Time for Ennis and Cooney to get going.

[Cusefan0307]

Tough call or not on Saturday, these two need to start playing better. 3-19 isn't going to cut it. These guys need to step up if we are going to make it to the first weekend in April. We need to find Trevor better looks and Ennis needs to be more aggressive. Triche and MCW never got a pass last season. We need a minimum of 20 pts combined out of these two every game.

 

[HakAttack]

Yup. They both haven't looked right on O for a LONG time now. Need to get the backcourt going. But to be fair, it was around this time last year where MCW's jump passes were driving us all INSANE.

How quickly we forget after a trip to the Final Four.

 

[Trueblue25]

Cooney's gotta put the ball on the floor and be aggressive. He's killing us when he's relying on the three, he's just not getting many quality open looks.

 

[Briancuse]

Ennis is pressing a bit right now, and I think Cooney needs to stop thinking only about 3's, and start driving more to the basket.

 

[Cusefan0307]

To be fair Trevor is scrutinized a lot more than Tyler, but it isn't just Trevor playing mehhh. Take out the 40 footer against Pitt and Tyler is about at 33 percent since the first Duke game.

 

[chlywtr]

the two need to work better together...if ennis picks up tempo some times and fakes a hard drive and kicks out to a trailing cooney on a semi-secondary break that could amount to something tangible on the score sheet

 

[CorduroyG]

Ennis hasn't looked the same since he twisted his ankle end of the wake game. Don't think that's an issue cuz he looks fine physically, but since that game he's been off.

 

[anomander]

Ennis is pressing a bit right now, and I think Cooney needs to stop thinking only about 3's, and start driving more to the basket.

I don't think Ennis is pressing at all. In fact I think it's the opposite he needs to be more aggressive, especially if defenses are going to commit to denying Cooney the ball. It seems like Ennis can get past his man whenever he wants, but he is more concerned with running the offense, getting others going. Well when those others aren't going he needs to take charge. I really had no problem with his performance Saturday. He got pretty decent looks, he just didn't make them. I think he only took 1 bad shot.

Cooney on the other hand has to make adjustments since teams have adjusted to him. I would love to see him take it to the whole the first 3 times he gets the ball. Very worst it will give the defense something to think about. If he is just going to run around the whole game trying to get free for an open 3 ball then he will continue to only get 3 or 4 shots off a game.

 

[two3zone]

Southerland was wide open often because of out faster up tempo offense. Trevor is going to have problems being successful when he's the ONLY option from the outside and we're playing a slow half court offense.

I really think a lot of our issues on offense is because we pull back from EVERY fast break opportunity.


I know we only have two losses but we honestly could easily have 5-6 right now and it's in large part to our offense.

 

[rrlbees]

We have to start running plays with the intent of getting Cooney a clean look. But the offense isn't designed that way.

 

[Cusefan0307]

We have to start running plays with the intent of getting Cooney a clean look. But the offense isn't designed that way.

He's going to have to get clean looks in transition or he's going to have to attack the hoop. All Duke did was switch off the pin downs on Saturday which is frustrating, because in theory it should of lead to Cook or thornton guarding Roc and Jerami, and we still didn't take advantage. As soon as they switch on the pin down Ennis should really attack the basket.

 

[two3zone]

He's going to have to get clean looks in transition or he's going to have to attack the hoop. All Duke did was switch off the pin downs on Saturday which is frustrating, because in theory ti should to of lead to Cook or thornton guarding Roc and Jerami, and we still didn't take advantage. As soon as they switch on the pin down Ennis should really attack the basket.

We have zero transition offense though.

 

[FortyFourCT]

I have confidence in Tyler, but I think he is hitting a freshman wall a bit.

 

[sufandu]

Those guys do need to play better but let's look beyond just this last game. Fair needs to play better too. He was 7-23 against BC. If he goes even 10-23 we have one loss and are still #1. He's our senior leader and is supposed to be our best player. We can't call out our first year starting back court and pretend Fair has been playing well because he had a decent (not great, only decent) game against Duke.

BC 4-13 31%
Miami 5-12 42%
Wake Forest 4-14 29%
Notre Dame 2-13 15%
NC State 5-16 31%
Boston College 7-23 30%

That is CJ's shooting for 6 out of our last 11 games. Our best player can't shoot the ball that poorly in that many games, if we're going to win a NC.

 

[NineOneSeven]

We have to start running plays with the intent of getting Cooney a clean look. But the offense isn't designed that way.

True. But then again, how is our offense designed?

 

[Melancer46]

To be fair Trevor is scrutinized a lot more than Tyler, but it isn't just Trevor playing mehhh. Take out the 40 footer against Pitt and Tyler is about at 33 percent since the first Duke game.

Last 5 games:

Ennis shooting under 30.9% from the field including the 40 footer
Cooney shooting 31.7%

Just brutal.

Regarding Cooney attacking more, 3 pointers have made up 71.5% of his shot attempts this year (not including free throws). In ACC play, 3 pointers have made up 72%. Last 5 games, 73%. At this point, this is who Cooney is. He'll occasionally pump fake and step by his man and pull up, and occasionally will drive all the way (I remember him driving all the way at least once in the Duke game), but he pretty much isn't going to shoot the ball if it isn't a 3 pointer for better or worse.

The thing that irriates me with Cooney is that earlier in the year, when teams denied him, he would cut back door. If they cheated and tried to jump a passing lane, he'd flair out to the corner. Now, he simply curls off screens and if he's denied or they jump the lane, he just doesn't counter it anymore. He also never does the play where he would throw the inbounds pass and then quickly pop out to the corner for 3. We did it at least once or twice a game early in the year, but haven't attempted it a single time in ACC play if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Melancer46]

I don't think Ennis is pressing at all. In fact I think it's the opposite he needs to be more aggressive, especially if defenses are going to commit to denying Cooney the ball. It seems like Ennis can get past his man whenever he wants, but he is more concerned with running the offense, getting others going. Well when those others aren't going he needs to take charge. I really had no problem with his performance Saturday. He got pretty decent looks, he just didn't make them. I think he only took 1 bad shot.

Cooney on the other hand has to make adjustments since teams have adjusted to him. I would love to see him take it to the whole the first 3 times he gets the ball. Very worst it will give the defense something to think about. If he is just going to run around the whole game trying to get free for an open 3 ball then he will continue to only get 3 or 4 shots off a game.

Ordinarily, I think Ennis needs to be more aggressive, but he was definitely pressing against Duke this past weekend. It was like that game when we were blown out by G'Town last year and MCW attempted around half of our shots, with the exception that MCW was actually making some of those shots in that game. I'd like to see Ennis be less hesitant about shooting it when he's able to step into his shot, but he gives off a vibe that he isn't confident in his 3 point shot. He only shoots it if there's nobody within 15 feet of him. It's like how Gbinije was early in the year. They're both average shooters. There's nothing wrong with taking the shot if you're open. I'd much rather Ennis take the 3's when he's able to catch and step into it than seeing him try these step-back jumpers and some of the strange finger rolls he attempts.

 

[OttoMets]

True. But then again, how is our offense designed?

Looks to me like Boeheim wants Cooney as far from the basket as possible, spreading the floor to set up isolations for Fair.

U-G-L-Y

 

[two3zone]

Looks to me like Boeheim wants Cooney as far from the basket as possible, spreading the floor to set up isolations for Fair. U-G-L-Y

That's exactly what I'm seeing as well.

 

[rrlbees]

True. But then again, how is our offense designed?

Motion with the intent to get iso's for mostly CJ and sometimes Grant just inside the paint.

 

[GardenOrange]

CJ isn't scoring efficiently enough to warrant all the ISOs. He's needing 20 + shots to get 20 points. He needs to look to pass just a few times to keep the whole other team from cheating down on him. A pass or two to Rak wouldn't hurt.