Syracuse Basketball: Clemson, final regular-season foe, is on fire

Syracuse basketball will wrap up its 2020-21 regular season on Wednesday inside the Carrier Dome against a surging Clemson team, as the Orange looks to exact revenge on the Tigers for a beat-down earlier this term.

The ‘Cuse (14-8, 8-7) moved closer to the proverbial bubble for the upcoming NCAA Tournament by squeaking past North Carolina in Central New York on March 1.

Clemson (15-5, 9-5), meanwhile, is playing its best basketball of the present stanza, as the Tigers have captured five in a row. As the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season race culminates over the next few days, Clemson is No. 5 in the league standings, while Syracuse basketball is in ninth place.

The Tigers, at No. 33 in the NET rankings as of March 1, have a really good Big Dance resume, as they have compiled wins over Alabama, Florida State, Louisville, Maryland, Purdue, North Carolina and Georgia Tech, among others.

Bracketologists deem Clemson as a No. 6 seed in the projected field of 68. Thus, if the Orange could knock off the Tigers, the ‘Cuse would own a second-straight strong success heading into the ACC Tournament.

Syracuse basketball has struggled in its series with Clemson.

These two teams are scheduled to tip-off on Wednesday at 5 pm, and the Tigers have defeated the ‘Cuse three-consecutive times, including a 78-61 demolition on Clemson’s turf about a month ago. All-time, Syracuse basketball is just 4-7 versus the Tigers, per orangehoops.org.

Interestingly enough, in looking at various statistics on ESPN.com, the ‘Cuse actually is better than the Tigers in most categories, although Clemson allows roughly 10 fewer points per meeting than the Orange.

The Tigers can sometimes struggle to score, averaging only 65.4 points a game. But Clemson does what it needs to do to prevail, and the ‘Cuse will have a tall task on its hands in this conference collision.

According to ESPN’s Basketball Power Index, as of Tuesday evening, Syracuse basketball possessed a 59.7 percent chance to triumph. The Tigers are 2-4 on the road in 2020-21, whereas the Orange is a terrific 12-1 on the Hill to date.

That’s an encouraging sign for the ‘Cuse, which showed a lot of heart in conquering the Tar Heels earlier this week. Syracuse basketball will need to bring a similar kind of grit and intensity if it hopes to upset a red-hot Clemson group.