Alot of you really liked our breakdown of Coach Roy William’s secondary break offense and have asked for the breakdown drills for it. So we’ve compiled some of the team drills Coach Williams uses at North Carolina.
These drills are surprising “simple”. Coach Roy Williams works on things as simple as taking the ball out of the hoop because to score easy buckets, you must be fast with the ball. If you watch North Carolina, regardless of a make or miss they very quickly inbound and look ahead. This is a habit that needs to be trained.
- Take ball out of net
- Blitz drill
- Rebound outlet
- Reaction drill
- 2 on 0 bigs transition
- Mine field defensive drill
Taking ball out of net
Practice taking the ball out of the net quickly. Coach stands in front of free throw line, shoots the ball. Post player takes ball out and quickly outlets it to manager at the 28 foot line. Make or miss.
Blitz drill
This is a very simple numbers advantage drill, 3 on 2 and 2 on 1 but with an added trailing defender so it forces the offense to make a decision quicker. Coach Williams wants his team to score within 2 or fewer passes.
Set up
Have 2 teams line up on the sidelines. 2 offensive players start in their own half. 1 defender on the other end. The offensive team should place a 3rd player underneath the basket when the drill reverses.
How to play
Once the offense crosses half court, 1 player from the defensive team has to sprint to the middle circle and then help defend. In the meantime, the offense tries to score. On a make or miss, the 2 defenders become the offense going back the other way.
Rebound outlet
Having a fast outlet pass is key to great transition. In this drill, the coach is on the baseline with the ball. The coach passes to a shooter, who then takes a shot. On a make, the rebounder has to take the ball baseline. The rebounders must box out, the shooters get a point if they can get an offensive rebound. The rebounder must then look for the outlet pass. The shooters must try to deny the outlet pass. Once the outlet pass is made, it turns into a 2 on 1 game.
Reaction drill
This is both a defensive transition and offense drill. 5 players line up on the baseline and 5 defensive players line up just below the free throw line extended. Coach passes to any player on the baseline. The defensive player directly opposite that player must touch the baseline, this creates a 5 on 4 situation. The offense has to play 5 on 4. The defense must then rotate to cover the ball handler and the players must shift. Remember, the help player should always come from the side with more defenders.
2 on 0 bigs transition

This drill is for the trailing bigs to get familiar with getting to the rim and then looking for the cross screen if they don’t get the ball. 2 coaches stand on the wings, 1 big is at the top of the key whist the other is already in the low block.
Mine field defensive drill
You’ll see a guard steal the ball off a denial that turns into a layup almost once every game. This is because Coach Williams practices ball denial chasing a guard off screens in this drill called “mine field”. You have coaches or players act as stationary screens. 2 coaches at the wings to pass and recieve the ball. The defensive players must run through the screens as if chasing a player and then deny the pass from the top of the key. If they can’t deny the pass, they have to close out. The coach responsible for the pass and adjust to pass faster or slower depending on the player.
Coach Keith
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