TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Syracuse (19-12, 9-9 Atlantic Coast) capped off its tailspin to end the regular season in a 78-73 loss to Florida State (18-12, 8-10) on Saturday afternoon. The Orange trailed by 10 with 2:22 remaining and cut the deficit to two, but SU couldn’t put the finishing touches on what would’ve been its 10th conference win.

Here’s what we learned from Syracuse’s fourth loss in its last five games.

Michael Gbinije capped off a pretty remarkable regular season

With 21 points on Saturday, the fifth-year senior capped off a regular season in which he scored in double figures in each of Syracuse’s 31 games. After the game, he said it’s hard to get emotional about the feat after a loss, but appreciated the reporter who asked the question.

Gbinije picked up his third foul on a charge with less than a minute remaining in the first half, but started the second and scored 16 points in the latter 20 minutes. He finished 8-of-13 from the field and 2-of-5 from long range.

“I play guys with two fouls in the first half since I’ve been coaching,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “He played great.”

Gbinije fouled out with 22.8 seconds left by necessity after holding up Xavier Rathan-Mayes on a breakaway, and it was his last mark on a regular season in which he averaged 17.6 points, 4.5 assists and 4.1 rebounds in just under 38 minutes per game.

Florida State lived off the mid-range game

When Syracuse beat Florida State back on Feb. 11, the Seminoles took 63 shots, 26 of which were 3-pointers. That only resulted in 72 points and a loss that kickstarted a slide for the Seminoles.

On Saturday, FSU took fewer shots from the field and behind the arc but scored more points, mainly feeding off a mid-range attack to break down what FSU’s Malik Beasley called the “legendary” 2-3 zone.

Seminoles star Dwayne Bacon had 16 points, less only to Beasley’s 20, but none of Bacon’s came on long balls as he shot 5-of-13 from the field and hit several floaters and shots from the foul-line vicinity.

“The first time we played them we shot the ball too much, you know what I’m saying, but this time we got it to the high post, got it to Dwayne in the high post,” Beasley said, “and that’s what helped us this time.”

Syracuse played its best basketball of the season on Saturday, per Boeheim

Through five minutes of game action, a Dajuan Coleman free throw was the only point on the board. It took Florida State over five minutes to score and the two teams started a combined 0-for-13 from the field with eight turnovers.

But after Syracuse finished the first half with 35 points and 10 assists to show for them, its head coach lauded the response to what was a less than appealing opening stretch.

“I thought the first half we probably played as well as we played all year,” Boeheim said. “After a little slow start from both teams, we really moved the ball, got great shots.”

Published on March 5, 2016 at 8:58 pm

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