GAME 25: FIU vs. NORTH TEXAS
Saturday, February 11, 2017 | 7 p.m.
Lime Court at FIU Arena | Miami, Fla.

FIU PANTHERS
Record: 5-19, 1-10 C-USA
Last Game: L, 89-78 vs. Rice, February 9, 2017
Head Coach: Anthony Evans
Alma Mater: St. Thomas Aquinas, 1994 
Career Record: 148-165/10th season
Record at FIU: 49-71/Fourth season
Top Players: Donte McGill (19.2 ppg, 44.7% FG), Michael Kessens (13.3 ppg, 9.3 rpg)       

NORTH TEXAS MEAN GREEN
Record: 7-16, 1-10 C-USA
Last Game: W, 70-64 at Florida Atlantic, February 9, 2017
Head Coach: Tony Benford
Alma Mater: Texas Tech, 1992
Career Record: 61-89/Fifth season
Record at school: Same
Top Players: A.J. Lawson (11.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg), J-Mychal Reese (10.3 ppg, 3.3 apg)

GAMEDAY INFORMATION
TV/Video: PantherVision (CUSA-TV)
Josh Appel (Play-by-Play)
Pete Pelegrin (Play-by-Play)
Radio/Audio: None
Live Stats: FIUSports.com
Series: North Texas leads, 15-4
Twitter: @FIUHoops
Tickets: For ticket information, contact the FIU athletic ticket office at 305-FIU-GAME (348-4263). Single game tickets start at just $10.

QUICK HITS
- The FIU men's basketball team welcomes North Texas to Lime Court at FIU Arena to close out its short two-game homestand on Feb. 11 ... Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. ... Fans who can't make it out to the game can keep up with all the action on PantherVision (CUSA-TV) with Josh Appel calling the action and Pete Pelegrin providing color commentary ... Following Saturday's game, the Panthers will hit the road to butt heads with Southern Miss on Feb. 16 (8 p.m. ET) and Louisiana Tech on Feb. 18 (7 p.m. ET).

- FIU is coming off an 89-78 loss to Rice on Thursday ... Eric Nottage led the way for the Panthers with 18 points - 14 coming in the second half - while Donte McGill added 16 points in the loss ... Elmo Stephen and Michael Kessens  chipped in with 13 and 10 points, respectively ...Kessens and Stephen each grabbed a team-high six rebounds.

- McGill leads the team in scoring through 24 games, averaging 19.2 points-per-contest ... Kessens is averaging 13.3 points-per-game, good enough for second on the team, and a team-high 9.3 rebounds-per-outing ... His rebounding average is tops in Conference USA ... Eric Nottage is netting 11.6 points-per-game.

- Anthony Evans is in his fourth season as head coach of the Panthers, and his 10th season overall ... FIU's game against Georgia Southern on Dec. 15 was Evans' 300th of his head coaching career.

UP NEXT FOR FIU
- Following Saturday's game with North Texas, FIU will head back out on the road for two-straight at Southern Miss on Feb. 16 (8 p.m. ET) and Louisiana Tech on Feb. 18 (7 p.m. ET).

- The Panthers will return to Lime Court at FIU Arena for its final homestand of the season, beginning on Feb. 23 when UTSA comes to Miami (7 p.m.) and then FIU closes out its 2016-17 home slate during Senior Night on Feb. 25 against UTEP (7 p.m.).

SCOUTING NORTH TEXAS
- North Texas comes into Saturday's game on the heels of its first Conference USA win of the season, a 70-64 victory over Florida Atlantic on Thursday in Boca Raton ... The win snaps the Mean Green's 11-game losing streak ... J-Mychal Reese scored a game-high 21 points, while Shane Temara and A.J. Lawson chipped in with 18 and 10 points, respectively ... Ryan Woolridge grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.

- A.J. Lawson is one of three players averaging double digits for North Texas, netting 11.0 points-per-game, while J-Mychal Reese and Jeremy Combs are dropping in 10.3 and 10.2 points-per-contest, respectively ... Combs is also grabbing a team-leading 6.4 rebounds-per-outing.

THE SERIES AGAINST THE MEAN GREEN
- FIU and North Texas have met 19 times previously, prior to Saturday's game, with the Mean Green holding a 15-4 lead in the series, and a 3-0 mark as members of Conference USA ... North Texas holds a 12-4 record on FIU as Sun Belt members ... The Panthers have dropped their last four games against North Texas, and seven of their last eight.

- The Panthers and Mean Green have played three overtime games in the series, all coming in the first four meetings ... North Texas is 2-1 in overtime games against FIU.

LAST TIME OUT AGAINST NORTH TEXAS
- In their last meeting with the Mean Green, the Panthers dropped a 77-75 loss at North Texas on Feb. 18, a game where FIU led by 12 points with just over six minutes remaining ... The setback was the Panthers' sixth in their last seven games and their third-straight loss on the road.

- Adrian Diaz led four FIU players in double figures with 23 points, to go along with eight rebounds and four blocked shots ...  Donte McGill added 21 points and Daviyon Draper logged his sixth double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds ... Elmo Stephen rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points.

- FIU shot 51.8 percent (29-of-56) from the field, including 47.4 percent (9-of-19) from behind the three-point arc ... It was the second-straight game, and the third game in the last four outings, that the Panthers have shot better than 50 percent from the field.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE PANTHERS
- FIU is coming off an 89-78 loss to Rice on Thursday ... Eric Nottage led the way for the Panthers with 18 points - 14 coming in the second half - while Donte McGill added 16 points in the loss ... Elmo Stephen and Michael Kessens chipped in with 13 and 10 points, respectively ... Kessens and Stephen each grabbed a team-high six rebounds.

- On the night, the Panthers shot 40 percent (30-of-75) from the field and just 15.8 percent (3-of-19) from behind the three-point arc in the loss. FIU, ultimately, could not overcome Rice's 51.7 percent (31-of-60) shooting from the floor.

- Rice held a slight advantage on the glass, outrebounding the Panthers 39-37, however FIU grabbed 14 offensive rebounds to the Owls' seven, leading to 15 second chance points. The Blue and Gold also controlled the paint in the loss, outscoring Rice in the lane, 50-44.