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Syracuse was on the precipice of securing a signature win Thursday. The Orange led No. 20 NC State for 34 minutes, including holding a 10-point halftime advantage. But with SU leading 66-63 with 2:31 left in the fourth quarter, the Wolfpack closed the game on an 11-0 run to win 74-66, denying the upset win and handing Syracuse its seventh loss in Atlantic Coast Conference play.

The Orange, sitting tied for 15th in the conference, returned to action Sunday at Clemson. The Tigers snapped a four-game losing streak by defeating Miami Thursday. Meanwhile, SU has dropped its last three contests.

Syracuse held Clemson to a porous 28.1% shooting in the first half and grabbed a two-point halftime lead despite allowing the Tigers to finish the first half on a 7-0 run. The inverse was true in the third quarter, where Clemson outscored SU 21-14, holding the Orange to shoot 29.4%. But Syracuse outscored Clemson 25-8 in the fourth quarter, securing its first road ACC win of the season and a resume-building Quad 2 win.

Here are some observations from Syracuse’s (8-12, 2-7 ACC) 67-55 win over Clemson (11-10, 4-6 ACC) Sunday:

Potts’ career day

Freshman guard Madeline Potts notched her first career start Sunday. The guard started in place of SU’s leading scorer, Georgia Woolley, and became the 12th different SU player to start a game this season. Lexi McNabb is now the only player who hasn’t started a contest. Potts is the Orange’s most accurate 3-point shooter, knocking down 41.4% of her triples, though she averages a mere 3.2 points per game.

On the first possession of the game, Potts dumped a pass inside, which Izabel Varejão converted. Woolley, who entered two minutes in, found the freshman open down low and Potts finished a lay-in to push the score to 7-6.

After Hannah Kohn drained a 3 for the Tigers, Potts answered with an open corner trey to trim Syracuse’s deficit to two late in the first quarter. The Doncaster, Australia, native surpassed her minutes average of 9.9 in just the first half, playing the first 14 minutes. Potts played 19 of the 20 first-half minutes — four off her career-high of 23 from Sunday’s drubbing at BC.

Potts came off the bench in the second half and canned a corner 3 to give SU a four-point lead. Potts then gave SU a 49-48 advantage three minutes into the fourth quarter — her 11th point of the game. The freshman set her career-high by grabbing her 13th point of the game from the free throw line.

Potts far surpassed her previous season-high of 23 minutes, playing a tied-for-team-high 35 minutes while scoring 13 points on 3-of-7 3-point shooting.

Woolley contributes off bench

The last time Woolley didn’t start a game was during the 2022-23 campaign, her first season at Syracuse. She came off the bench Sunday in Clemson.

Woolley entered two minutes into the first quarter. First, she dished it to Potts. Then, she pulled up from beyond the arc and netted the effort to hand SU its first lead of the game, 9-7. Two minutes into the second quarter, Woolley got to the cup.

Woolley didn’t look hampered, though she was relatively quiet. She played 35 minutes, shooting 3-for-13 from the field. She still used her size advantage over the Tigers to snatch nine rebounds and served as a distributor with four assists.

However, Woolley was a presence in key moments on defense. She secured a steal in the fourth quarter. And on the next possession, she blocked a fast-break Clemson layup. With the second-best free-throw percentage in the ACC, Woolley nailed six free throws to ice the game.

Syracuse goes big

Potts starting alongside Kyra Wood and Varejão signaled Syracuse wanted to go with size to start. Dominique Camp was the only SU starter to stand below 6-foot. But Camp soon checked out of the game for Woolley. Then, all five players on the court stood above 6-foot.

The effort seemed to match up well against Clemson’s starting lineup, which featured just one player standing over 5-foot-10: 6-foot-2 Anya Poole. SU sported 6-foot-3 Wood and 6-foot-4 Varejão. The Orange outscored Clemson 28-22 in the paint and outrebounded it 51-38. Varejão had success, scoring 16 points and gathering 12 rebounds, while Wood grabbed 16 points to go with 11 boards.

In the second half, the size caused Syracuse some problems on defense. The taller players got caught having to defend outside the paint and move their feet to guard Clemson’s shorter and quicker players.

To start the fourth, Olivia Schmitt, who’s 5-foot-5, played for the first time, going against the trend of playing big. But Wood and Varejão combined inside for Syracuse’s first points in the final quarter.

Schmitt found Wood in stride for a key layup to push the Orange’s lead to eight with under three minutes remaining. Then, Varejão kissed in a layup to maintain SU’s lead at 59-51 with the shot-clock expiring. The frontcourt’s production was key for SU to gather an elusive ACC victory.

Clemson shooting woes

The Orange allow opponents to score 71.8 points per game — within the bottom 60 nationally — and they allow opponents to shoot 34.9% from 3, among the bottom 35. But Syracuse held off Clemson, which shoots a top-70 nationally at 43.3%, to shoot 28.1% in the first half, a percentage that was raised by the Tigers making their last four shots.

Kohn was locked in from 3 to start Sunday. She drilled her first attempt and was fouled, capitalizing on the four-point play. She sank her next triple, too, making it 14-9 Clemson in the final three minutes of the first quarter.

But the sophomore missed her next six shots to close the first half. Similarly, after shooting 31.3% in the first quarter, Clemson went ice cold to begin the second. The Tigers missed their first 11 shots in the quarter, allowing SU to pull ahead 25-16. Finally, at the 2:29 mark, Clemson scored its first points of the quarter and finished on a 7-0 run, pushing its shooting percentage in the quarter to 25%.

The script was flipped in the third quarter, as Clemson upped its shooting to 36.8% in the quarter (3-for-6 from 3), while Syracuse shot a woeful 29.4%. The Tigers outscored the Orange 21-14 in the third quarter. Clemson’s top scorer, Loyal McQueen, notched a team-high 15 points but shot an inaccurate 7-for-19, while Kohn shot 4-for-15 from 3.

Overall, Clemson was held to shoot 27.9% and 24.2% from 3 — well below its season averages — propelling an important road win for SU.

Published on January 26, 2025 at 4:18 pm

Contact Nicholas: njalumka@syr.edu | @nalumkal