The bad days haven’t come often this season for Trevor Cooney after his 2012-13 season was filled with them. But last Sunday against St. John’s was one of those days.

The guard was shut out for the first time this season and held to fewer than 10 points for just the second time. The Red Storm marked him tightly and took the sophomore out of the game.

Five days later, as Syracuse hosted High Point in the Carrier Dome, Cooney looked more like the sharpshooter of this year than the lackluster performer he was a year ago. He was better in every facet. He sunk his shots, but he got himself open better, too.

“I knew I was going to have to be better coming off screens and be a better cutter,” Cooney said, “and I was able to do that and run my man into a couple good screens.”

His struggles against SJU weren’t a matter of missing shots, but rather a product of his inability to get open ones. He had some trouble getting good looks again during No. 2 Syracuse’s 75-54 win against the Panthers (3-7) on Friday in front of a crowd of 19,473, but found just enough to drill five 3-pointers and lead SU (11-0) with 17 points.

Cooney’s day started when he curled off a Baye Moussa Keita screen and lifted up a slightly off-balance 3. Swish. Then, in typical Cooney fashion, the guard drilled another 3 during Syracuse’s next possession. Six points in a flash.

“He’s not shy. He hasn’t been shy all year,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “We didn’t get him any shots at St. John’s and tonight he didn’t get many.”

The sophomore drilled 5-of-6 3-pointers to lift his percentage to 49.3 just five days after an 0-for-3 day against the Red Storm. It was the sixth time Cooney has sunk at least five 3s this season and gave the Orange a reliable option when its offense stagnated.

SU has typically been fine letting Tyler Ennis try to drive from the top of the key or finding C.J. Fair for baseline jumpers, but the best openings that it finds come because of how Cooney can stretch the floor.

Cooney hit Syracuse’s only five 3-pointers before a pair of garbage-time heaves and hit a critical 3 from the left wing to cap the 11-0 run that started the Orange’s decisive 28-3 stretch during the second half.

“It always expands our offense,” SU forward Jerami Grant said. “Whenever he’s shooting well we have more open driving lanes.”

Cooney attempted just one field goal from inside the arc — a runner that dropped in from the lane — and got only one wide-open look, but he still shot a wildly efficient 6-of-7 from the field.

“We’ve got to get him seven or eight at least and they were a hard seven. None of them were really easy,” Boeheim said. “We’ve got to do a better job getting him shots and he’s got to work hard to get open.”

That sole good look came to break a tie late in the first half. Syracuse let HPU hang around, but a High Point turnover triggered an Orange fast break. Ennis pushed the ball up the floor and found Cooney all alone in the right corner for an easy triple.

Transition looks like that help the redshirt sophomore guard, but right now Boeheim hasn’t seen enough of that. But with Ennis constantly improving and Cooney working diligently to get open off screens, the 3-pointers will keep falling for Cooney.

“(Ennis) is just great at what he does,” Cooney said. “He runs the team really well, he gets the ball in transition, he pushes it and he’s always going to make the right play.”

Published on December 21, 2013 at 5:55 pm

Contact David: dbwilson@syr.edu | @DBWilson2