Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.

Syracuse wanted to forget about the 22-point loss it suffered Saturday night to Duke, a reality check for the Orange that ended a three-game winning streak. The Blue Devils had shut down Jesse Edwards and dominated SU in all facets of the game, silencing the largest crowd at the JMA Wireless Dome this season and handing the Orange a second consecutive regular-season loss at home by more than 20 points.

Clemson, coming off a loss to Louisville — the worst team in the Atlantic Coast Conference — could have been an eye-opening win, signifying that this season wasn’t completely over. Instead, the Orange fumbled through another slow start to the game, got down quickly and couldn’t alter the Tigers’ 3-point shooting enough to make a difference. SU’s comebacks — one with less than eight minutes in the first half and another toward the start of the second half — were quickly snuffed out and mitigated to runs of less than 10 straight points.

Edwards was ineffective again, and the Orange allowed Clemson to shoot 39% on 3-pointers. At least Syracuse led Duke for close to nine minutes in the first half — the Orange (16-12, 9-8 ACC) never held a lead against the Tigers (20-8, 12-5 ACC) Wednesday night.

Here are some observations from Syracuse’s 91-73 loss to Clemson:

Girard, Mintz lead again

Joe Girard III has been completely shut down at points, most recently against Virginia and Virginia Tech, when he scored just seven points in consecutive losses. He entered Wednesday night, though, off of three straight games scoring at least 15 points. Against Duke, alongside Judah Mintz, Girard helped keep pace with the Blue Devils, who ultimately pulled too far ahead. Girard was short on the first two 3-pointers that he tried, both coming on wide open looks off of quick passes from Mintz at the top of the key.

Mintz found hardly any success until late in the first half. But once they both settled in, albeit down double digits, they acted as the majority of the Orange’s offense for the rest of the game. Mintz, who went 2-for-2 from deep against Duke, made four 3-pointers. Two minutes into the second half, Mintz was wide open after a feed down low to Edwards — so wide open he was jumping up and down and vehemently waving his arms. Edwards passed — he wasn’t going anywhere against an astute double team. Mintz gathered the ball and slowly pulled up for the 3.

Girard started to heat up as well, ending the night with 11 points alongside Mintz’s 23. The Orange mounted a comeback early in the second half. Girard didn’t put forth the best performance of the season, and still coughed the ball up three times, but got his shot going enough to remain a constant threat until Jim Boeheim sat him with a few minutes remaining in the second half.

Clemson hot on 3s

Clemson entered as the 74th-best 3-point shooting team in the country, firing a combined 36% from beyond the arc. Led by Hunter Tyson, who entered the night connecting on 41.5% of his 3 attempts, the Tigers were going to prove a difficult matchup for the Orange. The Syracuse zone has allowed teams to shoot nearly 34% from beyond the arc. Against Duke, Boeheim even pressed the zone up toward the 3-point line, playing almost a 1-4 zone with Edwards underneath. But from the start, Clemson simply beat it by generating quick passes around the top of the key to open up shooters.

A third pass typically opened up a shooter, like Tyson or Chase Hunter, who then seamlessly hit a 3-pointer before Syracuse’s forwards could adjust. Rather than pressing up on a good 3-point shooting team, it hung back, especially Girard and Quadir Copeland, allowing back-and-forth passing to open up space. Two consecutive 3s from Clemson lifted it to an early 11-3 lead. After Maliq Brown connected on 1-of-2 free throws, Hunter quickly bolted down the court and nailed a 3 within seconds of getting possession.

The next possession, after a poor shot with limited space for Syracuse, Tyson settled himself into the left corner. He waited for the third pass, and plenty of room to operate. He then grabbed it, pivoted and nailed a 3. On two straight plays in the second half, Hunter effectively squashed an attempted Syracuse comeback, shot-faked Mintz and drained a wide-open 3. Then, Alex Hemenway banged in a standing 3 after Benny Williams left him wide open trying to help inside the paint.

Clemson dominates offensive rebounds

When Syracuse can’t stop teams from getting offensive rebounds, it can’t keep pace. It happened against Duke, but across its three-game winning streak, SU shut down opposing bigs, gathering help from Williams, Brown and Justin Taylor getting defensive rebounds. Clemson was either shooting the lights out or collecting its misses underneath the rim. The Tigers ended the first half with eight offensive rebounds and seven second-chance points.

Toward the end of the first half, PJ Hall drove down the left side of the lane and couldn’t finish an up-and-under layup. Hall brought Edwards with him, as well as Brown with help-side defense and Taylor also crashed the hoop from the other side of the court. The Orange, despite having a three-to-two advantage inside the paint, let Ian Schieffelin slip through, leap over Taylor and grab the offensive rebound. His tip-in putback attempt lifted the Tigers over Syracuse 45-31. Even on the first possession of the game, Clemson missed three straight 3s, but grabbed each rebound and it eventually got to a wide-open Hunter, who knocked down a corner 3.

By the time Tyson hit a 3-pointer with less than three minutes left in the game, Clemson was up 83-65, Girard was out and Boeheim put out a white flag lineup including Symir Torrence and Taylor. But even while the game was securely out of the Orange’s hands, Clemson still lofted up 3s and collected offensive rebounds. Tyson was wide open, but because Syracuse had crashed the boards, trying to prevent — ultimately unsuccessfully — a third offensive rebound for the Tigers.

Where’s Jesse?

Edwards was rendered ineffective against Duke, shut down by a combination of Dereck Lively and Kyle Filipowski. Wednesday night was supposed to be a bounceback game for Edwards, a game to get right before the last few games of the season and show Duke’s trouncing was an anomaly.

But until the middle of the second half, Edwards had just one point and five rebounds. His first field goal of the night came with 13:45 remaining in the second half. He received a feed-in from Williams underneath the basket. It was a familiar play, one that Syracuse has used throughout the season to get Edwards going, but one that has been scarce over the last few games. He went up underneath Ben Middlebrooks, made the layup and drew the foul, completing the sequence with a made free throw.

He started to heat up a little bit, adding in a block on a layup attempt from Chauncey Wiggins and a dynamic putback dunk from a missed Girard 3. But that was about all he could muster against the Tigers. Edwards ended with 12 points and 10 rebounds, following up a disappointing performance with a double-double notched after the game was well out of reach. By the time he started to come alive, the Orange were already down by close to 20 points and he floundered out on the court with a lineup that included three or four bench players.

Published on February 22, 2023 at 9:16 pm

Contact Anthony: aalandt@syr.edu | @anthonyalandt