Gbinije provides offense, can’t swing momentum in key moments in loss
Sam Maller | Staff Photographer
Michael Gbinije slams home a fastbreak dunk in Madison Square Garden. The forward had a few chances to put No. 23 Syracuse back in the game on Thursday night, but he couldn't convert in what turned out to be a 73-59 loss to unranked California.
NEW YORK — Playing in essentially a home game for Syracuse on Thursday night, Michael Gbinije was often in position to be the one to enliven the Madison Square Garden crowd.
He capitalized on a few of them, but not enough in the No. 23 Orange’s (2-1) 73-59 defeat at the hands of California (3-0) in the semifinals of the 2K Classic. The junior forward tied to lead SU with 13 points and did so on 5-of-10 shooting, but missed out on a few golden opportunities to forcefully swing momentum in Syracuse’s favor.
“I think Mike has got to keep being aggressive,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “He’s got to be more of a scorer for us. I thought he made some plays tonight, but he’s going to have to make some more plays.”
Eight minutes into the game, Gbinije came up with a steal on the defensive end, but his bounce pass ahead was well behind guard Ron Patterson and picked off by California’s Sam Singer. Less than two minutes later, Gbinije threw down a transition dunk that gave the Orange a 12-11 lead — the last advantage SU would have all night.
Later in the half, Gbinije connected on an and-one and drew a charge, but then made a high-flying assault on the rim, but the rim spat his dunk attempt out of bounds toward the Golden Bears bench as SU fans sighed in disappointment.
Before halftime, Gbinije also missed a step-back 3 that sent guard Trevor Cooney’s uplifted arms back down and could’ve brought SU within five points of California’s lead.
Instead, the Golden Bears took a 12-point edge into halftime.
But as the Orange fought back with a little more than five minutes into the second frame, Gbinije capped off a 7-0 run for SU with a pull-up 3 in transition that caused Madison Square Garden’s loudest eruption of the game.
From then on, though, Gbinije misfired on a pair of 3s and a jumper, and when he converted a layup with nine seconds left on the clock, it was too late.
“You can’t get non-performances out of a couple guys,” Boeheim said. “That’s not going to work.”
Published on November 21, 2014 at 3:13 am
Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb
