By Kaila Burns-Heffner.

Clemson’s preparation for Saturday’s 66-53 victory over Syracuse showed as the Orange led for the first 58 seconds of the game and then never saw a lead again.

The Tigers (10-7, 2-3 ACC) outshot, outrebounded, outhustled and outplayed Syracuse in handing the Orange their first ACC loss of the season.

“We were prepared. I credit the coaching staff and coach Brownell because we really worked in practice,” said forward Donte Grantham.

Grantham, who scored a career-high 16 points to lead Clemson, believes the first half of the game was one of the Tigers best performances of the season. By the end of the first half, Clemson had its second biggest lead against anyone all season — a 21-point advantage. Clemson had made 5-13 three point shots, two of which were made by Grantham after he had missed a couple of shots early on due to nerves and excitement.

“I was a little bit excited in the beginning and just happy to be home so I just took my time,” the freshman said. “The next shot that came to me wide open, I just followed through and knocked it in.”

That shot gave the Tigers a 12-6 lead with 13;21 to play in the opening half and from their he settled in as he made six of his last 10, including four of his next six from three-point range.

“I have said for a while that I think Donte is going to have a game here where he makes four or five threes,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said. “I think he made three at Pittsburgh. He is a capable shooter and he is a better shooter than his stats show. It is ironic because I think he airballed one and hit the side of the backboard with one, like his first two and I brought him over to the side when I took him out, ‘Are you a little excited today or what?’ He is such a laid backed kid that he is smiling and enjoying himself so I said, ‘Relax and make the next one. You are fine.’ He did and he played very well after that.”

The second half of the game proved to be more challenging for the Tigers as Syracuse began to close the gap. Clemson seemed to be losing momentum, but an impact play from center Landry Nnoko seemed to bring back some steam to the offense.

With a little over five minutes left in the game, Nnoko made a jump hook going to his left, blocked Syracuse’s attempt to score on the other end and rebounded the ball. This all occurred in 12 seconds and helped set Grantham up for a three-pointer that put the Tigers back in control of the game.

“It was very good when he got the block,” Grantham said. “It got the crowd up on their feet, and it got me wanting to go hard and knock a shot down. I just got the open look and I followed through and it connected.”

The added excitement from that string of plays helped the Tigers secure the victory.

“When you make shots like you did today, it energizes you, it energizes your crowd, it gets everybody a little extra hop in their step, and it keeps the defensive pressure on,” Brownell said. “I think there have been times this year where we try hard but we run out of gas a little bit, we get tired, we get frustrated because we can’t score. When we do make shots, we’re a dangerous team.”

The success Clemson has when it is able to effectively move the ball around and make shots is evident.

“We know that we can go out there and beat whoever we want if we go out there and play hard for 40 minutes,” Grantham said.

Clemson has a quick turnaround as it takes on the Florida State Seminoles on Monday at 9 p.m in Littlejohn Coliseum.