The moment came with Syracuse leading 43-39. Syracuse was playing well and seemingly in control, but Middle Tennessee State was threating to hang around and engineeer another "March Madness" moment.
That's when Michael Gbinije had a senior moment, ripping off seven straight points and givng the Orange a firm grip on the steering wheel for the rest of the night. Gbinije finished with 23 points on a dead-eye 10-for-14 shooting night.
"The difference was when Mike got going, that was the difference," Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. "That was the only difference in the game. He made two tough turnarounds, nice touches.