Tigers make school history downing Orange

Hunter Tyson scored 29 points, two short of a career high, in the win. (Susan Lloyd photo)

by Brandon Rink - Staff Writer - Wed Feb 22 20:58:28 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON - The Clemson men’s basketball team led wire-to-wire to notch a piece of school history in a 91-73 win over Syracuse in Littlejohn Coliseum Wednesday night.

Clemson (20-8, 12-5 ACC) had lost 4-of-5 and played its way just off the NCAA Tournament bubble going into the night, but the victory sealed a school record for conference wins in a season (12) in a quest for some momentum going into tournament season.

Clemson missed its first three shots to start but followed them up with three offensive rebounds on the first possession and Chase Hunter sunk his second 3-point attempt – and the buckets started raining in from there.

Taking advantage of the Orange’s patented 2-3 zone, Clemson attempted 20 3-pointers and made eight of them in the first half, with Tigers leading scorer Hunter Tyson a main beneficiary.

Tyson knocked down six of his first seven shots to extend the Clemson advantage out to 18 points in the first session.

The graduate hit 7-of-10 first-half attempts for 19 points at the break, where Clemson held a 45-32 lead.

"It's just good for our team to see the ball go in," Tigers head coach Brad Brownell said. "Those were important shots early."

The Tigers equaled their total of offensive rebounds from the loss at Louisville on Saturday by halftime (8) and finished with 12 (one off the season-high versus The Citadel and an ACC-best this campaign).

The threes continued to fall for Clemson out of the break and the lead built up to 20 with less than six minutes in.

Clemson matched its season-best for 3-point makes (14) while tying for the most attempts in the Brownell era (36). The 28 assists were the most under Brownell at Clemson.

Tyson finished with 29 points (two short of a career-high) and 10 rebounds for his 13th double-double of the season, sinking 6-of-12 from beyond the arc and 10-of-16 overall.

PJ Hall capped his 16-point night with a mini-windmill dunk on a breakaway. Galloway joined him in double-figures with 15, as well as Ian Schieffelin with 10 points (adding eight rebounds) and Chase Hunter with 13 points and 11 assists (tying a program-best under Brownell with Marcquise Reed and Clyde Trapp).

Brownell evened his record to 6-6 versus Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim with the victory, but Clemson improved to 6-1 against the Orange (16-12, 9-8) in Littlejohn overall.

The Tigers moved to 14-1 at home this season.

"I thought we played better than our record had showed in the last five games," Brownell said. "I think our team has hung in there...The kids are practicing with great effort and energy. Today was good to be home. We've played terrific here...Some of it is being comfortable and being back here."

Clemson held onto its fourth-place ACC standing, as it seeks to keep a double-bye in Greensboro’s ACC Tournament. Duke is a full-game back and NC State is a half-game back of the spot.

Clemson heads back on the road to face NC State on Saturday afternoon (noon/RSN).

The Tigers entered the contest at No. 82 in the NCAA’s NET resume ranking tool with the key counterpoints to their strong conference record being non-conference strength of schedule (No. 344) and bad losses (three NET Quadrant 4 defeats).

"We need to play really good basketball and all that stuff will take care of itself," Brownell said of the finish needed to get back in the NCAAs picture.

Boeheim offered his own commentary on the NET rankings and Clemson after the game.

"When you look at Clemson, the facts are the facts," Boeheim said. "They lost those games early. I think they're a tournament team, but the NET is not going to show that unless you beat somebody -- I don't know what their schedule is -- beat somebody with a good NET to get anywhere. That's the reality. I think they're a good team. Not just because they beat us. I've watched them all year. I think they slipped up a couple times. Obviously slipped up at Louisville. Shot 4-for-24 from the three. If they shot 4-for-24 tonight, they would've lost too but they didn't...

"They're a good team, but at the end of the day, playing in a league with good NETs is how you improve yourself. We have more teams with really high NETs (as in lower rankings) and that makes it difficult."

NC State (37 NET as of Wed.) and Virginia (15 NET as of Wed.) are the Tigers' next two road trips before hosting Notre Dame (No. 195) to close the year.