Jeff Hornacek Phoenix Suns Ball Screen Play | Santa Clara Play of the Day

Written by Coach Peterman

I have coached at the NCAA Division 2 (Southwestern Oklahoma State University), NAIA (USAO), and JUCO Levels (Blinn College and Carl Albert State College) as well as high school. I just felt that fellow coaches especially young coaches need to constantly work on their “game”. Just like the basketball players that we coach. We as coaches need to improve ourselves. That is my story and why I do this blog.



Basketball Set Plays



0 Comments(s)



January 9, 2015

Jeff Hornacek Phoenix Suns Ball Screen Play | Santa Clara Play of the Day

Jeff Hornacek is an open-minded, poised basketball coach who believes in letting his players play and that doesn’t mean just his starters. He has put a major emphasis on the development of the Phoenix Suns and that includes the bench who is currently ranked for 1st in the NBA with 43.9 points per game scored by their reserves.

This strategy by Jeff Hornacek has worked wonders for a relatively young and inexperienced team that is habitually bet against.

Jeff Hornacek finished as runner-up to Gregg Popovich in voting for the 2013-14 NBA Coach of the Year and now has a coaching record of 70 wins and 50 losses – a winning percentage of over 58%. Phoenix had a winning season for the first time since 2009-10 and their 48-34 record was their best since 2009-10 (54-28).

The Phoenix Suns coaching job that Jeff Hornacek has done in the incredibly difficult western conference is even more impressive. The Suns are currently tied with last season’s NBA champion San Antonio Spurs for the 7th spot in the West and have won 10 out of their last 12 games. The Suns have scored 100+ in ten straight games and are 31-1 under Jeff Hornacek when shooting at least 50 percent from the field.

Basketball – maybe more so than any other sport – is a game of momentum and fluctuations. Thus, there is a distinctive advantage in being steady. The greatest gift that Jeff Hornacek could do is his intuitive way of remaining balanced – never too high and never too low.

That Jeff Hornacek mentality has allowed the Phoenix Suns to believe they can beat any team on any given night, along with never feeling like they are “out” of a game regardless of how many points they trail by. In fact, the Suns have five double-digit comebacks over 2014 playoff teams, coming back from 19, 17, 15, 13 and 10 points to beat Brooklyn, Charlotte, San Antonio, Golden State and Dallas, respectively this season.

Santa Clara Men’s Basketball Plays of the Day and Drills of the Week come from the Men’s Basketball Coaching Staff.

Head Coach Kerry Keating is entering his eighth season at Santa Clara University in 2014-15, Kerry Keating has led the Broncos to two post-season tournament victories in the last four years. This coming season he will have nine freshmen and sophomores on the roster.

The Broncos won 14 games in 2013-14 and saw Jared Brownridge break seven school records on the way to being named WCC Newcomer of the Year. Brownridge was also a finalist for the Kyle Macy National Freshman of the Year and a Freshman All-American. Brandon Clark was named to the All-WCC Honorable Mention team and Julian Clarke as named to the WCC All-Academic First Team. Clarke, John McArthur and Evan Roquemore all graduated in June of 2014 as Keating has seen all 22 of his seniors graduate from Santa Clara during his tenure.

Kerry Keating led the Broncos to 24+ victories for the second time in three years in 2012-13. Collecting a 26-12 record, the Broncos won the College Basketball Invitational post-season tournament after winning the CollegeInsider.com Tournament in 2011. The Broncos final RPI was No. 68 and record-wise, they claimed the biggest turnaround in Division I basketball this year. The 26 wins were just one shy of the school record set by the 1968-69 team who collected 27 wins.

Coach Kerry Keating has a 114-121 record in his seven years as a head coach at Santa Clara. He is the third-winningest coach in the last 12 years in the WCC behind Gonzaga’s Mark Few and Saint Mary’s Randy Bennett.

Santa Clara won 26 games in 2012-13 after winning 21 regular season games for the first time in almost 20 years on the Mission campus. Keating coached two first-team All-WCC members in 2013 in Marc Trasolini and Kevin Foster, the second-all-time leading scorer in West Coast Conference history. In addition to their success on the court, all five seniors graduated in June of 2014.

You can learn more about Santa Clara University Men’s Basketball by visiting KerryKeating.com, following them on Twitter at @SantaClaraHoops on Instagram at SantaClaraMensBasketball.
For questions or comments please contact Brandon Rosenthal at bmrosenthal@scu.edu.

Jeff Hornacek

0 Comments