Old Dominion vs Murray State: Two Full Court Late Game Sets For Three

Old Dominion and Murray State recently had one of the most exciting finishes I have seen in a while, as both teams were able to execute late game plays perfectly, both resulting in big time three-pointers. Fortunately for Old Dominion, they had the last shot as guard Trey Freeman hit an unbelievable, running 3-pointer from deep behind the 3 point line, sending his team to the semi-finals of the NIT.

Murray State was down by 6 with just under a minute left. After a couple of steals and a few made free-throws, Murray State found themselves down by 3 with 14.7 seconds left and ODU senior Richard Ross, a 50% free-throw shooter, at the line. After Ross missed both free-throws, Murray State came down and perfectly executed a quick hitter in transition that Kansas has used for the past several years; the same set that Mario Chalmers hit the big three out of to send the 2008 National Championship game into overtime against the Memphis Tigers team led by Derrick Rose and John Calipari.

MSU guard Cameron Payne pushed the ball up the right side of the court and then handed the ball off to guard TJ Sapp who then came off a ball screen from trailing big Jarvis Williams. At the same time, Jeffrey Moss receives a fade screen from big Terron Gilmore. Sapp hits Moss coming off the fade for a great look at the three.

With a tie game, Old Dominion called a timeout to setup a full-court play with 3.5 seconds left. ODU stood side-by-side in a line just above half court before breaking out. After some crossing action, guard Trey Freeman caught the ball at about the 3-quarter court mark, beat one defender before sinking the deep 3 from around the 28 foot mark as time expired.

Aside from the great sets themselves, the fact that they were executed so well in such a high pressure situation speaks volumes for the level of preparation. MSU never panicked while down, and were able to execute without a time-out off the miss from Ross. On the other end, I am always looking for ways to get the ball into scoring position in late game situations and having to go full-court with 5 seconds or less on the clock. ODU did that perfectly in their set, extending their season without having to battle through overtime.

Follow Coach Reggie Bibb on Twitter!!!

Coach Reggie Bibb is a former college basketball player who has coached at the college, high school, junior high school and AAU levels. He started out as an assistant coach at Seminole State College where he helped head coach Tom Mills earn two conference top two finishes in three years. In two out of his three seasons in Seminole, the Seminole State Trojans won at least 20 games, including one regular season conference championship and another trip to the conference tournament championship game.

Reggie has since coached at the junior high and high school levels, and even spent a year as an assistant principal.

His strengths are in player development, building team culture and chemistry, and building offensive and defensive systems that accentuate his players’ abilities and that help his players utilize what they do best to allow them to have individual and contribute to team success. He also is a great communicator and great at building relationships with his players, parents, and administration.

Reggie currently lives in Lavon, TX, just outside of Dallas, with his wife, Alyssa, and his three daughters: Alexa, London-Mila, and Zoe.

“I hope that I can bring you all content that can help you build your own personal philosophy as a person and as a coach, content that will help you reach and grow your players, and content that will help you put your team in position to be successful through effective strategies, systems, and quick hitters.”

Twitter: @Rhbibb
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Old Dominion vs Murray State: Two Full Court Late Game Sets For Three