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CLEMSON, S.C. — Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry chucked — what appeared to be — his marker to his seat on the bench. Grazing his hand on the scorer’s table, he grabbed it, throwing it down in frustration after Joe Girard III hit a 3 and was fouled by SU’s Kyle Cuffe Jr.

The moment symbolized the up-and-down nature of Tuesday’s game, and Syracuse’s season. And Girard’s 4-point play — which Cuffe. Jr. admitted was a foul — became the final cushion the Tigers needed as Syracuse went down from nine to 13.

Plummeting itself into a double-digit gap early on, SU stormed back into the mix but shortly hit another downward slope, trailing by 12 at half. And in the second half, Syracuse (20-11, 11-9 Atlantic Coast Conference) got it back to as low as five before Clemson (21-9, 11-8 ACC) found numerous ways to negate any opportunity the Orange had to come back, winning 90-75. The Tigers hit 11 3s and the starting five scored 86 of their total points.

“When we kind of got in range, they just made big shots,” Autry said. “Our defense wasn’t where it needed to be, 90 points is too many points.”

After the series sweep over the Orange, Clemson maintains the head-to-head advantage, though the teams are tied in conference wins. Syracuse will find out its ACC Tournament seeding Saturday once all league games conclude.

In its previous meeting with Clemson, Syracuse lost after trailing from a Clemson 14-0 run. And Tuesday, Syracuse found itself down 16-5 just under five minutes into the game, lifted by an 11-0 Tigers run — PJ Hall, who finished with 15, had 10 of their first 16 points. Ian Scheffelin, Hall’s counterpart in the front court, finished with 16 points and 16 boards, almost seven more than his averages entering the game. Chris Bell described Hall as a “load,” and guarding him requires a “conscious effort.”

Clemson hit the 3-ball early, as Girard wrapped around the wing and Hall kicked to the top of the key, receiving the pass and hitting a catch-and-shoot 3. Girard, who hit five 3s in the first meeting, drained his first to give Clemson a 16-5 lead as SU called timeout — Clemson punished Syracuse with 11 3s Tuesday.

The Tigers continued to feed the ball underneath to Hall. Hall, who had 15 points in the first meeting of the two, surpassed that mark in just 10 minutes by bodying Maliq Brown in the paint. He also scored a layup and a put-back dunk — Clemson found success with getting second-chance points.

“We just can’t have four people in double-figures, can’t win like that,” Bell said.

Rebounding was an issue last time out for Syracuse versus the Tigers, losing the battle 41-24. Tuesday seemed no different. Ian Schieffelin scored the opening bucket for Clemson off a second-chance opportunity with an offensive board, drawing the foul on Justin Taylor. And entering the Under-8 timeout, Hall, who finished with 25 points, drew a shooting foul on a second shot after rebounding over Brown in the paint.

Syracuse, like it has many times, found a way to respond. By the Under-8 timeout, Syracuse brought the once double-digit deficit to as low as two via a 9-0 run. Quadir Copeland came off the bench and rejuvenated the offense with a couple buckets. J.J. Starling had a deep 2 on the run and Judah Mintz converted a 3-point play, flexing his arms on the ground in celebration.

“We have that mentality of being the tougher team,” Cuffe Jr. said. “We have to be. We have to fight back no matter what. We’re younger, but that doesn’t mean we’re inexperienced.”

It essentially became a brand new game for Syracuse at the point down just 25-23, but the themes still continued — Hall and Schieffelin continued to attack underneath. After a Cuffe Jr. 3 brought the game back to a two-point deficit, Schieffelin backed Taylor down on the left block for an easy 2. Then, Hall had a mismatch on Copeland and forced a foul.

The Tigers closed the first half on a 12-2 run to bring the game to its then-largest deficit of 12 points at the half. Syracuse trailed 42-30, having a couple of sloppy turnovers. The Orange turned the ball over on an inbounds pass, and a Copeland drive where he mistakenly handed the ball off to Clemson, thinking Brown was open.

Just at the snap of a finger, Chase Hunter was dunking the ball in the final seconds to solidify the Tigers’ 12-point lead — not too far off from Syracuse’s 13-point halftime deficit last time versus Clemson. Syracuse shot the ball decently, but Clemson was better, shooting 50% from the field. And this time, the difference was Hall, who accounted for half of Clemson’s first-half points, and Clemson’s ability to score inside the paint — where it had 38 points.

Out of the break, Clemson displayed its frequent ability to move off-ball and set up perimeter shots. Hunter reset up the right side of the floor away from the ball before receiving a pass from Girard and stepping into a 3. Girard and Schieffelin also made triples to keep the Orange at bay with a 12-point lead at the Under-16 timeout.

“Joe, we know what he’s capable of,” Taylor said. “The mixture (of size and shooting) kind of made it tough for us because we were trying to handle them inside but got some easy ones for Joe and those guys got going.”

Syracuse crawled back into it, getting the lead to as low as five, but the Orange fell down the mountain shortly thereafter. Autry called timeout with 8:52 remaining following buckets from Schieffilin and Chauncey Wiggins — the lead was back to double digits. And it only grew with a Hunter triple from the right wing to cushion the Tigers with a 14-point advantage at the Under-8 timeout.

The game started to get more chippy with more foul calls. Brown, Bell and Copeland both all had three fouls picked up in the middle of the second half. Schieffelin hit both free throws of a one-and-one after Brown was called for his third. Then, Schiefflin, who finished with 16 points, backed down Copeland for a bucket.

Cuffe Jr. kept the Orange in it as best they could, draining a couple of 3s from the right wing. Clemson, up eight, was forced to call a timeout as it struggled to break the press. Copeland fouled Girard with just two seconds before a 10-second violation and the free throws extended the lead to 10. After Girard was fouled again, he waved his hands in the air, hyping the crowd and celebrating a senior day win, one that keeps Syracuse’s final ACC Tournament seeding up in the air.

“When it came down to it, they had 11 3s and that’s just too many 3s to overcome,” Autry said. “(Our defense) hasn’t been as good as we need it to be. We got to get ready for this tournament.”

Published on March 5, 2024 at 9:52 pm

Contact Cole: colebambini@gmail.com | @ColeBambini