Michael Gbinije soared higher than he had all season. He’d seen an opening to the basket. Almost every time he’d been given that opening all night, he’d look for a last-second pass to set up a shot that was even better than the one awaiting him.

But this time, Gbinije took the seam and elevated toward the basket. The body of Jarquez Smith fouling him elevated him even more. It would have been the most thundering dunk of his Syracuse career, to add an exclamation point to a game where Syracuse couldn’t miss and where Gbinije had posted 20 points in the first 24 minutes.

But it bounced off back rim. Walk-on Ky Feldman hopped around in the second row of the Syracuse bench, while the rest of the reserves covered their smiling faces with their hands. The Syracuse crowd murmured, excited just by the potential of the unsuccessful moment. The Orange couldn’t be deflated by the one moment that could have been deflating.

“Everybody touched the rock today,” Gbinije said. “I think we had a good assist ratio tonight. We got it going inside and outside. That’s a good recipe for us.”

Syracuse (17-8, 7-5 Atlantic Coast) shot 62 percent from the field — it hadn’t shot better than 49.2 percent in any other game this season — and used great ball movement to pick apart Florida State (16-8, 6-6), 85-72. The Seminoles rank as one of the conference’s top defenses, and sat squarely on the bubble coming into Thursday’s matchup with the Orange. But SU continued its midseason renaissance, winning 7-of-8 and finishing a perfect 4-0 home stand.

Gbinije finished with a game-high 22. Malachi Richardson had 17. Tyler Lydon chipped in 15. They combined to shoot 18-of-25 from the field. The only downside of SU’s offense was its 20 turnovers. But Syracuse was so efficient on the offensive end that it actually made five more shots than the Seminoles despite taking 13 fewer attempts.

“We were trying to make the right plays,” Lydon said. “I was put in position to give some guys a little assist here and there. We’re just trying to make the right play at all times. Just play aggressive.”

Syracuse took a commanding 14-point lead in the first half. It scored six points in a matter of seconds when Gbinije hit a pull-up 3-pointer that banked in off the glass. Richardson then got out in transition and hit a finger roll as he ran into a defender positioned in the restricted area.

Coleman carried Syracuse coming out of halftime. His first two points came on a dunk. Then he scored on an offensive rebound on the next possession. When Syracuse got then ball back, it was Coleman that went off the dribble to extend his streak to six points. Not even two minutes had passed.

Gbnije took over from there. He hit two 3s coming off screens and then attempted a monster dunk driving down the lane that rimmed out as he drew a foul.

The lead never got within single digits.

“We got good penetration from Frank (Howard) and Malachi and Mike and they made really good dump-offs,” Boeheim said. “Dajuan (Coleman) gave us a big start to the second half … Mike making the two 3s separated us there.”

Before Boeheim closed out his postgame press conference, he made sure to remind all the reporters that “a lot of people gave up on this team a long time ago.” He talked about how people said Syracuse couldn’t win with seven players. Then he said how this team is proving that is a myth.

It’s not important to have 10 players, he said, just seven quality players. On Thursday, Syracuse showed the depth of quality that it has across the board.

Said Boeheim: “Tonight was a really, really good night.”

Published on February 11, 2016 at 9:08 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3