Three Takeaways - Syracuse

The regular season didn’t end the way Clemson wanted it to in a 55-52 loss at unranked Syracuse.

Although the Tigers figured out they clinched at least the fourth seed in the ACC tournament during the contest, a win could have pole-vaulted their resume and would have given them a strong argument to be a three seed in the NCAA tournament.

Marcquise Reed, who was named second-team All-ACC, led Clemson again with 21 points in the loss.

You got the sense on Wednesday night after its win over Florida State Clemson had accomplished all it wanted to after winning its 11th ACC victory of the season, a program record. In a close, defense-oriented game, the Tigers failed to increase that number and almost missed out on the double-bye.

Here are a few of our takeaways from Clemson’s loss to Syracuse.

Disappearing Acts

In Wednesday’s win against Florida State, all three of Clemson’s guards and Elijah Thomas scored in double-figures to have enough of an offensive output to get the job done.

As we said last week, it’s going to be really hard for any team to beat Clemson if four players can score in double-figures and when Reed scores at least 20 points. When points can be distributed among the trio of guards, the offense is tough to stop.

But when the guards have off nights like the game we saw Saturday against Syracuse, it’s tough for Clemson to win any game. We saw DeVoe struggle in Mitchell’s absence, but Saturday was the first time he struggled with him on the floor in a long time.

DeVoe was 2-for-13 from the field and 0-for-6 from behind the arc. It was the third game all season DeVoe was held without a three-point make when he attempted at least three.

In 40 minutes of play, DeVoe scored a total of four points. Mitchell: zero.

The two players who played 40 minutes for Syracuse (Tyus Battle and Frank Howard) combined to score 28 points.

Besides the Virginia game where Clemson got pummeled, there have been no other games this season where Mitchell was held scoreless. The Virginia and Syracuse matchups were probably the worst matchups the starting point guard will see this season.

The length on defense from both of those teams was enough to bother Mitchell, especially on Saturday where it seemed like he didn’t play after only taking four shots and turning the ball over three times.

Clemson’s ineffective bench didn’t make matters any better. In a combined 29 minutes of play, the bench went a combined 0-for-4 with the only points coming from Anthony Oliver at the free-throw line.

The Tigers are going to need all of their guards to show up and also have some effective bench play if they want to make any noise in the postseason.

Thomas and Reed playing their best at the right time.

Besides his performance against Texas Southern where he scored 26 points and collected 16 rebounds, Thomas played his best offensive game on Saturday against Syracuse.

The big man made all five of his field goal attempts and made eight of his 12 free throws to give Clemson a chance with other players struggling.

The biggest play of the game, arguably, was when Thomas was called for a foul underneath after he established position for a rebound with two minutes left in the game. Syracuse ended up making the two free throws it got from the foul and didn’t give up the lead from there.

Thomas is going to need to be a force down low in postseason play. Brownell has emphasized a few times throughout the year the importance of getting Thomas touches on offense.

Reed, who continues to be Clemson’s go-to scorer every night, and Thomas holding the reigns for Clemson on both ends of the floor is the good sign this team has going into the postseason.

A regular season for the ages

Even with Clemson’s loss to end its regular season, this season has been some kind of special for this program.

This team was picked to finish 13th in the ACC by the media in the preseason, something the team rarely talks about, but has served as a little bit of a motivating factor as the wins kept piling on.

Brownell said on Wednesday night with Donte Grantham, his team is special.

“We could be playing for big, big, big things,” Brownell added.

The ceiling for this Clemson team got a little bit lower with Grantham’s season coming to an abrupt end, but the team kept fighting and playing together.

Even with the rollercoaster of Mitchell’s injury and losing three straight at one point, there has never been a sense this team wasn’t competing or losing its composure like maybe they would have in recent years.

Brownell said without Grantham, Clemson is still a special team but is not as talented other teams in the ACC. After an 11-7 record in conference, finishing tied for third place in the ACC, an overcoming so much adversity, this is a season Brownell and his guys can hang their hat on no matter what happens moving forward.

Even though Virginia’s Tony Bennett won ACC Coach of the Year, Brownell finished as a close second for a good reason.

“We try to do the things that good teams do to win, and we sacrifice, and we practice hard, and we prepare hard,” Brownell said Wednesday night. “So when you see young people that are giving so much and being so selfless and sacrificing like they are, to have them have this kind of success is what you want to see. That makes you really proud as a coach, to come in to work every day and coach for these kinds of guys.”