Five Takeaways: Clemson 91 Syracuse 73
Syracuse basketball fell 91-73 at Clemson Wednesday night. Here are five takeaways from the loss.
1. Defense
The Syracuse defense was abysmal against Clemson. The Tigers, fresh off of a loss to Louisville where it shot 4-24 from three, made 14 three pointers and got hot at the start to essentially put the game away early. Clemson was making so many threes because they were mostly wide open. Hunter Tyson came in as Clemson's best scorer and outside shooter. Several times he stood around the perimeter, did not move, yet ended up wide open with Syracuse failing to identify him or other shooters. When Syracuse did get a stop, Clemson rebounded the miss. On the first possession of the game, the Tigers missed three three-pointers, rebounded each miss, and set up a fourth try from deep that went in. The press was just as ineffective as the zone. It was bad all around from start to finish. The inability to switch to man even for a stretch is baffling. The offense actually improved quite a bit in the second half, scoring 41 points. The defense's massive struggles prevented any real shot at a comeback.
2. Judah Mintz
The one bright spot in this game was the play of Judah Mintz. Mintz has struggled with his outside shot all season, but was 4-4 from beyond the arc in this one on his way to a team high 23 points. He tried to put Syracuse on his back and get the Orange back into the game. However, he received minimal help and could do it by himself. It was a great sign to see him hit those shots from the outside. If he comes back next season and continues to develop in that area, he will be one of the most dynamic point guards in the country.
3. Jesse Edwards
A surprising outing from Edwards. While he finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, 11 points and eight rebounds came in the second half. In the first, there was a combination of Edwards being passive along with the inability to get him the basketball in good spots. I like the way he bounced back, but that first half performance as the follow up to the Duke game was not expected. Syracuse cannot win with him playing like that.
4. Assists
Clemson had 28 assists in this game compared to nine for Syracuse. Four of those nine came from Symir Torrence when the game was already out of reach. This has been a trend for the Orange as Duke had a 22-7 edge in assists, NC State 20-13, Virginia Tech 26-13, etc. In fact, the last game Syracuse had more assists than its opponent was at Miami (19-16) in the middle of January. This is a combination of the lack of sharing the ball on Syracuse's end along with teams carving up the zone on the other end.
5. So.... What Now?
As if being far, far off the NCAA Tournament bubble was not bad enough, Syracuse is off the NIT bubble as well. The NET ranking, lack of quality wins and recent blowout losses means the Orange probably has to win out in the regular season and at least a game in the ACC Tournament to make a case. Otherwise the metrics just are not there. For the NIT. To put it a different way, Boston College has four times as many quality wins as Syracuse does. That being the effort after getting blown out by Duke is baffling. The players should have been mad, focused, playing with a ton of energy to erase that loss from everyone's mind. Instead, it appears to have started a trend. With a Pittsburgh team that is better than Clemson, has already beaten Syracuse and will be extra motivated due to Boeheim's previous comments regarding buying a team, this has the potential to get ugly quick. Yes it is true that Syracuse was playing better basketball for a while than it was early in the season. It is also true that the last two performances erases all of that. This has been an extremely disappointing two game stretch. A season without the NCAA Tournament is always disappointing. A season where you have a winning record but still miss the NIT because the NIT does not want you is embarrassing.
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