Game Details
Rice 73, FIU 64
FIU (9-12, 3-5 C-USA), Rice (5-16, 2-6 C-USA)
Houston, Texas | Tudor Fieldhouse
 
The Basics
- Trejon Jacob and (Raleigh, North Carolina) and Brian Beard, Jr. (Rancho Cucamonga, California) combined for 44 of FIU's 64 points, but that wasn't enough as the Panthers dropped a tough 73-64 loss to Rice at Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston, Texas, snapping the Owls' three-game losing streak. FIU drops to 9-12 on the year and 3-5 in Conference USA while Rice improves to 5-16 overall and 2-7 in league play. 
 
- The first 10 minutes of the game proved to be a game of runs. The Panthers scored the first six points of the game before the Owls retaliated with the next eight to take the lead. FIU then netted the next five points to regain the advantage, 11-8 on a Jacob trey at 11:45. Rice took the lead and held it for the remainder of the first half with 6:06 left, pushing it to as many as seven points, 27-20, with 3:26 left before the break. The Panthers shot just 35.5 percent (11-for-31) in the first stanza, including a dismal 2-for-11 from behind the three-point arc.
 
- Rice continued to hold the advantage early on in the second half until FIU used an 8-0 run to take a 45-44 lead on a baseline driving dunk by Michael Douglas (Sachse, Texas) with 13:36 left in the game. The Panthers got the lead to as many as four points in the final 20 minutes of play, but the Owls' 45.5 percent shooting from behind the three-point arc in the second half, including three timely three-point shots in the final seven-plus minutes, did FIU in.           
 
- On the night, the Panthers shot just 36.2 percent from the field, including 27.3 percent from three-point range. FIU, which has had troubles from the free-throw line this season, hit 72.7 percent (8-for-11) from the charity stripe, it's second-best percentage of the year, and its second-straight game hitting better than 70 percent from the line. Rice outrebounded FIU, 48-38.
 
Stat of the Game
FIU was outrebounded 48-38 on the night, incouding 13-10 on the offensive glass. Three of the 13 offensive rebounds that Rice grabbed came in the final 2:30 of the game with the Panthers trailing buy six.
 
Notable
- Tonight's starters for FIU were: G Trejon Jacob, G Brian Beard, Jr., G Eric Lockett (Warner Robins, Georgia), F Hassan Hussein (Lorton, Virginia), and C Elhadji Dieng (Mbour, Senegal) … The Panthers are 5-11 with this starting five.

- The setback for the Panthers marks their third-straight loss to Rice, and drops their all-time record to the Owls to 2-3.

- G Brian Beard, Jr.'s 22 points marks his 19^th double-figure scoring performance of the season, and the 19^th-straight.

- Beard, Jr.'s 22 points marks his fourth 20-plus-point game of his FIU career and his first since netting 20 points at UTSA on Jan. 11.

- G Trejon Jacob netted double-figures for the 17^th time this season with his 22 points. It was Jacob's fifth game of 20-or-more points.

- Beard, Jr. and Jacob's 20-point efforts marks the first time since Dec. 19 against Florida Gulf Coast that two Panthers scored better than 20 points when Jacob had 38 points and Beard, Jr. had 24. 

Up Next
Following Thursday's game, FIU will head north to Denton, Texas to take on the Mean Green of North Texas on Jan. 27, at 6 p.m. ET ... The Panthers return home on Feb. 1, to host Southern Miss, and on Feb. 3, to butt heads with Louisiana Tech ... Both games start at 7 p.m.
  
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