MIAMI (Dec. 17, 2014) – The FIU men's basketball team (6-4) continues its eight-game road slate with a trip to the Northeast to take on LIU Brooklyn. The contest will be played at the Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets.

EVANS AND OTHERS MAKING RETURN TO THE BIG APPLE: A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Head Coach Anthony Evans will be making his return to New York City on Thursday night when FIU takes on LIU Brooklyn. In addition, three players on the FIU roster come from the New York City area. Juniors Tashawn Desir and Michael Phillip each hail from Brooklyn, while sophomore Jason Boswell comes from the Bronx. Also, FIU's Director of Basketball Operations Jarret Lockhart is a Bronx native as well.

LAST TIME OUT: FIU knocked off Florida Gulf Coast (8-2) by a score of 69-63 on Sunday afternoon at Alico Arena. The win was the second-consecutive for the Panthers over the Eagles as FIU now improves to 4-3 all-time against FGCU, while handing Florida Gulf Coast its first home loss of the season. Senior Dennis Mavin led the way for the Panthers, scoring a career-high 27 points while gathering nine rebounds and tallying three assists. Mavin was 10-for-17 from the field, as his 10 buckets also marked a career-best for him. FIU had three players score in double-figures, as senior Marco Porcher Jimenez (14) and junior Daviyon Draper (10) rounded out the double-digit scorers. Porcher Jimenez' 14 points were a season-high for him. Draper added eight rebounds to go along with his 10 tallies in 18 minutes of action.

vs. THE NEC: FIU has played a total of 16 games versus teams from the Northeast Conference (NEC), hoisting a 10-6 record against those opponents. In addition to its 1-0 record against LIU Brooklyn, FIU has earned wins over Central Connecticut State, Fairleigh Dickinson, Robert Morris, Saint Francis (N.Y.) and Saint Francis (Pa.). FIU has also faced Wagner, where the Seahawks won the only contest between the two schools. The Panthers have posted undefeated records against three of those schools including Central Connecticut State, LIU Brooklyn and Saint Francis (N.Y.).

SCOUTING LIU BROOKLYN: The Blackbirds enter Thursday's contest at Barclays Center with a 2-6 overall record and winners of their last two games after starting the season 0-6. The two recent victories came at Maine on Dec. 9, where they averaged 64.1 points-per-game, while allowing 69.2 tallies-per-game. On offense, the Blackbirds have proven to be home against NJIT on Dec. 14. The previous six losses came against St. John's, Saint Joseph's, Stony Brook, Temple, New Hampshire and Lehigh. As a team, LIU Brooklyn is very careful with the basketball, as its 99 turnovers rank 60th fewest in the country, while their 12.4 turnovers-per-game rank in the top 100. LIU Brooklyn spreads out its scoring, as seven players on the team average six-or-more-points-per-contest. Leading the way for the Blackbirds is Elvar Fridriksson, who has a team-high 10.4 points to go along with 4.8 assists, which ranks 75th in the country and second in the Northeast Conference.

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