Syracuse Falls to Clemson in ACC Opener

Wednesday, December 31

Syracuse, NY

2:00 PM

Syracuse University

9-5,0-1ACC

Clemson

11-3,1-0ACC

Clemson

Syracuse

12/31/2025 4:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Donnie Freeman returned to the court and poured in 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.

Freeman, 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 joined Freeman in double-digit scoring, notching 10 points, and added six assists. Sophomore Tyler Betsey had eight points and freshman Kiyan Anthony added seven.

Clemson was led by RJ Godfrey and Dillon Hunter, who scored 14 and 10 points, respectively.

How the Game Was Decided
Clemson'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.

Freeman 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.

Needing a stop on the other end, senior William Kyle III 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.

The 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.

Orange Halt Tigers' Fast Start
Clemson 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.

The Orange needed an answer and sophomore Tyler Betsey provided one. Betsey knocked down a deep 3-pointer and later drew a foul on a 3-point attempt. He connected on all three free throws.

Senior J.J. Starling 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.

Orange Close First Half Strong
Trailing 23-15 with less than eight minutes left in the half, senior Nate Kingz converted a deep 3-point shot to kick off an 11-2 Syracuse streakover the next 3:23.

Following Kingz's triple, George found sophomore Ibrahim Souare 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.

George 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.

The 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.

The 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. Betsey led the Syracuse offense with eight points in the first 20 minutes.

Orange Continue to Fight
Clemson 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.

Syracuse 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.

The 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.

Hunter reinvigorated the Tiger offense when he buried a pair of 3-pointers, though, to get Clemson back in front.

Notes and Highlights

All nine players that saw the court for Syracuse contributed points.
Syracuse shot 20-of-24 (.833) from the free throw line, its best percentage from the charity stripe this season.
Starling tied a career-high in blocks with two.
Kyle 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.
Syracuse's bench outscored Clemson's 36-18.
The Orange limited Clemson to a season-low 64 points.
Clemson shot 4-of-16 (.250) from 3-point range, tied for the least amount of makes from beyond the arc this season for Clemson.

Up Next
The 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.

Syracuse Tickets
Season and individual tickets are available at cuse.com/feature/basketball-tickets

For complete coverage of Syracuse men's basketball, follow the team on X (@Cuse_MBB) and Instagram (cuse_mbb).