Syracuse was routed by Clemson, 91-73, on Wednesday evening on the road. Here are three takeaways from the loss.

Once again, Jesse Edwards was stymied by a physical defensive effort. The tactics were a little different, as Edwards was often jostled by defenders crossing through the paint as he tried to establish position and was met with a variety of double-teams, particularly from guards coming down from the wing.

Edwards played the entire first half and had one field goal attempt, finally notching his first field goal over six minutes into the second half. The defensive focus being paid to the Syracuse center, and the success it generates for opponents, is going to be something this team sees the rest of the season, no matter how long that is.

While the Orange defense was poor throughout the night, their play on the offensive end was equally bad at times. One of those stretches was Clemson’s 16-4 first half run to blow the game open for good. SU shot just 1-for-10 from the field during that time.

Syracuse ended that woeful stretch with seven straight points to suggest a comeback could happen, but they short-circuited that effort before it could really take hold with some poor decision-making on the offensive end. On consecutive possessions, Benny Williams missed a three (after missing two earlier treys), Judah Mintz settled for a fallaway jumper that was well short, and Chris Bell was whistled for traveling while trying to create at the top of the key. Only the Mintz attempt was a play that has had any real modicum of success over the course of the season.

The Orange finished the contest by making 10-of-13 garbage time shots. Prior to that, they had made just 3-of-13 field goals.

Judah Mintz has made his last seven three-point shots and is up to 29.1 percent from deep. While the media guide does not list a record for most consecutive three-pointers made, James Southerland and Brandon Triche made at least six in a row, each hitting that achievement in a single game.

Benny Williams, meanwhile, has missed his last 13 attempts from beyond the arc, pushing his season-long shooting percentage from three to 28.6 percent.

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