Scoop Jardine poked his head around the corner of the Syracuse locker room and yelled “beast mode.”

The former Syracuse guard was shouting at Michael Gbinije, the supposed third scoring option who had just dropped 27 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out four assists on Saturday, all against Duke, the team he transferred away from after his freshman year in 2012.

None of them were enough for Syracuse (16-9, 7-5 Atlantic Coast) to beat the No. 4 Blue Devils (22-3, 9-3) on Saturday in front of 35,446 in the Carrier Dome. While Gbinije shined, Rakeem Christmas, Trevor Cooney and the rest of the Orange outside of Tyler Roberson failed to produce. The 80-72 SU loss that followed spoiled a career-high night for Gbinije, and with it, a chance at a defining win in a lost season.

Gbinije rained in contested 3s, locked down both corners of the Syracuse zone and finished circus-like drives. When Duke clamped down by face guarding him with Quinn Cook in the second half, he freed up Roberson.

“Look we recruited Mike because we thought he was good,” Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski said, “so that doesn’t surprise me. I wish he stayed.”

In seven first-half seconds, Gbinije tore a Tyus Jones missed layup out of the air, dribbled to the top of the key, pulled up and drained a contested 3 to give SU an 11-point lead.

But Christmas was still losing his matchup with Jahlil Okafor. And SU’s best shooter, Cooney, was no such thing on Saturday night.

Yet on the back of Gbinije’s 19 points, the Orange went into halftime with a three-point lead. As Duke took control of the game, it was Gbinije keeping SU in it, giving hope to a Carrier Dome crowd whose attendance tied the on-campus basketball record.

With 4:35 left in the game and the Orange trailing, 66-60, Gbinije intercepted a Tyus Jones pass with two hands. The Carrier Dome crowd was already dialed up from a series of loose-ball scrambles and Duke fouls. It was all but begging to explode as Gbinije threw the ball down the left sideline to Cooney.

He pulled up, and airballed.

A minute and a half later, Christmas ducked inside of Okafor and the left block and hooked up a shot, only to have it die on the rim.

“Rak and I didn’t play our best today, and if we make a couple more shots then we’re right in the game,” Cooney said, “if not we’re winning the game.”

When Okafor dunked in his 22nd and 23rd points of the game with 1:58 remaining, only Gbinije was going to respond. He drove to the hoop for a lefty finish nine seconds later, keeping SU within six points, two possessions.

But the Orange couldn’t get any closer than that. Only one man in Syracuse’s home whites was falling on seemingly every rebound and finishing everything he took to the basket.

And in the game’s final minute, as each game-extending foul sent Duke to the line for made free throw after made free throw, the Dome’s taunts grew quieter, more desperate. Syracuse’s last, best chance for a seminal moment in a lost season faded with the fans’ cheers.

With Gbinije and only so much else, the Orange could only stay with the Blue Devils. Without him, SU was beaten.

“I don’t think you can ask any player to do anything more than what Mike’s doing,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. “He’s playing great, great basketball, playing as good as anybody, any player. I mean he’s doing everything.”

Gbinije missed his first open look of the half with 32 seconds left.

A final “Let’s Go Orange” chant went up from the SU cheerleaders three seconds later as Cook went to the free-throw line with a seven-point lead. They were the only ones cheering. Cook made both free throws and the stadium began to empty out.

Another career night from Gbinije was finished. It was a game Gbinije said SU had let slip.

Said Cooney, when asked what SU would’ve done without Gbinije: “We probably would’ve lost by 15.”

Published on February 14, 2015 at 8:37 pm

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