Men’s college basketball rankings: Houston and Auburn are dominating on defense

This week is about defense.

Auburn is winning with switching. No one can make a shot against Houston. And it’s really hard to complete a pass against Iowa State.

Also, let me introduce you to the man they call Big Z, who was awesome on both ends in his debut.

Your weekly friendly reminder: The setup of this season’s Top 25 is that I’ll give nuggets on an unspecified number of teams each week. So if a team appears in the table but not the text below, that’s why.

Zach Edey has scored at least 30 points in three straight games. Defenses are throwing different looks at the reigning national player of the year, but Purdue figures out ways to get him the ball in the post no matter the defensive strategy. Edey is averaging an NCAA-best 11.7 post-ups per game, per Synergy; the next-closest player is Akron’s Enrique Freeman at 8.7 per game.

One difference between this season and last year is that Purdue is getting Edey the ball more often on high-low looks. When a team brings a double on Edey’s post touches, like Iowa did on Saturday, Matt Painter runs more sets with an angled entry from the top of the key, which makes it almost impossible to double.

Notice how wide Edey gets when he feels the defender on his hip and how he spins back to seal as the ball gets reversed. Any defender who tries to fight back over the top is toast.

Connecticut

During the KenPom era (dating back to 1999), 23 of the 24 national champions have finished in the top 20 in adjusted defensive efficiency. Baylor was the one exception at 22. UConn’s adjusted defense has gone from seventh-best nationally last season to 29th this year. Is that slippage cause for concern?

Probably not so long as Donovan Clingan stays healthy. The absence of Clingan, who missed five games, is impacting that number. The Huskies are 5.2 points per 100 possessions better on the defensive end with Clingan on the floor, per CBB Analytics.

Auburn

Auburn is alone in first place in the SEC, and its defense has been a big key to its dominant start. Auburn’s defense is nearly 10 points better per 100 possessions in SEC play than the second-best defense so far in the league (Tennessee). In conference games, the Tigers rank first in 3-point percentage defense (26.7), first in 2-point defense (39.9) and force the highest turnover rate (22.1). A big key to their success is their ability to switch off ball.

The Tigers point switch, and even when they’re late, they have such quick, long athletes that they recover quickly. Pay attention to what it looks like off the ball:

The switching takes away actions, usually keeps Johni Broome in the paint, forces longer possessions, and ideally for the Auburn defense, leads to a late-clock isolation and a contested jumper like this one.

Dalton Knecht is the hottest scorer in the country, averaging 32 points in his last four games. Knecht’s story is one of the best in college hoops this year, a former…