“UCLA Screen”
Term: UCLA screen (or UCLA cut)
Definition: a high-post backscreen for the point guard after the PG has passed to the wing
Synonyms: back screen, up screen
See Also:
- Hawk Action: a UCLA screen followed by a side ballscreen (except the point guard begins the play on the wing instead of passing there); the cutter often receives a weakside stagger
- Hawk Screen: a UCLA screen for a non-PG (some use Hawk screen specifically for the trailing big in transition/early offense); instead of passing to the wing, the ballhandler begins the play there
- Bazemore Cut: a cut off a Hawk screen intended to set up a lob for the cutter; named after a SLOB play the Atlanta Hawks ran for Kent Bazemore
- Jazz: the PG makes the UCLA cut, then sets a back screen for the big on the weakside (the 4 in the diagram above), and then receives a pindown screen from the other big (the 5)
- Chin: a weakside UCLA screen, often preceded by a pass from the cutter, and often followed by a ballscreen (similar to Hawk action)
Origin of the Name: The UCLA Screen was a staple of John Wooden’s 1–4 High offense.
How It Works: In the diagram above, 1 passes to 2 on the wing and then cuts off 5’s UCLA screen.
Why It Works: The UCLA screen exploits the defender’s tendency to relax after his man has passed the ball. Because defenses are reluctant to switch a big onto a point guard, the UCLA screen provides an easy layup when it works.
Except for defensive lapses, the UCLA screen rarely creates a wide-open layup for the cutter. The defense’s adjustment to the screen, however, leaves it vulnerable to secondary action — hence the number of variations listed in the “See Also” category. If the screener’s defender sags off him to prevent the layup, for example, he’s out of position to help on a subsequent screen (such as a ballscreen in so-called Hawk action or a level screen).
Quin Snyder’s Utah Jazz run the UCLA screen more often than perhaps any other NBA team, but rarely do they score directly off of it. Instead, the screen is a quick way to get the defense rotating and recovering, and therefore vulnerable.
Perhaps the most common secondary action for the UCLA is to have both backside players set a stagger screen for the cutter:
UCLA Ballscreen (cf. Hawk or Miami) enables the pull-up 3 for Bojan Bogdanovic:
UCLA Point creates a handoff and roll for a Derrick Favors layup.
The UCLA screen for Bradley Beal gets his defender scrambling and vulnerable to the exit screen that sets up the corner 3:
The Bazemore cut:
See More:
