An incredibly efficient game from Godfrey brings the Tigers their second straight one possession victory
Clemson opens conference play this season strongly, with a 64-61 victory on the road against Syracuse. The Tigers are now 11-3 on the season, exceeding vague expectations following a massive reload of talent through the transfer portal.
No matter who’s on the court, Brad Brownell’s Tigers always seem to have the same identity, for better or for worse. This matchup was a quintessential example. Clemson had painfully long scoring droughts, eating up clock but unable to buy a basket. They made up for it with disciplined defense, holding Syracuse to even more drastic stretches without a score. Clemson shot awfully from beyond the arc, making four of their sixteen attempts to total 25% from three. RJ Godfrey, Dallas Thomas, Nick Davidson, Ace Buckner, and Carter Welling all attempted at least one shot from beyond the arc. Everyone but Godfrey and Thomas shot at least two. None of them made a single one. They made up for it by controlling the pace of play, and forcing the Orange to play their game.
In terms of indivisual player performance, Godfrey continued to shine. His 14 points on 7/9 shooting led the team, and he hauled in four rebounds and had two stocks as well. He played in foul trouble-racking up four, but avoided fouling out. While the whistle was called on him often, he didn’t get many in his favor, as he was sent to the line only once, going 0/1.
Dillon Hunter also starred, and also got himself in foul trouble. He nailed a pair of three’s, and ended the day with ten points on 80% shooting. From a box score standpoint, there wasn’t much else to write home about, as it was a slow paced, low scoring game overall. However, it was nice to see Clemson get the win, and start off ACC play above .500
Clemson trailed for exactly four minutes and fifty two seconds, but the game saw eleven total lead changes. I don’t fully know what to make of that stat, but I found it interesting. A couple more stats that blew my mind but had no place in this recap; Syracuse’s Naithan George logged six assists, and JJ Starling had two. No one else on the Orange earned a single assist. Clemson had more steals than Syracuse had assists. No one on Syracuse’s starting five had a positive box plus minus, and their were 27 total turnovers between both teams. Last one, Clemson has never lost to Syracuse in football and won in basketball in the same season.
As football season comes to an end, fans are hoping to move on from the incredibly rough year from Dabo and his team in Death Valley, and to turn to a hopefully more successful squad in Littlejohn. It’s fitting that these Tigers started off conference play by taking care of business in New York, something our football team was unable to do just a week ago.
Clemson will look to extend their streak to five in Pittsburg as they face off against the Panthers on Saturday, January 3rd at 12:00pm.
