After snapping a string of three consecutive misses, Trevor Cooney tried to keep what little momentum he had alive.

He hit a 3 to open the second half, but missed his next two attempts. Then he tried to will in another shot from in front of SU’s bench.

But Cooney came up empty again, and punched his open palm in frustration after a foul was called down low.

After not making a field goal in Syracuse’s first scrimmage against Carleton, Cooney finished 4-for-13 overall and 2-of-9 from 3-point territory during No. 23 Syracuse’s 84-35 thumping of Adrian on Monday night in the Carrier Dome. Although inefficiently, he chipped in 10 points to help blow SU’s second exhibition opponent out of the way.

The final numbers weren’t pretty, but Jim Boeheim was OK with the shots that Cooney attempted.

“I wasn’t OK that they didn’t go in,” the head coach said. “He didn’t take a bad shot.”

Cooney, largely responsible for the Orange’s offensive downfall last year, struck out in SU’s 76-68 exhibition win over Carleton on Nov. 2, missing all four attempts from deep and all six overall.

Cooney’s performance rounds out a slow build-up to the season for the junior shooting guard, but not long after the game he was showered, dressed and not bothered by his struggles.

“I had some great looks tonight,” Cooney said. “I had a couple go in and out. I had a couple I was laying back too much. That’s what exhibitions are for, you take from it and you learn from it and you move on.”

After misfiring on a 3 a minute into Monday’s game, the shooting guard nailed a jumper from just inside the free-throw line 35 seconds later to end the Carrier Dome crowd’s customary stand-and-clap.

Nearly 10 minutes of game time later, Cooney threw down a two-handed dunk in transition to spark a subdued crowd and push SU’s lead to 11.

But his remainder of the half was not as enlightening, missing three jumpers and turning the ball over right after coming up with a steal — which earned him a “What are you doing?” from Boeheim upon returning to the sideline.

Cooney hit a 3 to open Syracuse’s scoring in the second half, but a minute later couldn’t capitalize from the corner in front of SU’s bench.

“I’m fine,” Cooney said of his confidence. “I don’t think I made a lot of 3s last year in exhibition games. I’m very confident.”

With Adrian facing a severe height deficit — its tallest player topping out at 6 feet, 5 inches — the Bulldogs doubled Rakeem Christmas and Chris McCullough down low nearly every time down the court.

As Christmas scaned his options, he just looked for whoever is open, he said, which happened to be Cooney quite often Monday night.

And Cooney said SU’s offense will run through its senior big man, which will create shot opportunities for him whenever opposing defenses collapse on Christmas.

Finally, that connection worked with 3:42 remaining in the game. From the left block, Christmas found his shooter and Cooney drilled a corner 3.

But it didn’t work enough times for Cooney to leave the game with anything but assuredness heading into the Orange’s season opener against Kennesaw State at the Carrier Dome on Friday.

“He’s getting a lot of good shots,” point guard Kaleb Joseph said of Cooney. “He’s being confident, he’s open, he’s taking good shots and that’s what we need from him. We can’t ask anything else from him.”

Published on November 10, 2014 at 11:03 pm

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb