‘Good vs. Evil,’ Virginia’s Bennett has the formula on how to beat Syracuse’s vaunted 2-3 zone

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Good usually prevails over Evil, right? It’s in the movies. It’s in the Bible.

It’s in basketball, too. Just ask Tony Bennett.

I did just that after Virginia’s 81-58 landslide win over visiting Syracuse on Monday night. Nah, I wasn’t asking Bennett about good vs. evil – that was his idea – but rather putting him on the spot.

Found it interesting that Bennett has faced Jim Boeheim’s sophisticated 2-3 zone defense 11 times and has walked away the winner in eight of those matchups. For those who are mathematically challenged, that’s a 73 percent winning percentage.

Stop and think about that for a minute.

I did, and that prompted my question to Bennett in the postgame interview. After watching the No. 8-ranked Cavaliers surgically dissect Boeheim’s zone yet once again, I asked Bennett if he had discovered the formula for taking Syracuse apart.

Of course, being the aw shucks, All-America modest type guy that Bennett is, he wasn’t going to go in that direction with his answer.

“We didn’t find the answer [in order] to go to the Final Four … and then we did [find the answer], and then we had trouble against [Syracuse’s] press,” Bennett started off his answer.

He was referring to the total collapse in the second half against the Orange in that dreadful 2016 loss in Chicago, with what looked like a guaranteed trip to the Final Four hanging in the balance. But it wasn’t Syracuse’s zone that beat Virginia, it was the fullcourt pressure, a desperation move by Boeheim that had worked the game before against Gonzaga, so why not slap it on the Cavaliers to see what might happen.

I think that was just Tony being Tony. He’s not going to claim mastery over anyone or anything because that’s the kind of guy he is.

So, about Monday night …

“You have different attacks and different personnel against any zone, but [Syracuse’s] is so good,” Bennett said. “Make some shots, touch the high post in different ways, penetrating, passing. This time we were a little different than in years past based on personnel.”

Bennett answered the question without really answering the question, something coaches do when they don’t want to give out too much information.

For the last several years, we’ve figured out part of the strategy, perhaps the key part, is what Virginia describes as the “playmaker’s” position. That’s when the “playmaker” usually manuevers into the middle of the 2-3 zone. The playmaker can come off a ball screen and shoot, drive or dish. Sometimes he can find a soft spot behind the zone and score.

Kihei Clark, although he was the smallest player on the floor at 5-foot-9, was making plays from that spot. So was Sam Hauser in the high post, while seven-footer Jay Huff was behind the defense.

All that put so much pressure on Syracuse’s defense, that it couldn’t function properly.

“They move the ball and get [Hauser and Huff] the ball,” Boeheim said after the game. “The big kid (Huff) is tough. We had to try to take away the lob after they got a couple of those (Boeheim called a time out to try to correct that issue). That leaves some perimeter shots available. They made them. They’re a good team. They’re a really good shooting team.”

Huff had six dunks, many of them lobs from Clark. Hauser had seven 3-pointers. Trey Murphy (what an appropriate name for a 3-point shooter) had four of his namesake.

“Jay is such a big target where he can slide to the high post and he see things from there,” Bennett pointed out.

Bennett had some anxiety about facing Syracuse and it’s zone on one day’s rest. The Cavaliers had survived an upset bid by an improved Georgia Tech team on Saturday, and with Hauser, Murphy and Reece Beekman having never faced Syracuse’s zone, it was a lot to ask to get them ready with such a quick turnaround.

In fact, Bennett had spent some time in practice the week before, after NC State’s game was postponed, to devote some time to familiarize his newbies to the Orange defense.

Boeheim’s 2-3 isn’t your normal 2-3 zone. Cory Alexander, who starred for Virginia in the ‘90s and later enjoyed an NBA career, told me a couple of years ago that he’s played against about every defense imaginable and has never seen anything quite like Boeheim’s zone. So it isn’t easy, even though Virginia made it look that way.

The Cavaliers shot 49 percent (29-59) from the field and 45 percent from beyond the arc (14-31).

Back to the Good vs. Evil thing.

“We just had some great wars,” Bennett said. “It’s a good zone team against a man-to-man team, so I always challenge our guys and jokingly say, ‘It’s good versus evil. Man-to-man is good (chuckles).’ But the utmost respect for Coach Boeheim and what he’s done with that zone.”

Certainly no one is accusing Boeheim or Syracuse of being evil. It was all in jest. In fact, I find Boeheim a terrific interview. He’s always been good to me.

Still, one has to wonder if Bennett hasn’t come up with the formula to beat that 2-3.

Even up at the Carrier Dome to start the 2019-20 season, Virginia used Diakite in that playmaker spot and held Syracuse _ on it’s home court _ to its fewest points since 1945 (that’s not a typo) in a 48-34 Cavaliers win.

Both Huff and Hauser, who combined for 42 points in Monday night’s latest win over Syracuse, credited Virginia’s scout team, called the “Green Team,” for preparing them to face the zone.

“[The Green Team] played really hard (in practice) and made us work for really good shots, so I think that helped,” Hauser said. “Kind of in the flow of the game, you get a feel for it, you can understand where to attack it, and where you might be able to get an open shot. Throughout the game we were able to find pockets or windows where we could get a good shot off or just make a winning play.”

Huff said that Syracuse has players with long arms, so it’s difficult to replicate that in practice, but pointed out UVA’s scout team did a good job .

“I think that was really big for us, especially for the guys that have played against it before,” Huff said.

With another win against the zone in their hip pocket, the Cavaliers now turn their focus to Virginia Tech, a team that plays similar defense to Virginia. At least the Cavaliers will have inside knowledge on how to solve that puzzle.