At the beginning of the season, Jeff Reynolds said he wanted to have an even split of zone defense and man-to-man. Through the nonconference season the Falcons mostly stuck to that, usually switching between man and zone depending on the strengths of the opposition.

When the conference season hit, Air Force went back to the matchup zone defense it ran most of last year. There have been a few possessions of man to man sprinkled in, but the Falcons are mostly a zone team again.

“I think we’re better at it because we’re more mature,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said that the players’ communication has allowed the Falcons to run the matchup zone effectively. Reynolds said the Falcons practice the man defense every day, because the matchup zone defense uses so many man-to-man principles. So the Falcons haven’t ditched the idea of playing some games in man defense, depending on matchups.

“We’re not playing as much man as I’d like, but we might have to play some Wednesday night because they shoot it so well,” Reynolds said.

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