Louisville was taking just seconds to turn Syracuse misses into fast-break layups, and Michael Gbinije finally had enough.

Six minutes after SU head coach Jim Boeheim gave Gbinije an earful in a timeout with 13:11 left, Cardinals guard Terry Rozier ran a streak route down the middle of the court and was all alone heading toward the rim.

But Gbinije sprinted from half court, leapt into the air and punched Rozier’s layup attempt off the backboard, leaving Rozier hanging on the rim without the ball.

“On the previous fastbreak, Rozier laid it up on me and I didn’t foul him or anything,” Gbinije said. “Coach pretty much said, ‘We don’t give up open layups, foul him to try and block it.’

“So the next one I went up and tried to block it.”

Syracuse’s (17-9, 8-5 Atlantic Coast) 69-59 win over No. 12 Louisville (20-6, 8-5) was a game of adjustments for the Orange, and Gbinije was at the center of every one of them. The junior forward helped mitigate the Cardinals’ fast break, shot around the visitors’ match-up zone in the first half, facilitated the ball to Rakeem Christmas for the entire second half and then hit 5-of-6 free throws to help seal the game down the stretch.

On a night when Christmas dominated but Trevor Cooney scored just three points, Gbinije scored 18 points, collected six assists and grabbed five rebounds while playing all 40 minutes. He’s averaged 20.5 points in SU’s last six games, and another measured performance was key in the Orange’s first win over a ranked team this season.

“(Gbinije) played really well,” SU forward Tyler Roberson said. “He was making his shots, he was attacking, he played good defense. He played a good game overall.”

After stuffing Rozier, Gbinije euro-stepped his way into the lane and hit a floater that triggered a Louisville timeout. The shot gave Syracuse a 22-21 lead with 7:31 left in the first half, and an SU assistant coach sprung off the bench to embrace Gbinije for his play on both ends.

Gbinije managed to score 10 first-half points — thanks in part to two 3s— on Louisville’s match-up 2-3 zone, but the quick-sliding defense eliminated his driving lanes. The Orange tried using ball screens to create paths to the rim, but Louisville was quick to switch and keep Gbinije on the perimeter.

So in the second half, Gbinije tucked away his driving instincts and continually fed Christmas from the wings. Christmas tallied 18 second-half points as Gbinije took just three shots, one of which was a made 3.

“The hot hand was definitely Rak,” Gbinije said of his approach to the second half. “I just wanted to get him as many touches I could.”

When Gbinije was able to get into the Cardinals’ zone, he passed up an open floater for an even better look. With his eyes on the rim and Louisville’s foul-troubled big men shying away from the play, Gbinije lofted a pass to Roberson who finished the alley-oop with a ferocious two-handed dunk that gave SU an eight-point lead with 4:32 to play.

Gbinije streaked down the sideline, a smile on his face and his right hand pointing to the Dome ceiling. And after five made free throws brought the game to a finish, his smile grew a little wider as he bounced to the Syracuse bench.

He asked for more noise by pumping both of his arms into the air. He ran into a sea of high-fives. He did a half spin in place to watch 26,160 fans rise to their feet in appreciation.

It’s at the point of Syracuse’s season where few things can be expected. Boeheim called Cooney’s 1-for-10 performance the worst of his college career, a number of players cycle in and out at the point guard and power forward spots every game and even Christmas had two down performances before breaking out for 29 points on Wednesday.

Yet Gbinije’s been a model of consistency. His play’s gotten better as the competition’s stiffened. He had 16 points in a loss to No. 13 North Carolina, 23 in a loss to Pittsburgh and 27 in a loss to No. 4 Duke On Saturday.

He’s been effective, efficient and most importantly empty-handed against the conference’s best teams.

But not this time around.

“Mike’s playing great right now,” Boeheim said. “I don’t think you can ask anyone to play better than this kid is playing.”

Published on February 18, 2015 at 11:30 pm

Contact Jesse: jcdoug01@syr.edu | @dougherty_jesse