Trevor Cooney: Syracuse basketball must play with sense of urgency or season could be lost

Syracuse basketball 2014-15: Syracuse vs St. Johns

Syracuse's Trevor Cooney says the Orange need to adopt a sense of urgency after losing three of their first eight games.

(Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com)

Syracuse, N.Y. — The Syracuse locker room was almost empty.

In the aftermath of the Orange's 69-57 loss to St. John's at the Carrier Dome on Saturday, the post-game interviews had been conducted in soft, somber tones. But now, most of the reporters had left and, likewise, nearly all of the Syracuse players.

Trevor Cooney remained in front of his locker, sitting on a wooden stool.

Cooney is one of the few elder statesmen on the Syracuse roster. Rakeem Christmas is the team's only senior, but Cooney is in the same class. He is a fourth-year junior, having redshirted his freshman season.

So Cooney has the perspective that many of his younger teammates might lack. Cooney understood the ramifications of Syracuse's loss to St. John's. The loss dropped the Orange's record to 5-3 with losses to California, Michigan and St. John's.

Cooney didn't press the panic button, but he said the Orange players must take on a greater sense of urgency or the season could soon be lost.

"Something needs to change,'' Cooney said. "And yeah, it starts with us. It starts with the older guys. We need to kick it up a gear. It starts tomorrow in practice.''

Syracuse has now lost three non-conference regular season games the first time since the 2007-08 season. Syracuse's next game is on Sunday against Louisiana Tech, giving the Orange a full week between games. Louisiana Tech is currently 7-1 with a game against Louisiana-Lafayette on Wednesday.

"I don't want to focus on our losses,'' SU freshman Chris McCullough said. "We've got three already. We've just got to come in and get ready for practice. We've got a whole week and a day of practice to get ready for the next game.''

It may be a good thing that McCullough doesn't want to focus on the losses because a historical look at past seasons with three or more non-conference losses offers a bleak picture.

Syracuse lost three non-conference regular season games six times in the first 38 years of Jim Boeheim's coaching tenure. The Orange went to the NIT four times (1981, 2002, 2007 and 2008) and the NCAAs twice (1984 and 1988).

Syracuse is 5-3 this season. The Orange has lost four non-conference regular season games just one time in Jim Boeheim's first 38 years as head coach.

Syracuse has lost four regular-season games outside of conference play just once under Boeheim. In 1981-82, Syracuse lost to St. Joseph's, Fordham, Ohio State and DePaul - and went to the NIT.

The Orange has time to turn things around, but very little room for error. After Louisiana Tech, Syracuse will play at nationally ranked Villanova on Dec. 20. At this point, that game represents an opportunity to get a much-needed quality win. And the entire ACC schedule awaits and the Orange has a welcoming slate of games at the beginning of the conference schedule — at Virginia Tech, at Georgia Tech, home to Florida State and Wake Forest, at Clemson and then home to Boston College.

"It's still early,'' McCullough said. "We're still learning.''

A year ago, Cooney was part of a team that got off to a 25-0 start only to suffer a late-season swoon. Then the Orange lost six of its last nine games. Cooney said the early losses are just as difficult as the ones late in the season.

"Losing two in a row is tough,'' Cooney said. "We lost two in a row last year. It was tough. It's a tough thing, especially this early.''

In its most recent losses to Michigan and St. John's, Syracuse committed ghastly errors down the stretch. At Michigan, two turnovers in the final 15 seconds doomed the Orange. In the St. John's game, the Orange had four turnovers in the last five minutes as the Red Storm finished the game on 17-2 run.

"I have no idea, really,'' Cooney said. "We've just got to make better plays toward the end. We've got to be smarter. Now that we've been in those situations, the next time we're in that situation, we can capitalize and be more comfortable and make better plays and reads.''

Syracuse isn't just a young team in need of experience. It's a team in flux.

Kaleb Joseph, the Orange's starting point guard, got benched for the last 14 minutes of Saturday's loss to St. John's. Tyler Roberson, who started the first four games of the season, didn't play a single minute against St. John's after playing 12 minutes at Michigan. B.J. Johnson started two games when Roberson was out with an injury, but he's played a total of 10 minutes in SU's last two games. Ron Patterson played five minutes at Michigan, but logged 17 against St. John's.

Boeheim is running out of switches to toggle. And the season is only eight games old.

"The bottom line is we've got to play better,'' Cooney said. "We have to play smarter and harder. And we have to start now. It's up to all of us.''

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.