Last week, Trevor Cooney was named the Atlantic Coast Conference’s first Player of the Week this season — the same sharpshooter who shot 26.7 percent from 3-point range as a redshirt freshman last year.

Cooney dropped 27 points on 7-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc to bail SU out in its season opener against Cornell. He hit everything from catch-and-shoots to pull-ups to off-the-dribbles.

But in his last two games, Cooney has shot a combined 1-of-9 from deep.

“It definitely boosts your confidence a little bit knowing that you went out there and put out a big game like that,” Cooney said. “But I’m not going out there trying to break that record or anything like that. I’m just going out there to play hard.”

Cooney will look to regain his shooting stroke on Monday when the Orange (3-0) hosts St. Francis (N.Y.) (2-1) at 7:30 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.

The eight misses haven’t been the result of poor shot selection or desperation attempts with the shot clock winding down. They’ve been hard to work for — especially against the Raiders, who keyed in on Cooney with their 2-3 zone on Saturday — but mostly, the shots have just rimmed out.

“If I can get one or two more of those 3s to fall for me, then maybe it’s an excellent game or a really good game for me,” Cooney said, “but I’ve just got to focus on taking good shots, keeping my shoulders square and knocking them down.”

It’s the same problem that plagued Cooney last season. It’s why head coach Jim Boeheim limited arguably the Orange’s most skilled shooter to 11.2 minutes per game.

“He didn’t play because he wasn’t making shots for the most part,” Boeheim said after SU’s exhibition win against Ryerson on Nov. 5.
At about the time Boeheim said that, Cooney had shot 6-of-13 from range in preseason play. Three nights later, he dropped bombs against the Big Red as the descriptor that plagued Cooney throughout his first two years on campus — inconsistency — faded.

But his last two performances have brought back that key word. They are just two games early into a long season, but the shots he’s gotten have been relatively open.

“My teammates found me in good spots,” Cooney said. “I just wasn’t able to get that roll.”

Point guard Tyler Ennis said he makes a concerted effort to get Cooney the ball early in each game. Whether it’s a scoop pass in transition, working the inside-outside game down low or running a quick screen off an inbounds play, Ennis said he looks for him early and often.

Against Colgate, Cooney back rimmed a 3 3:42 into regulation. Then he missed again from the right wing 2:04 later, but Raiders guard Damon Sherman-Newsome fell into him on his way down to draw a foul.

“They’re keying in on him,” Ennis said. “I think as we go on and everybody else starts scoring a little more, it’ll open back up for him.”

Cooney hasn’t lost any confidence in his outside shot. He’s missing, but he actually showed he’s improving his repertoire as a shooter on his lone make against Colgate.

After catching a pass from Michael Gbinije on the right wing, Cooney pump-faked as a Raiders defender blew by. Then he took one dribble to his left and swished the 3.

“I’m taking it because defenses are flying out on me,” Cooney said. “If I just pump-fake I can make a better shot for myself or get in the lane and make a better shot for my team.”

Individually, knocking down shots at a steady clip will provide consistency to Cooney’s game, but on a larger scale, it may also be what SU needs to find its rhythm after three disjointed contests.

“We still haven’t put two halves together,” Cooney said, “and it’s something we need to do because good teams do that, and we want to be a good team.”

Published on November 18, 2013 at 2:13 am

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