Joe’s back: Syracuse welcomes Joe Girard back to JMA Wireless Dome (Live updates)

Syracuse, N.Y. — The Syracuse basketball team takes on the Clemson Tigers at 12 p.m., Saturday in the JMA Wireless Dome.

The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

See in-game team and individual stats here.

Note: Refresh this page throughout Syracuse’s game vs. Clemson to see the latest updates

Pregame

It’s a home game unlike any before it as Joe Girard III returns to Syracuse as a member of the Clemson Tigers.

Girard played four seasons for the Orange. He arrived here with immense credentials: the top scorer in New York high school boys basketball history.

In the hours leading up to tip, folks left no doubt about the day’s top billing.

Girard waved hello to dome security staffers in the tunnel after stepping off the team bus. He shook hands with athletic staff, hugged and spoke with SU assistant Gerry McNamara, who recruited Girard out of Glens Falls, New York, and posed for photos with fans and family before taking the floor for pregame warm-ups.

A basketball game will be played this afternoon. The Tigers are powerful in the post and whip the ball around with an efficiency that’s good enough to contend with the nation’s best. It toppled North Carolina earlier this week in Chapel Hill.

But the circumstances last year, which led to Girard leaving the in-state program to head to an ACC opponent, meant this game would always be about more than basketball.