Observations from SU’s 68-64 win over Clemson: Burrows boards, Phelia scoring
Uche Izoje scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds in Syracuse's four-point win over Clemson Saturday. Matthew Crisafulli | Staff Photographer
Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.
Last season, a Syracuse-Clemson matchup in the JMA Wireless Dome would’ve meant next to nothing. Both the Tigers and the Orange went 6-12 in Atlantic Coast Conference play in the 2024-25 campaign, finishing with 12-18 and 14-17 records, respectively.
What a difference a year can make. When the Tigers rolled into the Dome Sunday, the matchup carried renewed postseason stakes — for both sides — for the first time in seven seasons. Clemson entered the Dome Sunday ranked No. 39 in the NET, slotting in as a No. 12 seed in Charlie Creme’s latest ESPN bracketology projections for the NCAA Tournament.
Syracuse, meanwhile, is projected as a No. 9 seed by Creme and is well on its way to building an NCAA Tournament resume. To do so, it needs high-quality — Quad 1 and 2 — victories down the stretch, and the Tigers presented a prime opportunity to do so.
The Orange capitalized on Sunday, taking down Clemson 68-64 Sunday to bolster their postseason resume and move to 5-1 in Quad 2 games.
Here’s some observations from Syracuse’s (21-5, 11-4 ACC) home win over Clemson (18-9, 9-6 ACC):
1st-quarter fire
The last first quarter SU played in the Dome was an affront to basketball itself. It was an abomination; the kind of performance the Orange probably would’ve liked to flush out of their heads immediately after it happened.
Syracuse made zero field goals and were outscored 28-6 in last Sunday’s opening frame against Louisville. Those first-quarter woes continued — albeit to a less-extreme extent — against Pitt Thursday, when the Orange struggled to separate themselves against the lesser Panthers.
But on Sunday, SU finally bucked that trend in its win over Clemson. Just like they did against Pitt, the Orange got off to a strong start against the Tigers, beginning the game on an 8-0 run. But unlike that contest, Syracuse never really let its foot off the gas in the first 10 minutes.
It took the Tigers nearly four minutes to get on the board, when Demeara Hinds broke the drought with a layup into the paint. Three-and-a-half minutes later, Hannah Kohn made it a one-possession game for Clemson, draining a 3-pointer to cut SU’s lead to 13-10.
But the Orange ended the quarter on a strong note, with Laila Phelia sinking a layup and Sophie Burrows making a mid-range shot to push Syracuse up 17-12 after 10 minutes. Clemson never led in the first quarter, and those struggles set the tone for the rest of the game.
Where art thou, Mia Moore?
If Syracuse could limit Mia Moore, odds are it would be in a good position to win. Likewise, if it couldn’t, it would probably be a long day for the Orange backcourt.
Moore — Clemson’s point guard — entered Sunday fresh off two consecutive 30-point performances against Boston College and Georgia Tech. The Tigers won both of those games, defeating the Eagles 83-59 and triumphing over the Yellow Jackets 67-65 in double overtime.
The game before that? A 53-44 loss to North Carolina, where Moore shot just 1-for-10 and scored six points. Not to belabor the point, but limiting Moore in any way possible was imperative for SU to secure a win.
Syracuse seemingly understood that. Moore was hounded all game in the backcourt, heavily defended by Dominique Darius and Burrows. Any time she tried to weave her way in the paint, she was stonewalled and forced to toss up a heavily-contested shot. She didn’t get on the board until midway through the second quarter, when she finally got free on a fastbreak layup.
She got four assists in the first half, yes, but only made one of her first six buckets. Moore emerged later on with 15 second-half points, but her first-half struggles made it impossible for Clemson to establish any sort of rhythm early.
Burrows bags boards
Burrows has always been a strong rebounder. It’s why playing small — relatively speaking, outside of Uche Izoje — has never been a problem for Felisha Legette-Jack when constructing her starting lineup.
Despite being a guard, she ranked second on the Orange with an average of 5.6 rebounds per game last season. The same has held true this year, as she is one of two Syracuse players to average over five boards per game this season.
But you could argue that Burrows has never had a stronger rebounding performance than she did on Sunday against the Tigers. Her career high rebounding total is 10 — a mark she’s achieved against Wake Forest and Florida State last season.
It took Burrows a half to surpass that against the Tigers. She grabbed three rebounds in the first 80 seconds of SU’s matchup against Clemson, and just never stopped from there. She finished the first quarter with a whopping six boards and grabbed five more in the second quarter to smash her career high.
She registered a double-double — her third of the season — midway through the third quarter with a mid-range jumper. When Clemson claimed its first lead in the fourth quarter, it was Burrows who answered it with a 3. And, when Burrows missed her first layup try on SU’s next offensive possession, she grabbed her own miss to make it 58-54.
That tenacity is exactly why SU was able to grab 18 offensive boards against a Clemson team that entered allowing just 7.8 boards per game, a mark that ranks third among Division I teams. That tenacity is exactly why Syracuse prevailed on Sunday.
The return of Phelia
Lately, for whatever reason, Phelia has just been struggling to find the net. Entering Sunday, she was averaging 6.3 points per game across Syracuse’s previous three games. Her only double-digit scoring performance in that span was an 11-point day on a 3-of-8 shooting performance against Boston College.
Outside of that? She’d practically gone ghost. Phelia scored just five points and made two of her nine shots against Louisville, then followed it up with three points in a 1-of-7 performance Thursday against Pitt. In that three-game span, she shot 6-of-24 from the field.
Syracuse can overcome Phelia’s absence if it has to — it proved that against Stanford — but the Orange are not the same team offensively without her scoring presence. If SU aims to make a prolonged postseason run, it has to have her flexible, multifaceted scoring in its backcourt.
Sunday wasn’t perfect, as she shot 5-of-15 on the day. But it was certainly a start.
Phelia got proceedings going early with an impressive layup, gathering her dribble and deftly stepping around a Clemson defender to make it 6-0 Syracuse. She scored another layup later in the first quarter to extend Syracuse’s lead to 15-10 after a Kohn triple, and finished the first half with seven total points.
Her most impressive play came back in the second quarter, when she fought through contact to earn an and-one layup, and finished the 3-point play to push SU’s lead to 30-24. All in all, she finished with 17 points and made all seven of her free throws to help secure Syracuse’s lead.
