FIU Looks To Bounce Back With Pivotal Game Against FAU

MIAMI, FL – Last season, the FIU Panthers traveled to Boca Raton to take on the Florida Atlantic Owls. That game ended in a 94-60 final.

The difference this season is going to be a new coach and team for the Owls. FIU will look to bounce back and snap a seven-game losing streak against Florida Atlantic.

Wednesday’s game will mark the only national television game for FIU. The game will be streamed on CBS Sports Network.

The Panthers will also be rocking their new ViceU uniforms. It’s the inaugural vice uniform for the men’s basketball program. The jersey was teased on Tuesday, November 26th, and was revealed on Wednesday, November 27th.

The last stretch of games for FIU has been encouraging, but just not coming out on top. In the FGCU MTE tournament, FIU went 1-2, dropping games to Northeastern and Florida Gulf Coast but defeating Cal State Bakersfield.

What stood out during the weekend was that every game was a one-score game. The loss to Northeastern was a 60-58 final in which Dashon Gittens missed the game-winning three-pointer.

Against Cal State Bakersfield, Gittens hit a three to send FIU to overtime and eventually made the game-winning layup.

Finally, Gittens missed the game-winning three-pointer against FGCU to lose by a final score of 60-59. FIU currently stands at 2-5 on the season.

Florida Atlantic enters the game as the 34th-best scoring offense in the country, averaging 86.6 points per game.

One aspect of the game to keep an eye out for with two fast-tempo offenses is fast break points. FIU is ranked 44th in the nation, averaging 15.86 points per game against the Owls, who are 48th in fast break 15.62 points per game.

These are two teams that will force plenty of turnovers. FIU is 38th amongst the country in turnovers forced while the Owls aren’t too far behind at 45th.

Leading the way for the Owls this season is Kaleb Glenn, averaging 13.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. Glenn, who stands at 6′,6″ 205 pounds is a sophomore transfer from Louisville.

The expectation is that FIU will open up the second deck ahead of this rivalry matchup which first began in the 2003-04 season in Boca Raton. The last time FIU opened up the second deck was for this same game in 2022.