Basketball Plays for an Undersized Team: 5 Sets That Beat Bigger Opponents

Every coach gets the roster at some point: no one over 6-foot-2, and a schedule full of teams with a real center. Trying to out-rebound and out-post them rarely works. What works is changing the shape of the game so their size stops mattering.

Three principles before the plays

• Move their big man away from the rim. If your center plays at the elbow or the top of the key, their shot-blocker has to come with him or give up open jumpers. Either way, the paint opens.
• Punish overplay. Athletic teams love to deny and pressure. Every denial is a backdoor cut waiting to happen if your players read it.
• Take good shots only. Layups and rhythm threes. Contested jumpers early in the shot clock feed the other team's transition game, which is where bigger, faster teams beat you worst.

The five sets below all come from the Princeton offense, which was built for exactly this problem.

1. Dribble-At Backdoor

Use it when: the defense is denying your wing pass.

The guard dribbles straight at the denied wing. Nobody calls it: the dribble is the signal. The wing plants his outside foot and cuts behind his defender for a bounce pass. If the defender backs off instead, the two flow into a dribble handoff and attack downhill. This is the one action every undersized team should own, because it turns ball pressure into layups.

2. Point Away (screen-rejection backdoor)

Use it when: defenders are top-locking screens to keep your shooters from catching.

With 5 at the high elbow holding the ball, a guard cuts away to set a screen for the wing. The wing's defender cheats high to beat the screen. So the wing sells it, rejects it, and cuts down the middle for 5's bounce pass.

If the defender trails instead, the wing curls tight to the rim or into a handoff from 5, and the screener pops to the top.

3. Center-Forward Backdoor

Use it when: you need one basket and their wings are overplaying.

5 flashes to the elbow and catches. The wing drifts lazily toward the arc to relax his defender. 5 takes one rhythm dribble, and the wing cuts backdoor hard for the bounce pass. Princeton ran a version of this late against UCLA in the 1996 NCAA Tournament for the game-winning layup. Drift lazy, cut hard.

4. Chin

Use it when: their rim protector is guarding your 5.

After a wing entry, your 5 back-screens a guard for a shuffle cut to the rim, then flare-screens the other guard for a three. Their big man has to go out to the elbow with your 5, which leaves nobody at the rim when the cutter arrives. If both cutters are covered, your 5 is open at the elbow for a jumper.

5. 5-Out Get

Use it when: defenders are top-locking and the paint is empty.

Your 5 steps out to the top of the key. He passes to the wing and sprints straight into a return handoff, then drives an empty lane with the corners spaced for kick-outs. A defender can top-lock a cutter, but he cannot top-lock a handoff.

What ties these together

None of these sets need size. They need players who can pass, dribble and shoot, and who read their defender instead of running to a spot. Teach the reads and the plays take care of themselves: overplay gets a backdoor, sagging gets a handoff or a three, and ball-watching gets a cut behind the defender.

Get every set drawn out

All five plays, plus nine more, are drawn step by step with their reads in the Princeton Offense Play Diagrams. The Princeton Offense Playbook explains the full system and how to install it. Get both, and save, with the Princeton Complete bundle.

Historical references to schools and teams are for analysis only. Diamond Press is not affiliated with or endorsed by Princeton University, UCLA or the NCAA.