Film Room: UAB utilizes hard double-screen to free Brown for clutch 3

No. 14 UAB followed a tried-and-true formula for underdogs on Thursday in knocking off No. 3 Iowa State: They hit the offensive boards with abandon and they pressured on the ball.

Teams who rebound well on offense tend to be particularly strong upset picks, as do teams that force a lot of turnovers. Both essentially steal possessions from a stronger team, tilting the game's scales some. The Blazers eschewed two other David strategies in their win, as they didn't slow the pace and didn't rely heavily on high-variance 3-point shots, shooting 3-of-18 from outside overall.

That doesn't mean the long ball wasn't a key factor in their 60-59 victory.

Trailing 55-53 with 57 seconds to play, UAB called a timeout to draw up a play from a baseline inbound. They didn't need a three and their first option was actually a close look, but the triple that materialized was the result of a simple but effective ATO.

The Blazers begin with four players bunched just below the free-throw line, with Hakeem Baxter running south.

Iowa State opted to switch on Baxter immediately and when he flared beneath the basket for the play's first option, there was no clean pass to be made. Notice that after initially setting a screen for Baxter that went unused, Robert Brown cut toward a double screen at the right elbow.

The UAB bigs stand their ground with a terrific double-screen, and because Jameel McKay was unable to leave the paint with Baxter's low flare, there's nobody to recover on Brown.

Iowa State's lone prayer at that point was that Brown, a 31.4-percent 3-point shooter who was 2-of-6 on the day, would miss the open look.

He did not.

(Courtesy: NCAA)

That shot made it 56-55 for UAB. After Monte Morris took the lead back for Iowa State, UAB ran a simple high pick-and-roll that ultimately ended with William Lee coming open and then working himself a pull up left-elbow jumper for a lead the Blazers would never give up.