Trevor Cooney didn’t have to look far to find his teammates.

All he had to do was turn around to face the Syracuse bench after his 40-foot, buzzer-beating 3-pointer, which followed his own turnover and gave the Orange a four-point lead going into halftime.

He jogged back into the tunnel with an inescapable grin on his face.

“When a shot like that goes in, it definitely adds something,” Cooney said, chuckling to himself. “I’m glad it went in.”

Syracuse’s first eight games coincided with a bumpy 13-of-46 3-point shooting start for Cooney. But his recent four-game resurgence continued in the form of a 14-point first half for the junior guard on Sunday. His offense keyed a 9-0 Syracuse (8-4) run midway through the first frame that gave the Orange a lead it wouldn’t give up in its 85-67 win over Long Beach State (5-9) in the Carrier Dome.

Cooney finished with 16 points and shot 3-of-5 from 3 to go with his five rebounds on an afternoon where he was never subbed out.

What would become a first-half highlight reel for Cooney started off as it has many times this season. He was taking unbalanced jumpers. Forcing shots while being face-guarded by defenders. And his long 3-point attempts salivated the crowd only to deflate it when they bounced off the rim.

He missed his first four field-goal attempts, and the Orange found itself down 21-17 nine minutes into the game.

But two 3s in the span of 71 seconds put him back on track. First, he nailed a catch-and-shoot 3 from the left corner off a rifled cross-court pass from Michael Gbinije. Two possessions later, Gbinije simply dumped it off to Cooney, who connected to give the Orange a five-point lead.

“When we have movement, people are going to get open shots and better shots,” Cooney said. “When we attack, people are going to come over and double team and draw two, and we just have to find the open man. I think everyone’s taking advantage of that.”

Freshman point guard Kaleb Joseph pointed to Syracuse’s 82-77 loss at then-No. 7 Villanova on Dec. 20 as the game when he and Cooney started to gel in the offense. He said when one player attacks the gaps and kicks the ball out, it opens up another gap for the next player and so on.
He said Cooney has been able to get a flow into the offense because of a more aggressive approach on offense from everyone.

“It’s more than just the extra pass,” Joseph said. “It’s attacking the rim, that’s what opens up the opportunity to make the extra pass. As long as guys stay aggressive and make the extra play, we’re going to get good shots.”

Jim Boeheim started his postgame press conference after Sunday’s win by exclaiming that Syracuse had just played its best offensive game of the season.

Syracuse had the same open looks when it lost to St. John’s on Dec. 6, Boeheim said — a night Cooney had just two points — but couldn’t convert. On Sunday, when Syracuse had its second-largest offensive output of the season, Cooney played a large part.

Said Boeheim: “He’s more or less just putting the ball on the floor and making plays.”

Published on December 28, 2014 at 7:08 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3