Everyone has focused on our 3-point shooting woes this season but another offensive stat really jumped out at me as Syracuse struggled to score in conference play. While Tyler Ennis was leading the ACC in assists, our team was near the bottom of the league in total assists.
You have to be able to create good offensive situations in your half-court sets to maximize your scoring opportunities and this team failed to do that as the season wore on. Despite having a stellar point guard this team ended up dishing out fewer assists than any SU squad since they began keeping track of assists in 1970. When compared to the assists totals of recent Syracuse teams, this was a glaring weakness this season. We had 161 more assists in 2013.
You can overcome the lack of 3-point shooters with players that can dominate inside and take it to the hoop, but depending solely on one player's passing in half court situations is a recipe for disaster. We were able to ride our talent to a lot of victories but we always struggled to put opponents away. Our offensive flow really stagnated late in the year as the team turned more and more to one-on-one plays that began far from the basket. If you want an explanation for CJ's inconsistency on offense, look at where he got the ball on most of his shots during the last month.
Our offensive play hit rock bottom yesterday when the entire team had only four assists against Dayton but you could see where this team was headed when Ennis' teammates had only two assists in the loss to NC State in Greensboro.
I hate to bring this up since Cooney has become such a lightning rod but Trevor had fewer assists than any starting guard in the Boeheim era. He had only three assists in SU's last nine games and in my opinion his inability to create anything for his teammates when he is on the court was as big a factor in our scoring woes as his 3-point shooting. The biggest drop off we had at the shooting guard position this season was in passing the ball. Brandon Triche dished out 144 assists last year while Cooney tallied only 38. It is hard to be efficient on offense with that kind of one dimensional play at the 2 guard position.
I want to state that I am not blaming only Trevor for the big decrease in assists. Our offense revolved totally around Tyler and there was rarely much emphasis by our other players to create scoring opportunities by passing the ball.
You have to be able to create good offensive situations in your half-court sets to maximize your scoring opportunities and this team failed to do that as the season wore on. Despite having a stellar point guard this team ended up dishing out fewer assists than any SU squad since they began keeping track of assists in 1970. When compared to the assists totals of recent Syracuse teams, this was a glaring weakness this season. We had 161 more assists in 2013.
You can overcome the lack of 3-point shooters with players that can dominate inside and take it to the hoop, but depending solely on one player's passing in half court situations is a recipe for disaster. We were able to ride our talent to a lot of victories but we always struggled to put opponents away. Our offensive flow really stagnated late in the year as the team turned more and more to one-on-one plays that began far from the basket. If you want an explanation for CJ's inconsistency on offense, look at where he got the ball on most of his shots during the last month.
Our offensive play hit rock bottom yesterday when the entire team had only four assists against Dayton but you could see where this team was headed when Ennis' teammates had only two assists in the loss to NC State in Greensboro.
I hate to bring this up since Cooney has become such a lightning rod but Trevor had fewer assists than any starting guard in the Boeheim era. He had only three assists in SU's last nine games and in my opinion his inability to create anything for his teammates when he is on the court was as big a factor in our scoring woes as his 3-point shooting. The biggest drop off we had at the shooting guard position this season was in passing the ball. Brandon Triche dished out 144 assists last year while Cooney tallied only 38. It is hard to be efficient on offense with that kind of one dimensional play at the 2 guard position.
I want to state that I am not blaming only Trevor for the big decrease in assists. Our offense revolved totally around Tyler and there was rarely much emphasis by our other players to create scoring opportunities by passing the ball.
Last edited:
