{"id":214215,"date":"2026-01-01T03:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T03:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/214215\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T03:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T03:20:11","slug":"syracuse-falls-to-clemson-in-acc-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/214215\/","title":{"rendered":"Syracuse Falls to Clemson in ACC Opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donnie Freeman<\/a> returned to the court and poured\u00a0in 18 points over the final 12 minutes but Clemson (11-3, 1-0 ACC) narrowly bested Syracuse (9-5, 0-1 ACC), 64-61, at the JMA Wireless Dome on Wednesday afternoon.
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\nFreeman, who had missed the previous nine games with an injury, paced the Syracuse offense with 18 points while grabbing a team-high nine boards in the loss. Junior Naithan George<\/a> joined Freeman in double-digit scoring, notching 10 points, and added six assists. Sophomore Tyler Betsey<\/a> had eight points and freshman Kiyan Anthony<\/a> added seven.
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\nClemson was led by RJ Godfrey and Dillon Hunter, who scored 14 and 10 points, respectively.
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\nHow the Game Was Decided
\nClemson’s Dillon Hunter buried back-to-back 3-pointers and converting a driving layup over a two-and-a-half minute stretch to help Clemson surge ahead and give the Tigers a 59-50 edge with just 3:26 showing on the clock.
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\nFreeman refused to let the Orange go away quietly, though, scoring nine points over the next 2:30 of play. In his first game action since mid-November, Freeman delivered four free throws and a 3-pointer to keep Syracuse within striking distance. He answered the call once more, converting a layup with 43 ticks on the clock to bring the score to 63-61.
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\nNeeding a stop on the other end, senior William Kyle III<\/a> swatted away a Hunter layup attempt out of bounds. The Tigers got the ball to Carter Welling on the inbound and he was fouled going up for a shot with just 14 seconds left. Welling couldn’t put the Orange away, though, missing the backend of the two free-throw attempts to adjust the score at 64-61.
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\nThe Orange turned to Freeman once more in the final seconds, but his 3-point attempt from the top of the key was off the mark and Clemson secured the rebound to seal the win.
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\nOrange Halt Tigers’ Fast Start
\nClemson got out to a fast start, running out to a 12-3 lead in the first four-and-a-half minutes. The stretch included 10 unanswered points by the Tigers, which provided Clemson with an early cushion.
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\nThe Orange needed an answer and sophomore Tyler Betsey<\/a> provided one. Betsey knocked down a deep 3-pointer and later\u00a0drew a foul on a 3-point attempt. He connected on all three free throws.
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\nSenior J.J. Starling<\/a> hit a floater shortly after to bring the Orange back within one possession at 14-11. Starling’s bucket capped off an 8-2 run that answer the Clemson surge. The Tigers shot just 1-of-5 (.200) during the Orange response.
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\nOrange Close First Half Strong
\nTrailing 23-15 with less than eight minutes left in the half, senior Nate Kingz<\/a> converted a deep 3-point shot to kick off an 11-2 Syracuse streakover the next 3:23.
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\nFollowing Kingz’s triple, George found sophomore Ibrahim Souare<\/a> on the ensuing possession for an alley-oop slam. The play drew a foul and Souare sent home a free throw to finish off the three-point play.
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\nGeorge followed up his alley-oop dime with a 3-pointer of his own to give Syracuse a 24-23 lead, its first advantage since just under the 19-minute mark. He added two more points with a pair of free throws minutes later to cap the run at the 4:46 mark and provide Syracuse a slim 26-25 advantage.
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\nThe Orange defense was strong down the final stretch of the half, holding the Tigers to just 3-of-11 (.273) from the field over the last eight minutes of the first half. The Tigers finished the frame just 1-of-10 (.100) from 3-point range.
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\nThe teams went on to trade a few more buckets over the waning moments of the half, with Clemson taking a 29-28 lead into the break.\u00a0Betsey led the Syracuse offense with eight points in the first 20 minutes.
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\nOrange Continue to Fight
\nClemson once again started out fast coming out of the break, going on a 14-5 run over the first six-and-a-half minutes to build a 43-33 lead. Five different Clemson players chipped in points as the Tigers shot 6-of-9 (.667) over the stretch. Godfrey had four of the 14 Tiger points.
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\nSyracuse refused to go away, responding with a 12-5 surge of its own over the next five minutes, highlighted by Freeman going for six points.
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\nThe Orange punctuated the stretch with Starling finding Kyle III for a high-flying alley-oop. Syracuse shot a combined 4-of-5 (.800) from the field while holding the Tigers to just 2-of-7 (.286) as the Orange cut the Clemson lead to 49-45.
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\nHunter reinvigorated the Tiger offense when he buried a pair of 3-pointers, though, to get Clemson back in front.<\/p>\n

Notes and Highlights
\n \n<\/p>\n


\n\tAll nine players that saw the court for Syracuse contributed points.
\n\tSyracuse shot 20-of-24 (.833) from the free throw line, its best percentage from the charity stripe this season.
\n\tStarling tied a career-high in blocks with two.
\n\tKyle III recorded multiple blocks for the seventh-consecutive contest. He entered the game ranked second in blocked shots and blocked-shot average among Division I players.
\n\tSyracuse’s bench outscored Clemson’s 36-18.
\n\tThe Orange limited Clemson to a season-low 64 points.
\n\tClemson shot 4-of-16 (.250) from 3-point range, tied for the least amount of makes from beyond the arc this season for Clemson. <\/p>\n

Up Next
\nThe Orange hit the road next for a Tuesday, January 6 matchup against Georgia Tech. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta with the game airing on ACC Network.
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\nSyracuse Tickets
\nSeason and individual tickets are available at\u00a0cuse.com\/feature\/basketball-tickets<\/a><\/p>\n

For complete coverage of Syracuse men’s basketball, follow the team on X (@Cuse_MBB<\/a>) and Instagram (cuse_mbb<\/a>).<\/p>\n