RALEIGH, N.C. — Michael Gbinije will use spring break for more than resting up.

The Syracuse forward, who turns 23 in June and had a string of six consecutive 16-point games in the middle of Atlantic Coast Conference play, was asked Saturday if there’s any thought of trying to go professional.

“There’s a little thought, but I’m going to take this week off to just think about things,” Gbinije said. “I really do like Syracuse and so far that’s my lead. We’ll see where things go from there.”

Perhaps Rakeem Christmas wasn’t the only scholarship player to make his last SU appearance in Saturday’s season finale, which the Orange (18-13, 9-9 ACC) dropped, 71-57, to North Carolina State (19-12, 10-8) at PNC Arena. Though it appears very likely Gbinije will spend his last year of eligibility back with Syracuse next season, he didn’t rule out the possibility of leaving.

Either way, the Duke transfer heads into an offseason of uncertainty for himself. If he decides to stay, his role heading into next season is undefined. Freshman Kaleb Joseph’s status as the team’s starting point guard is up in the air, and the incoming recruiting class does not feature a true point guard.

Gbinije, who served as Syracuse’s point guard for the majority of crunch-time minutes this year, said he’s unsure of what role he envisions for himself in the future.

“I got to take some time to think about that as well,” Gbinije said. “I can’t give you an answer about that right now. I do like playing with the ball. If I’m going to be a point guard, I need to get better ball-handling skills and just continue to work at it.”

Christmas, a close friend of Gbinije’s, said the versatile forward hasn’t been talking about going pro.

“I’ll back him in whatever he does,” Christmas said. “Whatever he chooses, he chooses.”

Gbinije, who scored 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting in the loss to the Wolfpack, grew into a developed slasher as the year progressed and complemented it with 39.2-percent shooting from 3-point range — a category in which, at one time, he led the ACC.

His production trailed off in Syracuse’s last three games, inefficiently tallying just 12, eight and 10 points in Syracuse’s losses to Duke, Virginia and N.C. State, respectively.

But Gbinije’s age and performance in ACC play may just be enough to convince him to make a push for the professional ranks.

“In today’s day and age, you never know,” SU assistant coach Mike Hopkins said. “But Mike’s turned into a really good player. He’s improved a lot. To see that improvement, I look forward to him to come back next year and leading this team.”

Published on March 7, 2015 at 7:25 pm

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