Syracuse rallies, but wilts late in loss to Clemson, 77-68
Syracuse’s combination of poor defense and weak rebounding haunted them again on Saturday, as they lost to Clemson at home, 77-68. The Tigers (16-7, 6-6 ACC) shot 60.8 percent from the floor, including making two-thirds of their shots in the second half, and owned a 41-24 advantage on the boards. Former SU player Joe Girard III returning to the JMA Wireless Dome and scoring a game-high 18 points, including reaching 2,000th career collegiate points, was simply the salt in the Orange wound as they dropped to 15-9 overall and 6-7 in conference play.
The one thing SU did do well on the defensive end was force turnovers, generating 21 Tiger miscues. However, when they held onto the ball, Clemson simply scored too easily throughout the game, logging one stretch of five straight missed shots in the first half and never missing more than two in a row other than that.
Syracuse played much better on offense after the break, erasing a 13-point halftime deficit, but they could not do more than break even, as their defense was picked apart far too often.
The contest was close for the opening eight minutes, as the score remained within one possession with both teams holding the lead in that span. Clemson went on the first run of the game, tallying 11 straight points to take a 24-12 lead and force a timeout from SU head coach Adrian Autry with just over nine minutes left in the opening half.
The Tigers would add to that run on Girard’s second 3 of the opening half for a 27-12 lead at the under-eight media timeout. The Orange went into that break on a scoring drought of nearly six minutes, having missed seven straight shots.
SU snapped the scoring drought shortly after, but could not get the margin into single digits, even with Chris Bell getting a pair of 3-pointers late in the half. Clemson closed the half by getting a buzzer-beating lay-up to fall through and held a 37-24 lead at the break.
Syracuse came out of the break firing, posting the first eight points of the second half to draw within 37-32. Once the Tigers stopped the bleeding, the gap drifted between five and eight points in the visitors’ favor for several minutes.
The Orange were the first to break that range when Judah Mintz stuck back-to-back short jumpers in the paint to clip the margin to 52-49, Clemson. The Tigers called a timeout and came out under control, getting a Girard triple to double their lead.
SU was undeterred, pulling within two and then one, before finally knotting the score at 60 on a J.J. Starling jumper with under four minutes to go. Clemson answered right back, getting a pair of lay-ups to go up by four and force another Syracuse timeout. The timeout did not create instant results, as a Tiger trey made it a 67-60 game.
Clemson would nudge the lead out to eight points on three occasions after that and never let the Orange within five points after, making six-of-six foul shots in the final 72 seconds, four coming from Girard, to put the game on ice.
Bell and Starling each scored 16 points to pace SU. Bell connected on four triples for most of his efforts while Starling shot 7-for-9 in the second half for all of his points. Mintz added 14 points while Quadir Copeland had 13 to go with three steals. Maliq Brown had nine points, eight rebounds, and four steals, the last a feat matched by Justin Taylor.
Girard’s 18 points came on nearly perfect shooting, as his 5-for-6 field goal mark included hitting 4-of-5 from 3-point range, as well as a 4-for-4 effort at the foul line. P.J. Hall posted a 15-point, ten-rebound double-double with three blocks. Chase Hunter had a game-high seven assists to go with 14 points and Ian Schieffelin added 13 points. Jack Clark matched Hall’s work on the glass with ten boards.
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