FIU Women's Basketball: Game 18, Home vs. UTEP
Saturday, January 23, 2016 | 2 p.m. (ET)
Lime Court at FIU Arena | Miami, Florida | PantherVision Live Video
 
FIU Panthers
Record: 2-15, 0-6 Conference USA
Last Game: L, 63-52 vs. ETSU on Thursday, January 21, 2016
Head Coach: Marlin Chinn (Hampton, '92)
Career Record: 2-15 / first season
 
UTEP Miners (Receiving Votes)
Record: 15-1, 6-0 Conference USA
Last Game: W, 78-66 at Florida Atlantic on Thursday 21, 2016
Head Coach: Keitha Adams (Southwestern, 1989)
Career Record: 388-219 / 20th season
Marshall Record: 261-182 / 15th season
 
The Matchup: UTEP is receiving votes in the Top 25 poll and enters the weekend without a league loss. The Miners lead the league in scoring and turnover margin, as well as steals per game. They have won seven in a row. FIU remains in the top half of free throw and three-point shooting in the conference to this point of the season. Both of the Panthers' wins have come at home and FIU is looking for that elusive third win.
 
FIU Last Game: The Panthers knocked down .500 of their shots and led by three at the half over UTSA Thursday, but a .250 shooting clip in the second half undercut their efforts in a 63-52 loss. Freshman Kristian Hudson finished with eight points, seven assists and six rebounds in the contest.
 
UTEP Last Game: The Miners had four players score in double figures as the team shot over .560 from the second quarter on to beat Florida Atlantic 78-66 on Thursday night in Boca Raton. Four of the UTEP starters were above .500 from the field in the contest, despite a 3-for-15 night from the three-point arc. The Miners trailed 23-14 after the first period, but outscored FAU 64-43 the rest of the way.
 
FIU senior Taylor Shade (Boynton Beach, Florida / Community HS) is eighth in the league in scoring, averaging 15.1 points per game this season, while junior teammate Tianah Alvarado (St. Petersburg, Florida / Gulf Coast State College) is 14^th in the league, at 13.1 per contest and sits third at 2.5 steals per game. Freshman Kristian Hudson (Birmingham, Alabama) is tied for fourth in the conference with 4.4 assists per game and is third in Conference USA in minutes played, at 35.9 minutes per contest.
 
Miner Jenzel Nash leads UTEP in scoring and is 10^th in the league, at 14.1 points per game. Teammate Starr Breedlove leads the league with three steals per game, with Nash and Breedlove also in the Top 10 in the league in steals per contest, both of them over two per game.
 
The game is streamed live at PantherVision, with that link, along with live stats and tickets all available at FIUSports.com.
 
For women's basketball ticket information, contact the FIU Ticket Office at 305-FIU-GAME or log onto www.FIUSports.com.
 
Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUWBB) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUWBasketball) for all the latest FIU women's basketball news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Google+ (FIU Athletics), Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).
 
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and at the FIU Football Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelor¹s, master¹s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU is Worlds Ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded 200,000 degrees and enrolls 50,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.