Scouting Report: Bellarmine Knights

After a short Thanksgiving break, the #19 Kentucky Wildcats (4-2) return to the Rupp Arena floor on Tuesday night. The Bellarmine Knights will make the short drive down from Louisville for a 7:00 p.m. ET game streamed on SEC Network+/ESPN+. Bellarmine has yet to play a Division I opponent at home this season as they have been traveling all across the country. After starting the season with a win at Louisville, the Knights lost at Morehead State. Then, they played at Clemson, Duke, Loyola Marymount, and UCLA. Kentucky may be going to London this week, but it has been Bellarmine who has really logged the travel miles so far this season.

Coach Scott Davenport is in his 18th season at Bellarmine and sports an impressive 400-135 career record. The winningest coach in program history, Coach Davenport led the Knights to a Division II national championship in 2011. Now, he has successfully transitioned the private Catholic school to the Division I ranks. After going 14-8 and finishing second in the ASUN in year one, the Knights went 20-13 and won the conference tournament in year two. However, being in year two of a four-year probationary period while transferring to Division I made them ineligible for the NCAA Tournament. This is an excellent program that is used to winning. That hasn’t changed now that they are playing against the best in the country since joining Division I.

The Bellarmine Knights play a very unique brand of basketball offensively. When things are clicking it can look like poetry in motion. We will be diving into how Kentucky must guard them as well as breaking down their personnel in our typical pregame scouting report. Here is everything you will need to know about the small school just a short drive up I-64.

Bellarmine Knights Personnel

Starters

#1 Juston Betz: 6’3″ 185 lbs, Graduate Student Guard

6.8 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.2 apg

Point Guard. Not a major scoring threat. Shooter! Half of his shots have been 3’s. Shooting a better percentage from 3 than 2. Going to shoot the inside-out catch-and-shoot 3’s off of penetration. Need to tighten up to him as the ball is driven towards you. Don’t lose him as he moves without the ball. Right hand driver. No right hand drives!!! You can go under the ballscreens and handoffs. Those aren’t the 3’s he is looking to shoot. Stay between him and the basket. Don’t over help when he drives. He is primarily driving to pass. Will turn drives into post moves or post up on back cuts. Right hand, left shoulder. Be physical and stay down on the fakes. Will pivot and shot fake a lot at the end of his drives. Stay down! Make him score over you. No right hand drives!

#10 Garrett Tipton: 6’4″ 200 lbs, Redshirt Senior Guard

9.7 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.0 apg

Bigger guard. Scorer. Looking to drive it right. No right hand drives!!! Need to be ready for him to attack closeouts. Capable shooter, 6-17 on the year from 3, but much more aggressive as a driver. Very good off ball cutter. Will come off of diagonal back screens or cut to the block to post up. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Contest the turnaround jumper. Make him score over you and give a hard contest when he shoots it. Shouldn’t need to help to keep him from getting all the way to the basket, but you can help when he is going right. Will pivot and shot fake a lot at the end of his drives. Stay down! No right hand drives.

#5 Peter Suder: 6’5″ 210 lbs, Freshman Guard

11.0 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 2.3 apg

Bigger guard. Most aggressive offensive player. Capable shooter, but much better and more aggressive as a driver. No right hand drives!!! He is always looking to come back right at the end of his drives. Will spin back right to finish. Will pivot and shot fake a lot at the end of his drives. Stay down! Looks to turn drives into post moves. Also will back cur or come off of diagonal screen to post up. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Contest the turnaround jumper. Need to be physical with him when he is around the basket. Wall up and make him score over you. Excellent offensive rebounder. Crashes the glass hard. Box out! Make him finish outside of the paint. No right hand drives!

#22 Bash Wieland: 6’6″ 205 lbs, Senior Guard

9.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.7 apg

Fourth guard that will essentially play the “4.” Non-shooter. 4-40 in his career from 3. Closeout short. We want to see if he will shoot it from the perimeter. You are closing out short to stay between him and the basket. No right hand drives! Looks to turn drives into post moves. Also will back curt or come off of diagonal screen to post up. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Contest the turnaround jumper. Need to be physical with him when he is around the basket. Wall up and make him score over you. Will pivot and shot fake at the end of his drives. Stay down! You can help off of him to help clog up the lane and bump cutters, but don’t lose sight of him. No right hand drives! No layups.

#42 Curt Hopf: 6’8″ 200 lbs, Sophomore Forward

9.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 0.6 apg

Skilled face-up forward. Lefty. Shooter! No 3’s! 28 of 49 shots have been 3’s, making 42.9%. He loves to lift in their offense and take the catch-and-shoot 3. Need to get all the way out to him on the catch and take it away. Will backscreen in their offense and then pop to the perimeter. Be willing to switch the backscreen to keep a guy on a guy and take him away popping out for a 3. Be willing to switch if he ballscreens. Left hand, right shoulder in the post. Be physical with him and make him score it back into with his left hand. Will drive it left from the perimeter. No left hand drives! Make him finish over you. Have to be tight enough to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s!

Bench

#33 Ben Johnson: 6’3″ 185 lbs, Redshirt Freshman Guard

8.0 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 1.0 apg

Backup guard. Very skilled offensively. Shooter! No 3’s! 27 of 42 shots have been 3’s, making 40.7%. Need to chase him off of downscreens and get over the flares. Switch if there is space to take him away from 3. Need to tighten up to him as the ball is driven towards you. When he drives it he is looking to drive it right. No right hand drives! Make him score over you. Stay between him and the basket on the drives. Will pivot and shot fake at the end of his drives. Stay down! Contest all jump shots. Need to pressure him as much as possible without getting beat in a straight line to his right. No right hand drives. No 3’s.

#2 Alec Pfriem: 6’5″ 205 lbs, Senior Guard

5.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.9 apg

Shooter! No 3’s! Just 4-14 from 3 this season, but was 29-62 last season and 40-93 in his career. Need to be tight enough to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. Chase him off of downscreens and get over the flares. Looking to drive it right when he puts it on the floor. No right hand drives! Get your hands up at the end of his drives and make him finish over you. Stay between him and the basket on the drives. Will pivot and shot fake at the end of his drives. Stay down! Do not over help when he drives it. Tighten up to your man. Good passer. Will crash the offensive glass. Box out! No catch-and-shoot 3’s.

#12 Langdon Hatton: 6’10” 240 lbs, Sophomore Forward

2.7 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 0.7 apg

Long backup forward. Looking to score it around the basket. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Be physical and push him off of the block. Not the perimeter shooting threat that #42 Hopf is. He still lifts out to the perimeter in their offense, but it is as a passer. You can play off of him some on the perimeter and help clog things up, or get all the way out and pressure him. When he lifts he is looking to cut back into the post and try to get it on the block. Just make him score over you inside. Box out! No easy left shoulder baskets.

#0 Jaylen Fairman: 6’1″ 180 lbs, Redshirt Freshman Guard

3.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 3.0 apg

Backup point guard. Will play significant minutes if #1 Betz is unable to play. Played 17 minutes against UCLA. Not super aggressive offensively. Willing shooter, but mostly in there to facilitate. No right hand drives!!! Do not over help when he drives it. He is primarily driving to pass. Just stay between him and the basket and make him score over you. Will pivot and shot fake at the end of his drives. Stay down! No right hand drives.

Bellarmine Knights Offense

There isn’t really a comparison in Division I college basketball to what the Bellarmine Knights do offensively. It isn’t just Motion offense, it is perpetual Motion offense. The Knights pass the ball incessantly, have players cutting at all times, and will spend the majority of the offensive possession without dribbling. Their philosophy is centered around ball reversals, hard cuts, and attacking closeouts when the opportunity arises.

When guarding the Knights offense you need to essentially use principles normally reserved for guarding the Princeton. Keep everything in front of you and your best position defensively is when your man has the ball. You have to jump to the ball on every pass, stay with cutters, and be great in one-on-one scenarios because help defense is constantly occupied. Applying ball pressure will help to disrupt their timing and not allow them to freely make passes and reverse the basketball. Also, be ready for them to bring it fast. They aren’t necessarily looking to score, but they want to initiate offense in the scoring area with 4-5 seconds of the shot clock. You have to be ready to guard immediately.

The best, and really only, way to prepare for Bellarmine’s unique style is to see it in action. We will run through a handful of clips here to get you familiar with their offense. However, there are two primary principles we want to drill home going into the game. First, apply ball pressure to make them uncomfortable on the perimeter. Secondly, off of the ball especially (but also on the ball) stay between them and the basket at all times. No back cuts, slips, or open layups off of a backscreen.

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Bellarmine doesn’t play fast in the sense of getting out in transition and taking quick shots. However, they play fast in terms of ball movement, player movement, and putting pressure on the defense. You have to be ready to truly guard for 30 seconds. In this clip, they have a ball reversal within six seconds. They get penetration and another ball reversal with still 19 seconds on the shot clock. That is really hard to guard. You cannot stare at the ball and lose sight of your man. Always stay between them and the basket.

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A lot of action happens in a hurry for the Knights offensively. Within five seconds of the shot clock you get a ball reversal and X-action at the nail here. Then, the ball is reversed again and the set a diagonal backscreen looking for a post up. At this point there are still 20 seconds on the shot clock. Some off ball cuts and another ball reversal allows #5 Suder to attack and get a piece of the paint at 15 seconds. He pivots and finds #22 Wieland who drives it again as everyone relocates. Finally, the ball gets to #42 Hopf on the perimeter. You have to closeout to take away the catch-and-shoot 3, but also can’t get smoked going left. Not enough resistance here.

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In terms of raw size around the basket the Bellarmine Knights are very small. However, they do have some bigger guards and those guys like to look for opportunities to post up and play around the basket. They love to backcut into the post or stop short and post up on their way out the back side. 6’5″ guard #5 Suder is one of the best at this. Here you see him face-up and make a nice spin move to finish with his left hand. Much more concerned about him going right, but still want to make him score over you.

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Bellarmine is going to start running offense as soon as the ball crosses half court. They set a lot of diagonal backscreens for their guards to cut in around the basket. #42 Hopf is dangerous setting these screens because he can pop out to three-point range shoot. It makes it hard to help on the backscreen because you have to stay tight and take away #42 Hopf from three. Be willing to switch the backscreen. Here is a look at him hitting one when stepping out after the backscreen.

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Coach Davenport is not going to call very many set plays at all. The Bellarmine Knights run great offense, but it is free-flowing. On the rare occasion that they do run a play it usually starts in a 1-4 set with an Iverson Cut action. The bottom side cut is to set a diagonal backscreen. In this clip #22 Wieland is wide open coming off of the backscreen. A lot of their players are very similar so be VERY willing to switch screens like this to keep a guy on a guy.

Bellarmine Knights Defense

The Bellarmine Knights are going to pack it in defensively and force you to make jump shots. In fact, they lead the country in forcing their opponents into three-point shots. Through the first three weeks of the season the Knights opponents have taken 55.5% of their shots from beyond the arc per KenPom. Unfortunately, they have also knocked in 37.2% of those attempts which is why Coach Davenport’s group has struggled some to begin the year. This team won’t look to turn you over and has been poor on the glass due to a severe lack of size, but it can be difficult to get to the rim. Only 33.7% of opponents points have come from two-point range, the lowest rate in the country. There might not be much true rim protection, but Bellarmine absolutely protects the paint.

Keys to the Game

• Stay between them and the basket. Your best defensive position is when your man has the ball. Constant screening and cutting leads to layups because the defense gets lazy or turns their head. Do not fall asleep off of the ball. No layups!
• Play fast off of misses. Rebound the ball and go. Against their set defense it can be hard to get into the paint. However, we can use our size and athleticism advantage in transition. Be aggressive trying to score in transition.
• Dominant the glass. We still need to get to that 77% defensive rebounding percentage. Bellarmine doesn’t look to crash the offensive glass and lack size to defensive rebound. Need to have a dominant performance on the glass.
• Win the turnover battle. Make them uncomfortable and throw off their offensive rhythm by applying ball pressure. Against Loyola Marymount and UCLA, the Knights turned it over a combined 35 times. Force 15+ turnovers and commit 12 or fewer.