By Will Vandervort.

Following Tuesday’s loss to Virginia, Landry Nnoko called a-players-only meeting in hopes it might spark a little life in a team that was already in a must-win-situation with Syracuse coming to town on Saturday.

“Everybody stated their own opinion and what we could do to get better as a team,” said Clemson forward Donte Grantham, who led the Tigers with 16 points against the Orange.

“It was just effort and us putting in the extra time and wanting to win,” he continued. “Just putting in the extra time and going 110 percent for forty minutes in the game, instead of thirty five or thirty two.”

The Tigers went the full 40 minutes Saturday afternoon as they shot 45.1 percent from the field, outrebounded Syracuse by 10 and held the Orange to 36.8 percent shooting in a 66-53 victory at Littlejohn Coliseum. It was a far cry from what took place in the second half against Virginia.

“I’m sure in the players’ mind, the players-only-meeting is the reason we won,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said smiling. “I’m glad the guys got focused. It was just a bad half at Virginia.  I was upset with a couple of players, a couple of starters that have played a lot of minutes.

“When we are not making shots their defense goes away from them and I’m sure that carried over. Our guys have had to learn how to deal with adversity better.”

Clemson (10-7, 2-3 ACC) dealt with the adversity from the Virginia loss by coming out and making shots against the Orange’s famous 2-3 zone. The Tigers shot 53.3 percent from the field in the opening half, including 5-of-13 from behind the arc in building a 21-point halftime lead at 39-18.

Clemson closed the half with a dunk by Jaron Blossomgame, a Rod Hall three-pointer, a Jordan Roper layup, a Grantham three-pointer and a Roper jumper with seven seconds left.

“I thought Clemson played great today,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. “Their defense was tremendous and I think they got some good looks and knocked down some shots in the first half.”

Syracuse, who suffered their first loss in ACC play this year, tried to come back in the second half. It made a mini-run midway through the second half to cut the lead to 13 points, 45-32, with 10:15 to play. That came after a Rakeem Christmas basket, who led all scorers with 21 points on 10 of 13 shooting.

But the Tigers responded with a Grantham jumper from the corner and then a Hall three-pointer to the left of the key to up the score back to 16 points, 50-34, with 7:07 to play. Hall’s three was the play that broke the Oranges’ back for good. The senior finished the game with 15 points on 4 of 6 shooting, including 5 of 5 free throws and 2 of 3 from behind the arc. He also had a game-high six assists.

As a team Clemson finished the game with eight three-point baskets.

“We made eight threes today and we made eight threes at Pittsburgh and we won both those games in the league,” Brownell said. “That’s obviously a big part of our team. We struggled to score sometimes, but when you make shots like we did today, it energizes you, it energizes your crowd, it gives everyone a little extra hop in their step and I think it keeps the defensive pressure on.

“There have been times this year when we try hard, but we run out of gas a little bit, we get a little tired and we get a little frustrated because we can’t score. When we do make shots, we are a dangerous team. We took care of the ball in the first half, there was good execution and then guys just stepped up and made shots. It is as simple as that. And we certainly needed them tonight.”

Clemson made 23 of 51 shots as it also got 15 points from Blossomgame on 6 of 10 shooting and 12 rebounds. It was his sixth double-double of the season – tied for third place in the ACC in that category.

The Tigers will not get to enjoy this win very long as they host ACC rival Florida State on Monday starting at 9 p.m. at Littlejohn Coliseum.