DURHAM, N.C. – A frustrated Michael Gbinije put both hands over his mouth and ran down the court past everyone. Jim Boeheim stood on the sideline with a look of disgust on his face. An arm slightly extended is all they thought it was.

But Brandon Ingram tumbled backward too far for the referee’s liking, giving Gbinije his third personal foul with 2:21 left in the first half. Boeheim has said that his point guard wouldn’t come out even if he had a heart attack, but in this case, the SU head coach didn’t have an option.

The Orange’s starting point guard sat and watched as Duke took a lead into halftime, but a renewed Gbinije emerged in the second half, attacking with abandon and no regard for his foul trouble. What resulted was 10 second-half points (14 total), a career-high nine assists and seamless execution of Syracuse’s go-to pick and roll as he provided the motor in SU’s (13-7, 3-4 Atlantic Coast) 64-62 win over No. 20 Duke (14-5, 4-3) at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Monday night.

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“It was a tremendous testament to what he can do,” Boeheim said.

What Gbinije can do is something he’s been doing: playing almost 40 minutes, scoring in a variety of ways and being the maestro of an offense while feeding shooters. But against the Blue Devils, first-half foul trouble could’ve forced him to resort elsewhere.

Instead, he pounded the inside to complement two made 3s, diversifying a Syracuse offense that did just enough.

“Mike was our leader,” freshman Malalchi Richardson said.

On the Orange’s first possession of the second half, Gbinije coasted right to the rim for a layup. There was no hesitation heading to dangerous territory in the paint, the same area where he picked up the fouls that sent himself to the bench.

For him, there wasn’t a better alternative.

“I just felt like that would’ve gave us the best chance of winning,” Gbinije said. “I just wanted to try to use my size and try to get in the paint and open up things for others.”

 

Twice when Duke’s help came on Tyler Roberson ball screens, Gbinije couldn’t do what was designed. Boeheim said the go-to play was supposed to get Gbinije in the lane, but he had to improvise. Both times, the senior threaded a bounce pass to Roberson, who converted on each to push Syracuse further ahead.

Gbinije said he put his ego aside for what was admittedly a heavily anticipated visit to his former home stadium. A third straight win to further right the ship that is Syracuse’s season was more important. He had plenty reason to relieve his former roommate, Duke center Marshall Plumlee, of worrying about him in the lane.

But the Gbinije Syracuse has seen all season wasn’t about to change.

“He was able to hang in there and play that kind of game and play that hard the entire game,” Boeheim said. “… I mean I can’t tell you how good he was tonight.”

Published on January 19, 2016 at 12:04 am

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman