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It had all the making of a trap game for Syracuse. The final leg of a four-game sprint in eight days, the second consecutive on the road and its opponent Clemson winless in 2021. From the opening five minutes, the Tigers pounced on the opportunity.

First they turned over Tiana Mangakahia on the opening possession after the fifth-year guard had zero giveaways against No. 1 Louisville on Thursday. Each ensuing possession, they’d trap whichever SU guard brought the ball across half court. A frenetic pace unfolded and while Orange took rushed shots, Clemson consistently found open looks, turned SU over three times and raced out to a 14-6 lead.

The No. 23 Orange (7-3, 4-3 Atlantic Coast) had no answer for Clemson’s (9-5, 4-5) tenacity the entire first half. The 52-27 halftime deficit was the largest SU had faced since 2017 against No. 1 Connecticut in the NCAA Tournament. In the second half, against a shorthanded Clemson, Syracuse found another gear and sent the game to overtime. But, SU ultimately fell 86-77, finishing this four-game stretch 2-2. The Orange could’ve made a push toward the top spots in the country. Instead, they dropped to a middling team in their own conference.

“We just came out flat again,” head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “It’s tough with these games, when you come out and you’re not ready to play.”

Following Thursday’s 67-54 loss to No. 1 Louisville, Hillsman said the two things that plagued the Orange most were slow transitions from traps on defense — giving the Cardinals open shots — and an inability to hit shots (39%) on the offensive end.

But against the nation’s top team, the defensive rotations and more importantly the overall hustle was there for most of the contest. Louisville shot just 37% from deep up until late in the third quarter, when Syracuse’s guards fell a step behind against one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the conference.

In South Carolina on Sunday against the worst 3-point shooting team in the conference, SU’s defensive rotations were sluggish from the start, often spurned by quick, futile offensive sets on the other end. Later in the first quarter, when the double team sought out Mangakahia, she split it and threw up a runner from the foul line that clanged off the back iron. No one else on the Orange touched the ball the entire possession. Clemson’s Delicia Washington corralled the miss and raced back down the floor for a two-on-one.

On SU’s next offensive set, Mangakahia called for a high-ball screen, and again the two defenders converged on the Australian and induced a jump ball with possession awarded to Clemson. The Tigers quickly worked the ball to the high post and then down to the low block for an uncontested layup.

Even after Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi took a charge heading into the first media timeout, and SU brought the 14-4 deficit back within single-digits, no momentum carried over into the second half of the quarter. Syracuse’s opening possession began with a missed 3 by Digna Strautmane from the corner and finished with three separate missed putbacks inside before Clemson controlled the rebound, and Emily Engstler fouled.

Exasperated, Syracuse struggled to reciprocate that effort. The Tigers began on a stretch which saw seven makes on eight shots while Syracuse mustered one field goal total. With Clemson up 23-8, Washington dove for the loose ball off an SU miss, rolled it to Destiny Thomas who pushed it ahead to Kendall Spray for her third 3-pointer of the quarter as SU was still getting back down the floor.

In the second quarter, SU’s offense settled slightly but the defense tired further. Hillsman tried any kind of formation to stop the Tigers — full-court press, half-court traps and even man-to-man. None could deter Clemson from shooting 44% from beyond the arc in the first half to hang 52 points on the scoreboard, just 15 fewer than SU allowed all game on Thursday.

In the second half, Syracuse began to erase the mental lapses that buried it in the opening 20 minutes. Both Kamilla Cardoso and Engstler sealed off the back of SU’s zone and combined for 10 blocks for the game. Hillsman had the Orange stick solely to their full-court pressure, and it yielded 16 second-half turnovers.

“We did a great job of setting our pressure, forcing turnovers, forcing errant, quick shots to get back into the game,” Hillsman said. “So we got back into the game with our pressure.”

Mangakahia’s five turnovers in the first half became nine assists with zero giveaways in the second half. When Washington dove for a loose ball for Clemson, two Syracuse players got on the floor as well to contest for it. As SU chipped away, the Tigers’ fatigue began to show, the result of having just eight active players because of “coach’s decisions.”

Even when the Tigers got open looks, they refused to result in points like previous quarters. Spray, who shot five-for-seven from 3 in the first half, missed all but one second-half 3s she attempted — the Tigers finished 10-of-25 from beyond the arc. With 80 seconds to play, Hannah Hank’s missed her second free throw that could’ve given Clemson a 3-point cushion.

Instead, it set up Kiara Lewis to knife to the basket and finish a tough right-handed layup through contact. Her ensuing free throw gave the Orange their first lead of the game with a minute left. And when Clemson took the lead back, Engstler responded promptly with an elbow jumper to knot the score at 70.

Following a Clemson miss, Hillsman tried to draw up a play for Syracuse to win in regulation. But with no referee in range, his “Timeout!” pleas fell on deaf ears and Mangakahia was left to heave a deep 3 well right of the rim.

“It’s just one of those deals where they said they didn’t hear it and we didn’t get it,” Hillsman said, “so it is what it is.”

And in the extra frame, the energy that sparked the comeback faded once it was complete. Mangakahia was a step behind on multiple traps by Clemson, and she relapsed into her first-half ways with two turnovers. The first gave the Tigers a chance to take the lead, and the second let Spray convert her seventh 3-pointer of the game and put Clemson up 78-72.

Mangakahia fouled out 30 seconds later and made her way to the end of the bench. Walking away from a game that served as a microcosm of SU’s season — stretches of brilliance spoiled by recurring mistakes that’s preventing SU from entering the nation’s top-20 teams.

“Our kids really fought to get back in the game, to get to the point where we had a chance to win,” Hillsman said. “But we gotta close those games no matter if you play eight games in eight days, you can’t let a game like that slip away.”

Published on January 24, 2021 at 2:59 pm

Contact Tim: tnolan@syr.edu