Coaching Matters

Last night I watched the Liberty Flames take on the Eastern Kentucky basketball team in the ASUN semi finals. EKU was hot and dominating the game from the get go. They were getting buckets and owning the glass and it seemed like they grabbed every contested and loose ball over the first fifteeen minutes of the first half. about fiftenn minues in Liberty was down 10 and had not scored in an extended period of time. They were being choked out slowly.

Things were looking bleak. All year the Flames have fought through screens on the perimeter with a strong hedge by the post and forwards that would push the ball handler away and give the bigs time to recover to their post player in the paint. This is a standard defensive method in basketball. Almost everyone does it. This is how Liberty has played perimeter defense all year. I think I saw them go zone 1-2 times all year and never for long. I also do not recall seeing them change to a switching defense.

I admit to not having watched every Liberty basketball game, but I have seen about six or more this year. Not once did I see them change this defensive tactic to something else. They have always been a team that fought through the top side screens and used a big to push the ball carrier away. EKU was playing through it and killing Liberty. They were clearly ready for the Liberty defense and gane planned for how to beat it.

With about five minutes left in the first half. This is a guess of the time as I did nto purposefully look at the clock. Liberty changed its defensive tactic after a time out to switching on the perimeter. They also shifted a forward to guard EKU's #10, who was backing the Liberty guards down and scoring at will. With these two changes Liberty shut down EKU and their best player and changed the game. The Liberty bigs began changing the trajectory of #10's shots and they mostly stopped dropping while he could not back the bigs down.

The guards switching did not allow the penetration or open shots EKU had been hitting at will. In the next five minutes Liberty closed the gap and even took a lead, until EKU hit a bucket at the end of the half to go into half time up 1. Coming out of the break, EKU still could not solve Liberty's defensive shift. Liberty built a ten point lead and easily won the game and EKU could never get started again.

This was excellent coaching. I do not get to see this kind of coaching very often, but Liberty's Coach McKay, who they just signed with an extension until 2030 I think, showed he can coach and by his coaching put his team in position to win.