Virginia Tech

Michael Gbinije hit a spinning floater in the lane with less than a second left to give Syracuse a comeback 72-70 victory over Virginia Tech on Tuesday night.

Michael Gbinije’s basket with 0.1 seconds left lifted Syracuse to an improbable win.

Syracuse has had eight days to dwell on back-to-back losses to Miami and North Carolina. Under normal Orange circumstances, I’d pity the visiting Virginia Tech Hokies.

In the last 42 seconds, Michael Gbinije and Ron Patterson took a combined eight free throws, and hit only three of them.

Only a missed three-pointer at the buzzer preserved a 68-66 win for the Orange (9-4) over the Hokies (8-6) in the ACC opener for both squads.

Syracuse was up 19 at the half and seemed on its way to an easy win to open conference play. But Virginia Tech rallied and Syracuse hung on at the buzzer.

Tuesday night, #2 Syracuse relied on their defense for a long span in the second half, enabling them to pull away for a 72-52 road win against Virginia Tech. The offense for the Orange slowly kicked in during that time and they gradually unspooled 16 consecutive points that turned a tight contest into one clearly under their control.