Corey Williams' Ball-Hawking, No-Middle, Man-to-Man Defense Action Plan

with Corey Williams,
Auburn University Assistant Coach;
Texas Tech University Assistant Coach from 2021 to 2023;
2022 Sweet Sixteen;
finished 21-22 season as No. 1 in Kenpom's 'Adjusted Defensive Efficiency Ratings';
University of Arkansas Assistant Coach from 2019 to 2021;
2021 Elite Eight;
Stetson University Head Coach from 2013 to 2019;
Florida State Assistant Coach from 2007 to 2013;
Oral Roberts Assistant Coach from 2000 to 2007;
Played collegiately at Oklahoma State University;
Drafted #33 by the Chicago Bulls in 1992;
Member of the 1993 NBA Championship Chicago Bulls

As a player, Corey Williams played and learned from some of the best in the game. Playing on the 1993 NBA Champion Chicago Bulls team alongside Michael Jordan, Scottie Pipen and learning from Phil Jackson, taught him the value and importance of building defensive toughness as a squad – a lesson that Williams keeps close to his heart to this day.

Williams preaches and teaches a hard-nosed, tough style of play.  In this valuable on-the-court video presentation, viewers learn how to build defensive pressure, while instilling confidence in your players and limiting your opponent’s paint touches, as you force their offense to function the sidelines. 

Philosophy, Drills & Progressions

Defense is all about effort, energy, playing hard and playing basketball with passion. Frustrating your opponents and not allowing them to get middle touches forces limitations on an offense and takes away their best scoring options. With that goal in mind, Williams describes how his defense’s main priority is to never allow straight line drives.  Williams explains the reasoning and demonstrates why he emphasizes forcing the ball toward the sideline once the first pass is made. This limits your opponent’s ability to reverse ball and beat the backside of your defense on rotations.Viewers learn the importance ofmaintaining active hands defensively and making ball handlers feel uncomfortable, which ultimately, forces them to play to your style of basketball and gets them out of their offensive rhythm. It’s here where Williams also teaches his pressure style of defense for both on-the-ball defense and in closing-out on shooters.  

By switching 1 through 5, Williams teaches players how to pressure and be ready to guard anyone on the floor. Starting with basic terminology, viewers learn how to use 2-on-2 drills to teach defenders how to  come together during dribble-handoff situations – which forces offensive players to stay on one side of the floor and allows your help-side defenders to play closer to the ball.  

In a valuable session that shows the build up of defensive drill progressions, Williams demonstrates how to run defensive drills 3-on-3 with the goal of getting deflections and frustrating the offense with a smothering defense.  

In Williams 4-on-5 Defensive Drill, players learn how to scramble out of a skipped pass, rotate on a baseline drive, or, if your opponent is lucky enough to drive into the middle, how to communicate on defensive switches in a manner that allows no gaps in your half-court defense. This is an excellent drill for teaching half-court rotations, all-out ball pressure and utilizing a defense that shifts toward the ball and limits an offense’s options.  

Individual Build -Up Drills

Breaking down the teaching of your defense into parts, helps your players learn terminology, rotations and how to force players out of the middle. In this highly instructive section, Williams shows viewers several terrific drills such as the, ‘Pat Beverly Drill’ (where on-the-ball defenders learn how to become a distraction and allow the trail defender to sprint back and block a shot off the backboard), the ‘Name Drill’ (where players are conditioned players to learn to communicate with one another as they are calling out coaches names), and the ‘Block-Out Drill’ (where offensive players move around the paint while a coach puts a shot up – forcing defenders to communicate and scramble to box-out while simulating a game-like situation).  

Williams has been a part of some of the best defensive teams in the game at every level of basketball. His experience in forcing offenses toward the sideline and keeping them out of the middle has helped his squads to consistently be one of the best defensive teams in the country. 

In this excellent on-the-court instructional video, viewers get a great look at how to keep opponents out of the middle of the floor and then smother their offense along the sideline.

5 out of 5 stars – “Coach Williams does a great job of breaking down their terminology and half court set up. This video helps you teach your players how to pressure the ball, scramble and keep your opponent out of the middle of the floor. Highly recommended to help improve any defense.”

50 minutes. 2022.