GAME NINE: FIU at NO. 20/23 SOUTH CAROLINA
Sunday, December 4, 2016 | 2 p.m.
Colonial Life Arena | Columbia, S.C. | SEC Network Plus (WatchESPN) | Click here to watch live
 
FIU PANTHERS
Record: 3-5, 0-0 C-USA
Last Game: L, 84-81 (ot) at Elon, November 30, 2016
Head Coach: Anthony Evans
Alma Mater: St. Thomas Aquinas, 1994 
Career Record: 146-151/10th season
Record at FIU: 47-57/Fourth season
Top Players: Donte McGill (19.1 ppg, 45.2% FG), Michael Kessens (14.9 ppg, 12.1 rpg)     
 
NO. 20/23 SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS
Record: 7-0, 0-0 SEC
Last Game: W, 68-50 vs. Vermont, December 1, 2016
Head Coach: Frank Martin
Alma Mater: FIU, 1993
Career Record: 194-117/10th season
Record at school: 77-63/Fifth season
Top Players: Sindari Thornwell (18.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg), P.J Dozier (11.1 ppg, 4.1 rpg)
 
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
TV/Video: SEC Network + (WatchESPN)
Burch Antley (PxP), Alex English (Color)
Radio/Audio: Gamecocksonline.com
Live Stats: Gamecocksonline.com
Series: South Carolina leads, 2-0
Twitter: @FIUHoops
Tickets: For ticket information, contact the South Carolina athletic ticket office at 800-4SC-FANS (800-472-3267)
 
- FIU closes out its two-game road trip on Dec. 4 when it travels to the Palmetto State to face No. 20/23 South Carolina ... Tipoff at Colonial Life Arena is slated for 2 p.m. ... The matchup between the Panthers and Gamecocks can be seen live on the SEC Network Plus and the WatchESPN app with Burch Antley calling the action and Alex English providing color commentary ... Sunday's game is the second of a two-game road trip for the Panthers - that began on Wednesday at Elon - and the second of a three-game road stretch that will end on Dec. 11 at Florida Gulf Coast (8:15 p.m.).
 
- The meeting with the Gamecocks will be the first  for FIU against an Associated Press Top 25 team since just shy of two years ago, on Dec. 5, 2014, when the Panthers dropped a 82-57 decision at No. 5 Louisville.
  
- The Panthers are coming off an overtime loss to Elon, 84-81, on Nov. 30 in Elon, North Carolina ... FIU trailed by as many as 19 points in the second half before staging a furious comeback and sending the game into the extra session ... Donte McGill poured in 27 points, including 23 in the second half, and Michael Kessens added 17 points and an FIU single-game record 23 rebounds ... Eric Nottage scored 16 points, which included the game-tying trey as time expired in regulation ... Mike Douglas added 11 points in the loss. 
 
- McGill leads the team in scoring through eight games this season, averaging 19.1 points-per-contest ... Kessens is averaging a double-double netting 14.9 points-per-game, good enough for second on the team, and a team-high 12.1 rebounds-per-outing ... Nottage rounds out the double-digit scorers netting 11.3 points-per-contest.
 
UP NEXT FOR FIU
- Following Sunday's game at South Carolina, the Panthers will return home for finals next week before closing out their current three-game road stretch at Florida Gulf Coast on Dec. 11 at 8:15 p.m.
 
- The Panthers will not return home until they begin a season-long five-game homestand, starting on Dec. 15 against Georgia Southern (7 p.m.) ... FIU will also face Northern Illinois on Dec. 17 (7 p.m.), North Florida on Dec. 21 (7 p.m.), and begin Conference USA play against Marshall on Dec. 31 (1 p.m.) and WKU on Jan. 2 (7 p.m.).
 
SCOUTING THE GAMECOCKS
- The Gamecocks come into Sunday's game with an impressive 7-0 record following a 68-50 win over Vermont on Dec. 1 in Columbia ... Prior to its meeting with the Catamounts, South Carolina enjoyed a 64-50 win over Syracuse in the Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Invitational on Nov. 26.
 
- Sindari Thornwell and P.J. Dozier lead the Gamecocks, averaging 18.7 and 11.7 points-per-game, respectively ... Thornwell also leads South Carolina on the glass (6.7 rpg).
 
- The game with South Carolina will be against, not just a familiar face in the South Florida area, but a friend of FIU when the Panthers take the court against Gamecocks' head coach and FIU alum – and Miami native – Frank Martin '93 ... The meeting with the Gamecocks is the first of a two-year, home-and-home series that will see South Carolina return to Lime Court at FIU Arena on Nov. 29, 2017, marking the first time that Martin will face his alma mater on the Panthers' home court ... Martin has faced FIU just once previously as a head coach, defeating the Panthers, 84-72, on Nov. 24, 2013 at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia.
 
THE SERIES AGAINST SOUTH CAROLINA
- The South Carolina game against FIU is the third meeting between the two schools with the Gamecocks holding a 2-0 series lead all-time, dating back to the inaugural meeting on Feb. 16, 1985 ... Both of the previous games have been played in Columbia.
 
LAST TIME OUT FOR THE PANTHERS
- FIU had its modest two-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday with an 84-81 overtime loss at Elon ... It was the Panthers' third overtime loss of the season with a total margin of defeat of 11 points ... FIU trailed by as many as 19 points in the second half before staging a furious comeback and sending the game into the extra session ... Scan the QR code with your mobile device to see the complete game recap and stats.
 
- Donte McGill poured in 27 points, including 23 in the second half, and Michael Kessens added 17 points and an FIU single-game record 23 rebounds ... Eric Nottage scored 16 points, which included the game-tying trey as time expired in regulation ... Mike Douglas added 11 points in the loss.
 
- Kessens' 23 boards against the Phoenix surpassed the 22 originally set by Carlton Phoenix against Northern Illinois on Feb. 23, 1987 ... It was also the fifth most recorded in Conference USA history.
 
- On the night, the Panthers shot 38.7 percent (29-of-75) from the field and an impressive 88.9 percent (16-of-18) from the charity stripe, their best performance from the line on the year, and their best since hitting 94.4 percent (17-of-18) from the line at WKU on Jan. 7, 2016.
 
- FIU grabbed 51 rebounds on the night, including 15 offensive rebounds leading to 19 second chance points.
 
FIU VS. THE TOP 25
- The Panthers have faced 23 Associated Press Top-25 teams in their existence with 18 of those games on the road (including one NCAA Tournament game) and the other four played at home in FIU Arena (or previously named U.S.
Century Bank Arena) ... FIU has never defeated an AP Top 25 team (0-23).
 
- FIU last faced an AP Top 25 team, just shy of two years ago, on Dec. 4, 2014, when the Panthers traveled to No. 5 Louisville where they dropped an 82-57 decision to the Cardinals ... UofL accounts for the last three meetings between FIU and a member of the Top 25.
 
DON'T I KNOW YOU
- Sunday's matchup between FIU and South Carolina have a number of off-court connections ... FIU Head Coach Frank Martin, a Miami native, is a 1993 graduate of FIU and began his head coaching career at North Miami High School (1993-95) and then at Miami Senior High School (1995-98) ... While at Miami Senior, Martin coached FIU's Assistant Director of Basketball Operations, Mike Oliva during the 1997-98 season, where Martin and Oliva's teams posted a 36-1 record and finished ranked No. 2 nationally and won the Florida High School Athletic Association 8A State Championship ... That team also included two NBA athletes, Udonis Haslem and Steve Blake, along with Antonio Latimer, a member of Puerto Rico's national basketball team.
 
- FIU Assistant Coach Eric Pastrana also got his coaching start under Martin while attending Kansas State where he was a graduate assistant from 2007-09 ... During his first season, the Wildcats went 21-12 and recorded a third-place finish in the Big 12 with a mark of 10-6 in league contests, marking the program's best finish since the inception of the league ... The squad advanced to the NCAA Tournament, earning its first NCAA Tournament victory since the 1988 campaign ... Following the season, K-State saw both Michael Beasley and Bill Walker move on to the NBA with Beasley being selected as the No. 2 overall pick after an All-American campaign in his one year at K-State ... The Wildcats then followed up that campaign with another 20 win season, earning an at-large bid to the NIT during the 2008-09 season.
 
- FIU graduate student Mike Kessens played the previous two seasons at Alabama and played three games against South Carolina, averaging 6.0 points-, 4.3 rebounds- and 1.0-rebound-per-game versus the Gamecocks.