Connecticut ended Notre Dame’s 45-game home winning streak on Saturday night with a 69-61 win at the Joyce Center. Jeff Adrien led the way for the Huskies with 12 points and 19 rebounds, and UConn was able to survive 24 and 15 from the Irish’s Luke Harangody, who had a very poor night from the perimeter (8-for-27 on threes). Rather than focus on the game in its entirety, though, I’m going to hone in on a comment made by one the game’s announcers to illustrate a point.

Early in the game, commentator Dan Shulman mentioned that Connecticut and Notre Dame were 1-2 in the nation in fewest fouls committed this season. Dick Vitale went on to talk about how that was such a key to good defense and how Bob Knight taught his kids at Indiana how to play good defense without fouling.

There is nothing wrong with any of that information, but it’s important to separate the kind of defense Connecticut plays without fouling and the kind of defense Notre Dame plays without fouling.

UConn’s defensive philosophy has long been the same, and it’s a variation of a theme that one can also see at a place like Michigan State. The Huskies play a man-to-man defense where each player’s goal is to keep himself between his opponent and the basket. That sounds like simple, sound defensive philosophy, but it’s different than the kind of defense one would see at a place like Louisville, where Rick Pitino’s teams are trying to force the issue by going for steals and occasionally gambling on defense to do so. The Cards also have a terrific field-goal defense, but they trade fouls and the subsequent free-throws for turnovers. Bruce Pearl’s Tennessee teams play a similar style if far less successfully.

At Connecticut, there is very little gambling, which is part of how Jim Calhoun’s team limits open looks, but the thing that separates UConn’s best defenses from Michigan State’s best defenses is, to reiterate, that UConn combines terrific field-goal defense with very little fouling. MSU’s teams don’t foul a ton, but the Spartans’ rates are consistently much higher than UConn’s.

The first reason for this difference is shot-blocking. Connecticut has led the nation in shot-blocking percentage since the beginning of time, it seems. This year, the Huskies are only 10th in the nation in shot-blocking, but they continue to play great field-goal defense and keep opponents off the line. Part of this is the intimidation factor — teams are so wary of the presence of Hasheem Thabeet that they stay on the perimeter, rarely making the sorts of plays — post-ups, dribble penetration to the rim — that draw fouls.

That explanation is a bit simplistic, though, because Michigan State’s opposing free-throw rates haven’t fluctuated much even when the Spartans’ block rates have been good. The second reason why the Huskies don’t foul is just because of how they’re taught to play defense and the talent that allows them to play that way. They don’t make plays that lead to fouls — they don’t reach, they play with their feet on defense, they’re quick enough to get to the spot before their opponents. A lot of that is talent, but a whole lot of that is good coaching.

On to Notre Dame, who also sends its opponents to the free-throw line only rarely. Like UConn, the NDU defense also forces very few turnovers and is solid — if not as good as Connecticut — on the defensive glass. The difference comes in field-goal defense, where Notre Dame suffers. Whereas UConn is second in the Big East in eFG, Notre Dame is 11th. Mike Brey is limited by his team’s athletes. Based on the way his squad plays, his philosophy seems to be to defend the 3-pointer, but the perimeter defense isn’t good enough to do that and still prevent penetration. This leads to a lot of assists and a lot of made 2-pointers. The Irish’s opponents also make the rare 3-pointers they do attempt.

Basically, Notre Dame has decided to trade fouls and the subsequent free throws for made 2-pointers. With a thin bench, the Irish can’t afford to get any of their players in foul trouble, and so the trade is a smart one. The difference between NDU and UConn is that the Huskies are talented enough — and perhaps coached well enough — that they don’t need to make any tradeoffs.

For the record, Notre Dame attempted four free throws, making three, in Saturday’s defeat; UConn made 15-of-30 attempts. The Irish held UConn to a 45.8 percent eFG and even forced 11 turnovers, so — trailing in the game — they decided to trade a bunch of free throws for a few made twos and the chance to force some turnovers.

Tradeoffs are always made at a cost, which is why the best teams — like UConn — don’t have to make as many as limited teams like Notre Dame.

This story was republished at SNY.tv.