By William Qualkinbush.

It might be time to revise the popularly held sentiments of the masses about Clemson’s brutal stretch of games to begin conference play.

14 days ago, in Littlejohn Coliseum, a low-energy version of the Tigers got pounded by North Carolina, leading many critical thinkers to adopt the worst case scenario when examining the next four games.

“We didn’t give our fans any hope that night,” Head Coach Brad Brownell said.

The looming stretch—at Louisville, at Pittsburgh, at Virginia, vs. Syracuse—was tough, arguably the toughest stretch of any team in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Fans and media wondered aloud whether the team that exited such a slate could survive physically and emotionally after being a whipping boy for college basketball’s bluebloods.

But the Tigers have not wilted. They have not lost faith. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Clemson is a team brimming with confidence, especially after Saturday’s 66-53 win over Syracuse in front of an announced sellout crowd in Littlejohn.

Perhaps, as the saying goes, the thing that was supposed to kill Clemson has made it stronger.

“We’ve played the best,” forward Jaron Blossomgame said, “so we should have confidence in ourselves that we can play with anybody.”

Much different than the team that took the court against the Tar Heels two weeks ago, the Clemson squad that decimated Syracuse in the first half looked galvanized. There was talk of a players-only meeting following a poor second half against Virginia on Tuesday. Brownell said he thought some of the tough love he showed a couple of veterans in Charlottesville led to a better all-around performance.

“I’m sure, in the players’ minds, the players-only meeting was the reason we won,” Brownell said with a grin.

Whatever the reason, the Tigers looked like a team intent on building upon lessons learned through adversity rather than letting that adversity beat it down. Syracuse shot just 37 percent against a relentless man-to-man defense that never let up. The Orange, which have relied upon outside shooting all season, missed 14 out of 16 three-point attempts. Sharpshooter Trevor Cooney missed all five of his threes.

Cooney’s struggles were directly attributable to senior point guard Rod Hall, who cloaked Cooney from start to finish as he ran around the perimeter looking for his shot. Officially, Hall played 40 minutes, only coming out to a nice ovation from the Clemson faithful for the final half-minute of the game.

“I wasn’t taking him out unless they took Cooney out,” Brownell said.

Hall and Jaron Blossomgame had 15 points apiece, with Hall contributing six assists with only two turnovers and Blossomgame adding 12 rebounds. Donte Grantham made four three-pointers to lead the Tigers with 16 points in the win.

For the fourth straight game, Clemson outrebounded its opponent—this time, it was a 40-30 edge against the Orange. The Tigers finished the first half with a nearly impossible 16 second-chance points on seven offensive rebounds, buoyed by an unwavering pursuit of the basketball.

Clemson led by 21 points at the half, the largest halftime margin this season for the Tigers against a team that has won a game (they led Florida A&M by 23 in the season opener). The Orange never cut the lead under 12 points again.

All from a team that was supposed to be dead by this point in its schedule.

“As we go on, that kind of gets flushed out,” Hall said of the team’s losses. “Even when we win games, we just move on to the next game.”

The next game is only 48 hours away, a 9:00 tilt at home against Florida State on Monday. It will not be the easiest turnaround from an emotional win, but the Tigers have been getting ready for tough tests for a while now.