Winthrop’s “run and fun” doesn’t exist without defensive stops

Winthrop men’s basketball is calling its offensive style “run and fun.”

The Eagles beat NAIA school Truett-McConnell 106-78 Tuesday night, scoring 100-plus points in two straight games for the first time in school history. No play better epitomized what Winthrop can do offensively than when sophomore Xavier Cooks lobbed to big man Duby Okeke for an alley-oop slam during a second-half run that put away the pesky Bears.

“Throw it within 12 feet and Duby will get it,” Cooks said, laughing. “That’s my job.”

The Eagles’ defense – allowing an average of 86.5 points in the first two games – hasn’t been nearly as fun, and will have to improve before the inevitable cold shooting night.

“We can score,” said Kelsey, “and we can really get going offensively when we get stops and get out in transition. But it’s getting to that point of making people miss instead of hoping they miss.”

The offensive stuff is neat and helps the marketing team, but it doesn’t gel with Kelsey’s persona. He told a small gathering of folks after Tuesday night’s game that his mom and dad never told him “Good luck” or “Hope you win” before dropping him off at his youth basketball games.

“My mom would said to me, ‘Dive on the loose ones, son,’ ” Kelsey said.

So when freshman Adam Pickett splayed onto the floor to chase down a rolling basketball with the Eagles up 24 points in the second half, Kelsey specifically called him over and gave him a heartfelt five for what he called “the play of the game.”

Pickett’s dive to the deck is proof the Eagles’ effort isn’t missing, just that the team’s mental side of defending isn’t up to snuff yet. Kelsey said one reason that Truett-McConnell, which hit 8-of-13 3-pointers in the first half, was getting so many open looks from beyond the arc is Winthrop defenders were collapsing too hard on drivers, leaving shooters open outside.

“The whole 40 minutes, you can’t take plays off,” said Okeke, who had a couple of blocked shots that led to scoring at the other end during the 11-0 run Winthrop used to bury Truett-McConnell. “Just possession by possession you have to stay after them.”

With its considerable length, Winthrop can be a very good defensive team once it starts adhering to the system.

The Eagles’ pack-line requires defenders to start inside and work their way out, getting a hand up in front of shooters, something long-armed players like Cooks and Rod Perkins can do easily; but Winthrop defenders were too flimsy in the pack-line against the Bears Tuesday. They allowed ball-handlers to drive by – not the worst thing in the pack-line because of the defensively congested paint – and then forgot about the shooters behind them, one of the worst things a pack-line defender can do.

It can be harder for a coach to make the defensive side of the ball fun, especially when the transition 3s and alley-oops get all the attention. But those plays aren’t in the DNA of Winthrop’s coach, and they won’t be what help the Eagles kick down the Sunday wall of the Big South tournament final in March.

“I don’t ever want to be known as a pretty program,” said Kelsey.

This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 10:01 AM with the headline "Winthrop’s “run and fun” doesn’t exist without defensive stops."