By Will Vandervort.

Rod Hall had one of his best offensive games of the season on Saturday. The senior made four of his six attempts, was two of three from three-point range, made all five of his free throw attempts and dished out a game-high six assists.

But as thrilled as he was with his 15 points and overall offensive effort in Clemson’s 66-53 victory over Syracuse at Littlejohn Coliseum, it was his play on the defensive end that made Hall feel like he had a great game.

Before Saturday’s game, Syracuse guard Trevor Cooney averaged 14.5 points a game. The Orange’s second leading scorer led the ACC in three-point field goal percentage and was one of the best shooters in the conference overall.

But playing guys like Cooney is when Hall seems to play his best. The senior dominated the Syracuse guard, as Cooney was 0-for-7 from the field, including a 0-for-5 effort from behind the arc. He finished the evening with five points – all coming from the foul line and all in the second half when the game was out of reach.

“I just tried to keep him from getting open looks,” Hall said afterwards. “He is a pretty good shooter and we talked about not allowing him to get going so I made sure he did not get the ball as much.”

Clemson head coach Brad Brownell made sure that did happen either, which is why Hall did not take seat until the final 25 seconds of the game.

“Mike (Winiecki) or Richie (Riley), one of the two, said, “Hey there is a media timeout coming, let’s take Rod out for one minute and let him get a break.’ I’m not taking Rod out to let Cooney get a shot on somebody else,” Brownell said. “If he makes a shot, he can go crazy. You let a guy like that make one then all of a sudden the basket looks bigger and now he is going to make four.

“The longer you keep him quiet the more you have a chance to hold him down for the day. It is really kind of the same way with other players. When you don’t score, it magnifies and it becomes a little more stressful on your team.”

With Cooney  not being a factor, the Orange (13-5, 4-1 ACC) could not find that second scorer to help center Rakeem Christmas, who had a game-high 21 points on 10 of 13 shooting. Cooney’s afternoon at Littlejohn was his worst performance of the season by far. It was the first time he went an entire game without making a field goal and his five points matched a season-low.

“Cooney is uncanny in his ability to search out the ball,” Brownell said. “Guys penetrate and he is always moving to try and get his shot. It takes unbelievable discipline to try and not react to penetration and turn your head and stare at the ball. He cuts one way, they are throwing it to him.

“He creates his own offense as well as anyone from a shooting standpoint that you will see in terms of on the move and catch-and-shoot. You will down a ball-screen to the baseline, he throws it back to the postman and as the ball is in the air, he is already chasing it down for a flip back almost like the NBA and gets his shot off. You just can’t let up at all. It takes unbelievable effort and spirit, but it also takes intelligence and discipline and Rod has both.”

And he used both to do what he does best – play defense.

“I just try to do the best I can. Defense has always been a huge thing for me,” Hall said. “Some people focus on offense a lot. I take pride in defense. I try not to let my guy score. That has been my thing. I know Cooney is a good player so I just tried not letting him get any good looks.”