Chalk Talk: What the Cowboys Need to Fix Defensively Against Michigan

The Oklahoma State Cowboys enter the NCAA Tournament looking to snap their three-game losing streak. Their opponent, the Michigan Wolverines, enter Friday’s contest at 24-11 with a No. 23 ranking in the polls. The Cowboys have the talent to defeat Michigan, but they will have to fix their one major flaw on defense.

As everyone knows by now, the Cowboys made a change in defensive philosophy in late January. Since then, the Cowboys’ focus on guarding the paint has been relatively successful, but it doesn’t come without a weakness. The Cowboys’ past couple of opponents, specifically Kansas and Iowa State, have shown how an offense can expose aggressive help defense with the three-pointer.

In the past three games, OSU has had an abysmal perimeter defense, allowing opponents to shoot 47 percent from beyond the arc. This has come against good-shooting teams in Kansas and Iowa State, but Michigan is as good if not better than them from the outside.

The Cowboys have given up threes via poor zone defense, overly aggressive help and poor transition defense. In this article, we will look at how opponents have recently taken advantage of the Cowboys’ defense, particularly zone defense, in the past three games.

The Cowboys have frequently given up open shots because they over collapse on players inside the paint. Here’s an example of the top half of the zone getting sucked in by a drive on the baseline:

And here’s an almost identical example, where Iowa State forward Darrell Bowie (No. 10) intelligently fills the lane and forces Jawun Evans to cover the paint, leaving Matt Thomas open from three.

But that issue doesn’t just apply with guards. Opposing teams have also had success from three thanks to a collective delayed action by the defense against a quick ball rotation. In the clip below, the top two defenders both jump to guard Frank Mason (No. 0 for Kansas), leaving Jawun Evans having to guard both players on the perimeter.

The Cowboys have had ample time to fix their defensive issues, but their opponent, the Michigan Wolverines, are second in the Big 10 conference in three-point percentage at 38 percent. Four of the Wolverine’s top six scorers average better than 39 percent from three-point range, with three of those scorers in the top-15 in Big 10 three-point percentage.

The Cowboys will have an opportunity to defeat the Wolverines, but such a victory can’t happen without an effective perimeter defense.