Bruce Weber K-State Zone Offense by Wes Kosel

Coach Weber has his Wildcats playing great with two big wins in the past week over Texas and Kansas. The Wildcats are 17-7 overall and 7-4 in BIG 12 Conference play. In the win against Texas, Marcus Foster had a career-high 34 points. Many of Foster’s points were scored against the Longhorns’ 2-3 zone defense. In that game, Will Spradling and Foster combined to go 8-of-11 from 3-point range.

The Wildcats did a great job getting open looks for both Spradling and Foster. I have included 3 options to use against a 2-3 zone defense. Against Texas, K-State played patient and attacked the zone from different angles to open up scoring opportunities.

Bruce Weber K-State Zone Offense Option 1: Corner 3
This option was passed up in the game, but is a good play to get an open corner shot. Spradling starts with the ball and passes to Iwundu to move the defenders. Southwell steps up behind and screens the top defender (x2) guarding Spradling, and Spradling cuts toward the corner. After setting the screen, Southwell steps out and receives the pass from Iwundu. Gipson, who is in the low post, steps around to screen the outside baseline defender (now guarding Spradling). This leaves Spradling open in the corner for a shot.

Bruce Weber K-State Zone Offense Option 2: Penetrate & Kick
If Spradling isn’t open in the corner then Gipson moves up toward the elbow, and Southwell passes back to Iwundu. Moving the ball makes the defense also move, and with x1 moving to guard the ball on the reversal Iwundu looks to drive the ball between defenders x1 and x4. If x4 doesn’t step over then Iwundu will have an open shot. If x4 does stop the penetration, Iwundu passes to Foster on the wing for an open shot.

Bruce Weber K-State Zone Offense Option 3: Backside Lob
In this option, Spradling dribbles toward the wing taking the top defender (x2) with him. Spradling then gives a dribble hand-off to Iwundu. Once Iwundu has the ball, Gipson screens x2. Iwundu first looks to turn the corner on the screen and attack the middle of the defense. If the defense collapses Iwundu can pass out to Southwell, Foster, or Spradling on the perimeter. If not, Iwundu flattens out his dribble and makes x1 or x2 have to guard him. With the screen and roll taking the attention of x4 and x5 (they will have to step up if Iwundu turns the corner), Foster looks to slip behind the defense. If this happens, Iwundu makes a lob pass to Foster for a dunk.

Wes Kosel is an assistant coach for men’s basketball under Head Coach Tommy Jones at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, TX. 2013-2014 marks the second year for Kosel at TLU. Prior to arriving at TLU, Kosel served as a student assistant coach under Head Coach Chad Killscrow at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, KS. Kosel has an undergraduate degree in Exercise Science from the University of Kansas, and is pursuing a Master’s degree in Physical Education from the University of Houston. The Bartlesville, OK native is also a NSCA Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), and teaches weight training and aerobic fitness courses at Texas Lutheran. He has coached AAU programs, volunteered with elementary and middle school basketball teams, and has worked basketball camps for various programs including the Houston Rockets, University of Houston, Texas State, and Texas A&M Corpus Christi

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Bruce Weber K-State Zone Offense by Wes Kosel