Cooney's Career Night Saves the Orange

No. 1 SU stays unbeaten with win over Irish

Story and photos by Ethan Joyce

Four minutes into Syracuse’s game against Notre Dame, Trevor Cooney rose for a jumper. Orange fans slung three fingers to the sky, holding their breath as the ball flew through the air. But when his first shot clanged off the rim, 25,000 pairs of hands dropped in disappointment.

Trevor Cooney warms up before the game

Cooney didn’t disappoint fans for long though. He hit his next one. And the one after, spearheading a 13-0 run for the Orange with five minutes to go in the half. Cooney went on to score a personal best 33 points in 61-55 win for the Orange.

 The output was a personal best that came from a career-high nine 3-pointers, which tied the school record for 3's in a game.

Cooney said coach Jim Boeheim had only one message for his hot shooter: Do it again.

“He just said keep going,” Cooney said after the game. “He just saw how they were playing me, and he said to keep shooting.”

In its debut as the No. 1 team in the nation, the Orange needed it. Other than Cooney, no other Syracuse basketball player scored over ten points, which irked Boeheim.

“Fortunately, Trevor must have gotten the message early that they [his teammates] were not going to play well,” Boeheim said. “I thought that the players did a good job getting him open, and I thought he made some good moves . . . with the dribble.”

Boehiem noted that both Notre Dame and Syracuse had trouble scoring. Even with Cooney’s hot hand, the Orange shot only 44 percent from the field in the first half. Luckily for SU, Notre Dame performed worse, scoring just 8 points in the first, while shooting only 30 percent.

Boeheim said that even though Notre Dame is a weak defensive team, his team couldn’t take advantage and failed to ever find an offensive rhythm.

“It was just one of those games where we were not sharp at all,” Boeheim said. “It is a completely different game [than the one against Duke]. We could drive against Duke, but you can’t drive against this team.”


Trevor Cooney, Rakeem Christmas and Tyler Ennis
get back on defense against Notre Dame

Notre Dame outrebounded the Orange, 33-29, with Garrick Sherman and Pat Connaughton grabbing eight rebounds apiece. They also clogged the lane on defense, pestering Cuse’s starting frontline (Grant, Fair and Christmas) to shoot 26 percent from the field.

C.J. Fair struggled the most, scoring six points on a 2-for-13 shooting effort. After scoring 28 points against Duke on Saturday, Fair said  Cooney’s effort is the only thing that saved Syracuse from a loss. That said, Fair knows that he must play better for the team to continue to succeed.

“It was tough to get going, because I wanted to make the jump shots I am normally making,” Fair said. “They {Notre Dame] were daring me to shoot it and they wouldn’t let me drive.

“Once you aren’t making jumpers, it is hard to do anything else but pass it back off.”

Christmas guards ND's Garrick Sherman

Now with almost a week off, Boeheim is glad that his team can get some rest after playing four games in ten days. However, a win like has helped prove his team’s mettle, and kept its 22-game win streak alive.

“You have got to find a way to win these games,” Boeheim said. “It is always tough playing four games in ten days, but we got through it. We will be able to get a couple days of rest in, and I think that will be good for us.”

Syracuse’s next game will be at home on Sunday, Feb. 9, against Clemson.

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