the back-screener into the action.

It was all about creating a blend and making the defense guard multiple spots on the floor, cracking openings all over depending on the coverage thrown at it. That’s how a team without a Top 10 player in the league gets within a couple games of winning the title.

Here, Denver gets caught between coverages. A botched switch leaves Paul wide open for a 3-ball.

Well, the architect of that offense was assistant coach Kevin Young, who is now the head coach of BYU. Therefore, it was no surprise to see the Cougars — by my count — run some version of Spain/Snap pick-and-roll 15 times against NC State.

If you have your sound on, you can literally hear Young on the sideline call out “Snap!” multiple times while snapping his fingers. Keita sets the ball screen on Taylor and rolls to the rim. Huntley-Hatfield defends up at the level of the screen as Taylor rights over, which leaves two defenders on the ball. With BHH near the arc on Dallin Hall, Demin instead sets the back screen on O’Connell. With Keita diving to the hoop, Hill must come off the weak-side corner to tag, which leaves Kanon Catchings (33.3 3P%) open for a corner 3 off of the skip pass.

This stuff was there all game, too, as NC State struggled to nail its coverages.

BYU does a nice job disguising this Spain/Snap look. As Fousseyni Traore gets set to clock Taylor with a ball screen, Catchings starts under the basket and pops to the corner while Trevin Knell (career 38.7 3P%) buzzes in from the left wing to the middle of the lane. It looks like Kneel will set the back screen on Middlebrooks. Knell, instead, leaks out to the right wing; however, this causes enough traffic and confusion that Middlebrooks never gets to the ball. Demin (5 dunks, 86.4 FG% at the rim) easily turns the corner for a lefty dunk.

This is just too easy from NC State. Keita sets the screen for Demin on Hill and Huntley-Hatfield is nowhere to be found on the other side of the ball screen, while Richie Saunders (41.2 3P%) slips the back screen and pulls MOC away from the action. Demin easily turns the corner and draws late help from Taylor, which leaves Hall open in the corner.

Hall missed the shot, but Demin — who made good decisions as a passer all game — was rewarded with a put-back score.

Here’s another way for BYU to flow into the action — with a kick-back pass from Hall to Demin and the back screen coming from the corner man, Dawson Baker. Ismael Diouf is high but under the level of the screen. Before anything can really happen, though, Breon Pass — guarding aggressively at the point of attack — fouls Demin.

Even when NC State got things sorted correctly, BYU still made them pay. This is nice work from Middlebrooks and Styles to switch the initial ball screen, while Hill sticks with Demin on the leak out. NC State’s defense is cross-matched, though, which has the 6-foot Pass defending the 6-foot-9 Catchings. Styles front Keita, who seals in the post, and O’Connell shades in with back-side help off of the right corner. Catchings faces up, scans over the top of Pass and skips it to Saunders for another catch-and-shoot 3-pointer.

BYU has NBA-level coaching and talent on its roster; Demin projects as a lottery pick in the 2025 Draft. However, NC State’s ball-screen coverages need to tighten. This won’t be the only team that runs a lot of Spain/Stack pick-and-roll. That action has become a favorite for UNC under Hubert Davis, for instance.

Plus, beyond defending this specific action, there needs to be more consistency and communication from the screen defender, especially Huntley-Hatfield. It’s good that NC State can switch and cover up for some of those rotations, but if it leaves vulnerable matchups in other spots on the floor, then the Pack will need to continue to problem solve. Ultimately, 1-5 switching can’t and won’t be this team’s base defense.