Clemson suppressed Syracuse defensively and squeezed Orange’s pulp in the 78-61 victory at the Littlejohn Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers’ hostile, physical defense forced Syracuse to a 30% drop in basket season, while Orange hit just 18 of 60 basket attempts. Syracuse scored 5 out of 20 out of 3 points.
Clemson entered the game in second place on the ACC on permitted points at 62.7 per game and proved his defensive strength against Orange.
The Tigers held Syracuse with just 19 points in the first half and only three shots in the first 20 minutes.
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Syracuse’s record drops to 10-6 overall for the season and 4-5 in the ACC.
Syracuse are now 9-1 at home this season and 1-5 away. Syracuse is also 0-4 in Quadrant 1 games, leaving a gap in its NCAA tournament curriculum.
Clemson improved to 12-5 in the year and 6-5 at the conference.
Joe Girard scored 19 points to lead Orange.
Clemson’s father, Aamir Sims, led the Tigers with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Clemson’s guard Nick Honor matched Syracuse’s 3-point shots. Honor got five points and finished with 15 points.
The first half was perhaps the ugliest 20 minutes of basketball in Syracuse history.
Clemson led 39-19 at the break, while the Tigers limited Syracuse to 3 in 25 pitches in the first half. Syracuse went from 1 to 6 in the 3-point range in the first 20 minutes.
Syracuse’s 19 points marked the lowest production in any semester this season.
Alan Griffin’s five points were more than any SU player, and he didn’t get it right in the first half, getting all the points on the free throw line.
After Buddy Boeheim kicked the track at 15:21 from the end of the break, Orange spent more than 10 minutes before their next field goal.
Offensively, Clemson found ways to score against the SU defense zone. The Tigers managed to kick outside point guard Nick Honor, who scored four points out of 3 in the first half, while center forward Aamir Simms dominated from the inside with 13 points and 7 rebounds in the break.
Syracuse showed a little more fighting in the second half, but never seriously challenged the Tigers’ leadership.
Syracuse was playing for the first time since defeating North Carolina State 76-73 last Sunday. Orange’s game against Louisville on Wednesday was postponed due to a positive test by Covid within the Cardinals program.
Syracuse veteran Bourama Sidibe finally returned after suffering a meniscus tear at the opening of the season. Sidibe, a 6-10 player who started all games last season, entered the game just over 12 minutes from the end of the first half.
Sidibe finished with a point and no rebounds in 11 minutes.
Syracuse will play NC State in Raleigh on Tuesday.
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