Syracuse basketball saw its five-game winning streak come to a screeching halt vs Clemson. Here’s how it went down and what’s next.
Syracuse basketball found a way to lose on the road vs the Clemson Tigers. The Orange are now 13-8 overall, 6-4 in the conference, five-game win streak snapped, and the team’s undefeated ACC road streak is over (4-1).
Here’s how it all went down vs the Clemson Tigers on Tuesday night.
First half
For the second straight game, the Syracuse basketball team struggled from long range (4-for-14) and still found a way to lead after the first half (35-33) vs Clemson.
The real key for the Orange has been a philosophical change in their offensive identity. Instead of randomly chucking up a bunch of three-pointers, Syracuse has made it a priority to pound it inside.
In the first stanza, the team held an 18-6 edge in the paint vs the Tigers.
After going scoreless vs Pittsburgh in the first half, Elijah Hughes found the bottom of the bucket more times than not. Eli went 4-of-7 from the field including two triples from deep to lead both teams in scoring (15 points).
Hughes & Boeheim combine for 27 in the first half pic.twitter.com/DV3evDdYHz
— Syracuse Men’s Basketball (@Cuse_MBB) January 29, 2020
Second half
Some early foul trouble got both Bourama Sidibe (3) and Marek Dolezaj (3) then a few minutes later each player secured four fouls apiece with over 11 minutes remaining.
On a positive note, Buddy Boeheim kept things going from deep and Joe Girard III got involved defensively converting on the other end to extend the Orange’s lead.
For the eighth time, this season Buddy reached the 20 point barometer. Last season he only reached 20 points once.
Despite getting another lead, the Orange seem incapable of holding a lead or making things easy.
With 5:07 left both Sidibe and Dolezaj fouled out leaving Syracuse in a precarious position with the game hanging in the balance.
Ultimately that was too much to overcome and Syracuse couldn’t defend anything on the inside. The Orange lost the rebounding battle (36:26) and just got eaten up on the inside.
Syracuse down 71-70 had a few chances to get a last-second victory but ultimately they couldn’t get the shot off.
Up next for the Syracuse basketball squad is one of the biggest games of the 2019-20 campaign vs the Duke Blue Devils. The game will be in primetime at 8:00 p.m. in the loud house on Saturday, February 1.