PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh slid into a 2-3 zone with under 12 minutes left and the Syracuse offense stalled.

Passing lanes to Rakeem Christmas in the post, which the Orange had bounced the ball through all game, were now occupied by a half-dozen active hands. Kaleb Joseph found the cracks but had two shots carom off the back rim. The top of the zone pressed up to take any and all space away from Trevor Cooney.

But the defensive adjustment didn’t account for Michael Gbinije, who took a break from attacking the rim to hit a pair of 3s that forced Pitt back into a man-to-man. In all, Gbinije scored a game-high 23 points — shooting 9-of-15 from the field and 3-of-6 from 3 — and collected four steals in the Orange’s (15-8, 6-4 Atlantic Coast) 83-77 loss to Pittsburgh (16-8, 5-5) at the Petersen Events Center on Saturday.

Gbinije also played 38 minutes and finished with four rebounds and three assists in Syracuse’s first game after announcing a self-imposed postseason ban on Wednesday.

“They were really keying on Rak,” Gbinije said of what led to him exploiting the Panthers defense. “Using him in the pick and roll really freed up things for me and other players.”

Before shooting Pittsburgh out of its zone, Gbinije found success off the dribble in the first half.

He hit a fadeaway jumper just inside the 17-minute mark and then followed with a pair of acrobatic plays before the under-16 media timeout. On the first, Gbinije drove into the paint, cupped the ball on his right hip and finished the play by banking a floater square off the backcourt and into the net.

Then, after Cooney missed a wide-open layup on the break, Gbinije collected a rebound in traffic and drew a foul before laying in two. That gave Syracuse a 13-5 lead and initiated identical celebrations from Gbinije and Cooney, who both leaned back and clenched their fists in front of a portion of Pitt’s student section.

“He’s been playing really well,” said Joseph. “He’s confident and shooting the ball at a really high level.”

At the end of the game, after the Pittsburgh zone came and went and the Orange gradually lost its grip on the game, the ball rightfully found itself in Gbinije’s hands.

Gbinije went coast-to-coast and glided in for a layup to cut the Panthers lead to 80-77 with 52 seconds left, but he wasn’t as successful on SU’s next possession. His 3-point attempt from the top of the key hit the back rim and bounced way into the air, and Pittsburgh’s win was all but sealed when Jamel Artis came down with the rebound.

And as the Panthers student section roared around him, Gbinije sighed, placed his hands on top of his head and slowly walked down the court before the clock eventually ran out.

Said SU head coach Jim Boeheim: “I thought that Mike had an unbelievable game.”

Published on February 7, 2015 at 9:19 pm

Contact Jesse: jcdoug01@syr.edu | @dougherty_jesse