Syracuse Loses Regular Season Finale at Clemson

Orange basketball fell to the Tigers in a blow to its NCAA Tournament hopes.

Syracuse basketball fell at Clemson 90-75 to close out the regular season. With the loss, the Orange fell to 20-11 (11-9). Next up for Syracuse is the ACC Tournament. The Orange will wait to see its seed and opponent as the rest of the teams round out conference play this week. 

PJ Hall and Ian Schieffelin were simply to much all night long, combining for 41 points and 23 rebounds. Joe Girard added 21 points on just eight shots. The Tigers shot 56% from the floor on the night and 42% from three point range. Judah Mintz led Syracuse with 20 points. Maliq Brown had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Quadir Copeland scored 17 off the bench while Chris Bell had just seven points on 2-6 shooting.

Syracuse shot 47% from the floor overall and 36% from three point range. It was not the offense that was the issue, as the Orange could not get stops consistently all night.  

Clemson jumped out on the Orange early, as its bigs dominated Syracuse inside to take an 11 point lead in the first few minutes. Syracuse, though, would not go away quietly chipping away to trim the lead to two. That is when the Tigers would take control back, ending the half on a 12-2 run to take a 12 point advantage into halftime. 

Syracuse would come out on fire in the second half, making its first seven shots and trimming the lead to five with just under 12 minutes to play. That's when Joe Girard would hit a three to push the lead back to eight and bring momentum back to Clemson's side. The Orange would not get closer the rest of the night. 

The lead was trimmed to nine at one point, but Girard hit another three and was fouled for a four point play. Kyle Cuffe would hit a couple of late threes to cut the lead to eight with 1:41 left, but the Tigers hit their free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.  

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