FanShot

Knight Watch: Help-Side Defense

6

Really well-done explanation of the help-side defense principles Tom Izzo utilizes. (Say what you will about Bobby Knight--and I've said my share--but the man can break down what's happening on a basketball court like no one else alive.) Analysts often talk about teams playing a zone defense with man-to-man principles. It almost seems like MSU does the opposite--playing a man-to-man defense with zone principles. We'll need plenty of good help defense tonight to limit the scoring of Hummel, Moore, and Johnson and make some of the less-acclaimed Boilermakers beat us.