Steve Prohm’s wing denial drills

* This article was written when Steve Prohm was the head coach of the Murray State men’s basketball team.

One of the keys to Steve Prohm’s defense at Murray State was to deny all passes to the wing. To do so he drills it in practice. Here are some of his wing denial drills.

1-on-1 Wing Denial. This drill has the defender closing out on the wing then denying the pass back to the wing from the top.

DIAGRAM 1: The defender rolls the ball to the wing player. The wing picks it up makes a quick fake and passes to the top. The defender closes out stays with the offensive player on the fake then denies any pass back from the top. Eventually the player at the top tries to throw a backdoor pass. The defender should be in a position to pick off this pass.

2-on-1 Gaps. The defender works on jumping to a ball handler then recovering to a shooter in the corner.

DIAGRAM 2: The offensive player dribbles from the half-court area and the defender is positioned halfway between the ball handler and a shooter in the corner. When the dribbler attacks the defender comes to stop the dribble. The ball handler then passes to the player in the corner. The defender must sprint to recover close out and block out the shooter on the shot.

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2-on-2 Wing Denial. The defenders work on closing out to deny.

DIAGRAM 3: A coach under the hoop passes to the coach at the top. The two defenders start near the basket now sprint to beyond the elbows to deny the wing players a pass. When a pass is made to the wing the wing defender closes out all over the player. The opposite defender drops into the lane in help position. The offensive player either passes back to the top (sending the defenders back to their original spots) or throws a cross-court skip pass which forces the help defender to close out on the wing and the other defender to drop into the lane to provide help.

Three ways to be successful like Murray State

Prohm only has been a head college coach for one year but his 15 years as an assistant (under the defensive minds of Dave Hobbs at the University of Alabama and Billy Kennedy at Murray State) have shown him three keys for any program to achieve consistent success.

1. Be great defensively. “We are a half-court aggressive man-to-man physically tough defensive team Prohm said about his main coaching philosophy.

2. Unselfish. “When the players are unselfish and want to share the success with each other then that’s fun to watch Prohm explains.

3. Great relationships. Prohm said one of the biggest things he takes to heart is having a strong relationship with his players his staff and people in the community. “Everyone needs to have a great trust and a great love for one another. That’s something you build through your day-to-day activities Prohm said.