Kaleb Joseph sat while Syracuse chased its last chance to snag national attention on the basketball court.

The man whose position, starting point guard, typically means someone who brings the ball up on every possession was doing no such thing for much of Syracuse’s 59-47 loss to No. 2 Virginia on Monday. Jim Boeheim said Michael Gbinije started in Joseph’s place atop the 2-3 zone to give the Orange more size and stop UVA from penetrating.

SU got bigger with B.J. Johnson making his first start of conference play and Gbinije did keep the Cavaliers out of the paint for much of the game. But the Orange struggled to penetrate and a blunted Syracuse offense faded away.

It leaves SU (18-12, 9-8 Atlantic Coast) going into its last game of the season against North Carolina State (18-12, 9-8) — a matchup in Raleigh, North Carolina on Saturday at noon — without a true and ready point guard on the roster. The UVA game was a special circumstance but the lack of a natural answer to initiate the offense is a cold reality of Syracuse basketball as the season concludes — one that’s stretched SU to and beyond its limits throughout a particularly troubling campaign.

“Michael Gbinije has had to play three positions and that’s difficult in college basketball to play more than one,” Boeheim said.

Starting a freshman point guard is rarely not a problem. Former SU point guards Sherman Douglas, Jason Hart and Michael Carter-Williams all played sparingly and not terribly well as freshmen, Boeheim pointed out on Wednesday. All became all-league players.

Their freshman-year teams were all better than this SU team, though. This one just doesn’t shoot well, deepening the problem of starting a freshman point guard or playing a combo guard in the position.

Syracuse is the third-worst 3-point shooting team in the ACC. Gbinije’s running the offense has helped all season long. But without the junior forward’s 18-of-35 3-point shooting across six games from Jan. 26 through Feb. 18, the Orange would’ve been even worse.

If he had shot a more average 34 percent — 12-of-35 — in that span, then SU would be the second-worst 3-point shooting team in the league.

“(Joseph) has to get stronger and I think that’s really what it comes down to,” Boeheim said. “But there’s no question we struggled at that position, but we also struggled shooting the ball.”

The loss of Chris McCullough to an ACL tear just three games into the conference season only made Joseph’s job harder. There was one less big man to pass to in a pick-and-roll offense.

After Joseph’s three-minute showing against UVA, he said he was surprised at how quickly the season had gone by. He said it was a learning experience and that he was looking forward to N.C. State, the summer and next season, albeit without concrete expectations.

Wide-eyed and willing, he always says that.

Boeheim said Joseph will play more against N.C. State, as sitting him was just an adjustment for UVA.

“I treat this game like any other game we’ve played this season,” Rakeem Christmas said.

Syracuse has gone into every game this season with its only true point guard needing to get stronger, one who Boeheim thinks will start to make more shots and teammates who need to, too.

It’s the same way SU goes into next season.

“I think we’re going to go through some tremendous changes in this offseason and we’re going to have to see how it all comes together in September and what direction we’re going to go,” Boeheim said. “We don’t know, really, much right now.”

Published on March 5, 2015 at 12:35 am

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_