FIU Struggles to Connect Shots in 82-71 Loss to Louisiana Tech

Miami, FL – The FIU Panthers were riding off the heels of an 85-82 overtime thriller against Sam Houston. It was a remarkable comeback victory, which saw Jayden Brewer score all of the Panthers 11 points in the final period. Unfortunately against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, FIU found themselves in moments of struggle to connect on simple shots while getting beat in the paint.

Field goal shooting woes

Quite simply, the lack of shots going in the basket was the ultimate difference-maker in this game. LA Tech finished the game shooting for 61% while FIU shot for only 42%.

Going into halftime, LA Tech led 45-30 and the game seemed like a guaranteed victory for them. Amaree Abram, AJ Bates, and Daniel Batcho were all unstoppable on the court. They finished the game with 20, 19, and 17 points respectively.

FIU was the better team in the 2nd half, outscoring their opponent 41-37. They were able to make some noise in the half by cutting the lead down to seven a few times. At one point, they were on an 8-0 run. However, the Bulldogs proved to be much more resilient in the paint battle.

For the Panthers, Brewer (15 points), Ashton Williamson (13 points), Jonathan Aybar (12 points), and Dashon Gittens (12 points) were able to reach double figures in scoring.

JON knocks it IN 😤 pic.twitter.com/p3u0Glumgh

— FIU Men's Basketball (@FIUHoops) February 8, 2025

Defensive takeaways

It’s interesting to point out that FIU had less turnovers. They had eight compared to LA Tech’s 14. FIU did capitalize on those points off turnovers by scoring 17 of them compared to just four from the Bulldogs.

The Panthers did a great job of controlling the number of fouls they gave up as they held their opponent to just one trip to the free-throw line in the 1st half, and seven overall.

The one thing they could’ve done better was guarding the amount of drive-ins to the basket. There were too many layups being given up at the start of the game. In retrospect, that explains how they jumped off to a big lead pretty quickly.

Conference USA road schedule

FIU will now head to Mountain Standard Time as they play two Conference USA opponents. They are set to face UTEP on Thursday, February 13th and New Mexico State on Saturday, February 15th. Both games will tip off at 9:00 PM.