Whole team looked sluggish, eh.

[albanycuse]

After the long layoff it seems like the norm for it to happen.
Ennis wasn't quite as razor sharp as he normally is , he was instead a used razor blade after like 5 shaves. But like the awesome floor general he is he made plays and was big in our victory.

Cooney only took 3 shots and yet for only GOD knows why some numb nuts on here gotta take jabs at him. He had an impact defensively even though his shot didnt fall the 3 times he attempted. Whether hes sick or not we will never know.

Mg aka ben gay aka ben and jay aka the nigerian nightmare played good defense , gotta be a confidence booster for this fine young player.

Grant: not in my house (motumbo voice) best 2 handed block you will ever see.

 

[longislandcuse]

Agreed. We looked a step slow and a bit off today.

 

[thebigeast44]

No college kid is ever totally awake at Noon on the weekends I have always hated Noon games - no one ever seems totally awake including the crowd. Fortunately, we don't have many this year. But the big one against North Carolina is at Noon and that sucks.

 

[Dave85]

I thought our team played okay but the St John's defense was excellent.

 

[Cowtown]

Couldn't see the game,* but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Seriously though, it's a consistent truism that good teams find a way to win even when they're not playing well. And one of the biggest reasons a team doesn't play well is because the other team is playing 'em tough. Looking at the comments here, that's most likely what happened? Someone correct me if I'm wrong?

*followed it on live stats

 

[jordoo]

I thought our team played okay but the St John's defense was excellent.

We shot pretty well against that defense. Still they were active and did the best job of anyone taking Cooney away but that left lanes for drivers and 1 on 1 everywhere. It shows how ballsnced we are on offense. The problem was we missed ft's and probably lost the rebounding and to battle giving them more shots which is why we shot 50+ and they we in the mid to high 30's

 

[jordoo]

Couldn't see the game, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Seriously though, it's a consistent truism that good teams find a way to win even when they're not playing well. And one of the biggest reasons a team doesn't play well is because the other team is playing 'em tough. Looking at the comments here, that's most likely what happened? Someone correct me if I'm wrong?

This is true but if we made our ft's and didn't have the 6-7 unforced to's we win by 15 even getting out rebounded. We are a very efficuent offensive team which is why we have been wining.

 

[Cowtown]

This is true but if we made our ft's and didn't have the 6-7 unforced to's we win by 15 even getting out rebounded. We are a very efficuent offensive team which is why we have been wining.

I'd hazard the guess it's impressive that a young team adjusted on the fly to having TC taken out of the scoring, and took what the defense gave 'em?

 

[jordoo]

I'd hazard the guess it's impressive that a young team adjusted on the fly to having TC taken out of the scoring, and took what the defense gave 'em?

Yes and I was especially pleased with jerami and Rak's work on that high low. We went to that plenty and it gives Jerami something to do other than drive or shot.

 

[wallacecuse]

No college kid is ever totally awake at Noon on the weekends I have always hated Noon games - no one ever seems totally awake including the crowd. Fortunately, we don't have many this year. But the big one against North Carolina is at Noon and that sucks.

Better to be the home team for a noon game.

 

[Cowtown]

But the big one against North Carolina is at Noon and that sucks.

Point taken, but I'll be shocked if we're sleep-walking for that one.

 

[Dave85]

We shot pretty well against that defense. Still they were active and did the best job of anyone taking Cooney away but that left lanes for drivers and 1 on 1 everywhere. It shows how ballsnced we are on offense. The problem was we missed ft's and probably lost the rebounding and to battle giving them more shots which is why we shot 50+ and they we in the mid to high 30's

I think Cooney would have probably made some threes. He was starting slow on offense because St Johns were really prepared to defend against him. But the reason why he was taken out in my opinion was he was just not defending Harrison as well as Silent G. Silent G really defended well against the high picks.

I think the Cooney we saw back in Maui and against IU will return against High Point and Villanova. St John's Harrison was having an amazing game.

 

[Cowtown]

I just *liked* every post in the thread because I appreciate the discussion. It helps those of us who live thousands of mile away and don't get to see the games, still feel some connection. Go Orange, and thanks to all Orange fans.

 

[Marsh01]

Cooney had two good looks early and they were right on but just a tad long. Some games the shots just dont fall. Glad we were able to overcome that and win a game like this.

 

[NYCSUGrad]

We shot pretty well against that defense. Still they were active and did the best job of anyone taking Cooney away but that left lanes for drivers and 1 on 1 everywhere. It shows how ballsnced we are on offense. The problem was we missed ft's and probably lost the rebounding and to battle giving them more shots which is why we shot 50+ and they we in the mid to high 30's

They were like 94% from the FT line but missed some in the final minutes and came down to IIRC about 78%. Which is right about where we were thanks to a perfect Ennis. We made most of ours toward the end. That may have made the difference.

 

[Orangello]

I think this was definitely the tale of two halfs. First half, played well, very workmanlike, solid D nice lead. Second half. played like poop the first 1o mins., too much standing around. very conservative, Johnnies attacked the zone much more agressively and Karl Hess decided he needed to earn his pay and call an inordinate and bizzaro series of fouls on the Orange. As is usually the case with life, class won out in the end.

 

[Dave85]

Cooney had two good looks early and they were right on but just a tad long. Some games the shots just dont fall. Glad we were able to overcome that and win a game like this.

He had two shots the clanked the opposite rim hard. Just a little more height on his shots and he would have had 6 points. At this level, there's so many factors. It could have been lighting, maybe a slight muscle sprain in practice, or maybe Cooney had cold. There's so many factors we don't know about. Cooney has been blistering the nets game after game. I really doubt this game means anything more than what it is.

 

[tptcuse]

Not so sure sluggish is the correct term. St. John's looked strong. I would be surprised in they didn't make the Tourney. We held tight and won the game in the end. I was proud...St. John's: You should feel bad.

 

[stuckinbig11]

After the long layoff it seems like the norm for it to happen.
Ennis wasn't quite as razor sharp as he normally is , he was instead a used razor blade after like 5 shaves. But like the awesome floor general he is he made plays and was big in our victory.

Cooney only took 3 shots and yet for only GOD knows why some numb nuts on here gotta take jabs at him. He had an impact defensively even though his shot didnt fall the 3 times he attempted. Whether hes sick or not we will never know.

Mg aka ben gay aka ben and jay aka the nigerian nightmare played good defense , gotta be a confidence booster for this fine young player.

Grant: not in my house (motumbo voice) best 2 handed block you will ever see.

I made a similar comment in another thread--lazy passes, lazy attempts to catch passes.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Cooney had two good looks early and they were right on but just a tad long. Some games the shots just dont fall. Glad we were able to overcome that and win a game like this.

I was disappointed with his lack of doing anything else. He's usually a high energy guy and just didn't have his legs yesterday. Didn't seem to work that hard at getting open as he has in recent games. I think he might have been a bit sick.

 

[RF2044]

I was disappointed with his lack of doing anything else. He's usually a high energy guy and just didn't have his legs yesterday. Didn't seem to work that hard at getting open as he has in recent games. I think he might have been a bit sick.

This is the second post I've seen that suggested that Cooney might have been sick. Any confirmation on that, or just speculation [not criticizing, just wondering]?

 

[stuckinbig11]

I was disappointed with his lack of doing anything else. He's usually a high energy guy and just didn't have his legs yesterday. Didn't seem to work that hard at getting open as he has in recent games. I think he might have been a bit sick.

He had a guy on his butt the whole time he was in there, seemingly assigned to ignore everything and everyone except Cooney. He did a good job of it but left Ennis free to drive at will.

 

[IthacaMatt]

This is the second post I've seen that suggested that Cooney might have been sick. Any confirmation on that, or just speculation [not criticizing, just wondering]?

Just speculation. He just seemed less energetic to me. Of course, they worked hard to take him out of his game, but recently he has looked like Andy Rautins running off screens. Yesterday, not so much. No drives to the basket to speak of, not too active defensively.