Indiana Hoosiers Finding Success With Spacing

Tom Crean and the Indiana Hoosiers are opening up the lane and playing five-out basketball with terrific results. Prior to their match-up against Purdue, the Hoosiers are 5-2 in the Big Ten and sitting third despite their lack of height.

The late Chuck Daly, coach of the Detroit Pistons in the “Bad Boys” era, had this to say about basketball and the simplicity of offense:

"Offense is spacing, and spacing is offense."

That seems simple enough, but maintaining good spacing is a constant battle when screening, cutting, dribbling and passing are added. Scoring is down in college basketball and offenses that cannot seem to grasp the concept of spacing are one of the main culprits.

Indiana head coach Tom Crean has taken an evolutionary step with his offense and opened up the lane. The Hoosiers (15-5, 5-2 Big Ten) are playing with five players spaced around the perimeter and the shift has produced some beautiful basketball and the Big Ten’s highest scoring offense.

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The five-out alignment has rid the lane of obstacles and helped the Hoosier offense find driving lanes for dribble penetration by quick guards like Yogi Ferrell. Drives lead to assist opportunities and drive-and-kick three-pointers galore.

As pictured below from the recent 89-70 win over Maryland, Indiana spreads the floor with five skilled players around the perimeter. The lane is open for drives and the Maryland defense is forced to defend from sideline to sideline.

The move to the five-out attack was due in large part to the injury losses of 6-foot-9 forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea and Devin Davis. Without Perea and Davis, the Hoosiers were left with little, if any interior presence.

Instead of bemoaning the injury setbacks, Crean got creative and inserted 6-foot-6 Collin Hartman into a starting role. The Hoosiers are a blistering 48 of 95 from three-point range since going five-out and moving Hartman into the starting five on January 13.

Five-out basketball has led to slashing drives to the basket, assisted finishes and drive-and-kick threes. As a result, the Hoosiers have climbed to seventh in the country in adjusted offensive efficiency.

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With defenses spread the width of the court and fearful of helping off shooters, Indiana has been able to attack the rim with the dribble. The five-out spacing forces defenses to choose between sealing drives or sticking with shooters.

Additional variables such as weave action and ball screens have helped the Hoosiers find plentiful space for dribble penetration.

Often one drive leads to a pass back to the perimeter and another drive that attacks the close-out. Below we see Robert Johnson, Troy Williams, James Blackmon and Hartman convert solo drives aided by ball movement, dribble weaves and five-out spacing.

The five-out system is further designed to punish defenses when they do choose to help. Below, Indiana finds Williams for two high-percentage assisted buckets generated by the dribble penetration the five-out spacing allows for.

The most lethal aspect of Indiana’s five-out attack is the drive-and-kick three. The spacing allows for dribble attacks that defenses must seal. They do so at their own peril for in the five-out attack Crean has loaded the line up with accurate three point shooters.

The drive-and-kick three allows for shooters to catch with their hands and feet ready enabling them to fire away before defenders are able to close out. As a result, Indiana is seventh in the country in three point percentage (41%). As a team, Indiana is 12th nationally in effective field goal percentage (56.3%).

Below, we see dribble attacks set up drive-and-kick three-point field goals for Hartman and Max Hoetzel.

There will be drawbacks to Crean’s five-out offense. What happens on the inevitable night when the three’s are not falling? Can the Hoosiers find points without their most deadly weapon?

And the five-out attack does not cover up defensive issues. The Hoosiers are a dreadful 215th in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency. The smaller line up leaves opposing coaches with many mismatches to exploit.

The available Indiana personnel fits this style and Crean will hope the Hoosiers can spread and shoot their way back to the NCAA Tournament.

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