Indiana's Zone Defense — Yes, Zone — Sparks Comeback Win Over Louisville

Indiana doesn't play zone defense under Mike Woodson, but they broke it out late in the second half on Monday night, and it worked to perfection in a 74-66 win over Louisville in New York. A 23-6 run spurred by the defensive switch flipped the script, helping the Hoosiers get to 4-1.

Tom Brew | Nov 20, 2023

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NEW YORK — Mike Woodson played for Bob Knight at Indiana, and the legendary icon also had a huge impact on Woodson's coaching career the past three decades in the NBA and now back at his alma mater.

Knight was a man-to-man defense guy through and through, and so is Woodson. That's why it was so surprising that when the Hoosiers were in trouble late against Louisville on Monday night, Woodson went to a zone defense.

The ploy worked to perfection. Louisville couldn't score at all — they went more than four minutes without a basket — and the Hoosiers scored 13 unanswered points to grab a 74-66 win. They are now 4-1 on the season, with the only loss here on Sunday against No. 5 Connecticut.

All thanks to a zone defense.

That, folks, just doesn't happen. Not at Indiana.

“I’ll be honest. Coach Woodson doesn’t like playing zone defense,'' Indiana point guard Xavier Johnson said. "But it was something we had to adjust to. They were getting downhill a lot, and we had to change the game. We went zone, and it opened everything up for us offensively.''

How rare was the call to play zone? It came completely out of the blue.

We don’t work on it at all, to be honest,’’ Johnson said. “But when we went zone, we defended and we got rebounds. They weren’t making that many threes and we got out in our lanes and ran. We got our stops that we needed to end the game and get the W.''

In a game of runs, the Hoosiers saw big leads slip away. They were up by as much as nine points late in the first half, but gave it all away in the first few minutes of the second half when Louisville got within one (36-35) less than two minutes into the half.

Indiana jumped right back ahead by nine again and led 46-37 with 14 minutes to go, but then Louisville went on a 19-5 run to grab a 58-51 lead with 9:04 to go.

The Louisville guards, Skyy Clark and Tre White, were using screens to drive to the basket, and they kept getting fouled. The two of them combined to shoot 15 free throws — Louisville shot 29 as a team — and they proceeded to get Indiana's complete front line in foul trouble.

So Woodson — ''because I really had no choice'' — switched to zone. And in the final 9:04 of the game, Louisville scored only eight points, and two of them came on a meaningless layup in the final seconds.

The zone served its purpose defensively, limiting Louisville to one shot each trip down. It also allowed the Hoosiers to rebound and run, getting multiple easy baskets on the other side. The 23-6 run slammed the door shut, and the Hoosiers had a much-needed win, despite making only 1-of-11 3-point attempts.

"We couldn’t stop their step up pick and roll, and had we continued down that path, Malik (Reneau) probably would have fouled out of the ballgame,'' Woodson said. "It was the right thing to do and probably caught them a little off guard because I don’t normally play zone and we hadn’t worked on it a whole lot.

"But we were aggressive enough and we rebounded out of the zone that it helped. It does you no good to play zone and they still get offensive put-backs.''

Woodson said the zone is in their arsenal, but it's certainly not a priority. But it's there when they need it, and it certainly worked on Monday night,

"We put it in early (in the summer), where we go 2-2-1 (full-court press) back to a 2-3 zone.'' he said. "So its always been in our back pocket, I just never felt the urge to pull it out because I’m still trying to get our man-to-man defense where I need it to be. But it helped us tonight, and some of the zone guys in there are really happy tonight.''

There were many unlikely heroes for the Hoosiers, most notably the front line of the second unit. Kaleb Banks, Anthony Walker and Payton Sparks all played well. They combined for 59 minutes of playing time and had 24 points, 18 rebounds, five blocks and four assists.

As a group, they only had 21 points total throughout the first four games.

"Our bench was phenomenal tonight,'' Woodson said. "Kaleb Banks, I thought, played extremely well.''

Banks, a seldom-used sophomore, was pressed into duty early when starting small forward Mackenzie Mgbako picked up two fouls in less than two minutes. Banks wound up playing more than 25 minutes — he had played only 34 total in the first four games — and he only played more than 14 minutes twice all of last year.

He didn't score a lot, but was all over the floor. He had eight rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots. It was a major shot in the arm.

He wasn't alone, either. With starters Reneau and Kel'el Ware in foul trouble, Anthony Walker stepped up with 11 points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes of playing time, and Payton Sparks had nine points.

Indiana won the rebounding margin 39-35, and the zone helped that, too. It said a lot after getting outrebounded 44-22 a day early, with Woodson questioning their toughness.

The zone, it worked.

"I never thought Mike Woodson would go to a zone defense,” said Louisville coach Kenny Payne, a long-time friend and coaching companion of Woodson's.“He tricked me. They did something they don’t normally do and we couldn’t make the adjustment.”

With the quick turnaround, Payne said they never talked about Indiana playing zone, which really isn't all that surprising considering they've never done it before this year. Payne also said that Louisville ''has been really good'' against zone defenses all season.

"We just got too spread out and too far away from teh basket, and we didn't move the ball,'' Payne said. "They caught us off-guard, for sure, and they played it well. We didn't get a lot of good looks.''

The Hoosiers are back on the floor next Sunday when they take on Harvard at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.''

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