Syracuse vs. Dayton Preview: How the Flyers Will Attack the 2-3 Zone

How will Archie Miller and Dayton look to attack Syracuse's 2-3 zone? We take you behind the x's and o's.

The Syracuse Orange are set to tip off against the Dayton Flyers this Friday at 12:15 p.m. ET in St. Louis. It's the (sort of) return of the nooner! But that's another story.

What's more important is how Archie Miller and his Dayton Flyers will look to attack Syracuse's illustrious 2-3 zone. One thing is for sure, Michael Gbinije and Trevor Cooney will be bruised and battered as they'll have a plethora of screens to fight through. Archie Miller likes to run this set below where his team will ball screen the top of 2-3 zone. Let's take a closer look:

This is a clip from when Dayton took on Iowa in the Advocare Invitational earlier this season. Iowa is in a 2-3 zone here, obviously. Scoochie Smith has the ball on the right wing and will pass to Darrell Davis while Kendall Pollard simultaneously sets a flare screen on the weak side defender.

This is actually a variation and from the middle of the set but it's important to show what's available to the offense. I'll get to what the finished product looks like below. From here, Davis dribble drives to the high post where he'll have a few options depending on how the defense plays him. If Dom Uhl (Iowa center) comes up to defend, he should have a lob. Or if the wing jumps, Davis has a kick to Charles Cooke in the corner.

In this case Uhl plays back and Davis pulls up for a 15-footer which he missed. Way to read the scouting report, Uhl.

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Let's take a look at the same set from soup to nuts:

From the beginning, Dayton sets an inverted screen against the 2-3 for Kyle Davis on the strong side defender. The screener should then set a flare screen (which you saw in the first clip above) for Davis on the opposite side and flash to the high post.

The defense comes up to guard Davis but Davis is looking to pass to Smith on the opposite wing.

This forces the forward to come up and guard the wing which leaves the corner open which isn't exactly what Dayton is looking for but if the corner three is open they'll take it. Smith elects not to pass to the corner, however, and instead hits the high post -- what Dayton is looking to do -- and they settled for a contested jumper.

What Dayton is really looking for here is to either get a flare screen to get Kyle Davis open on the opposite wing or to get the ball to the high post for either an open jumper or lob to the runner along the baseline. I couldn't find any footage of Dayton executing this to perfection (this should make you feel happy), but was determined to find something. I came up with this clip from Iowa State below. This is the same set.

This is only one set Dayton will look to execute against the 2-3 but be on the lookout. Follow along Friday and see if you can spot it.