Game Details
Florida Atlantic 89, FIU 72
FIU (13-8, 4-4 C-USA), Florida Atlantic (12-9, 3-5 C-USA)
Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019 | 7 p.m.
Miami, Florida | Ocean Bank Convocation Center
 
The Basics
- The FIU men's basketball team took the floor on Saturday night, at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center, in front of the largest crowd to ever see a Panthers' home basketball game, 4,710, but the blue and gold were unable to send their faithful home happy as Florida Atlantic handed FIU an 89-72 loss. The Panthers drop to 13-8 on the year and 4-4 in Conference USA, while the Owls improve to 12-9 and 3-5 in league play.
 
- Devon Andrews (Lorain, Ohio) paced the way for the Panthers with 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field, including 3-for-4 from three-point range, and 4-of-5 from the free-throw line. He also had seven rebounds. Brian Beard, Jr. (Rancho Cucamonga, California) added 16 points and Isaiah Banks (Conyers, Georgia) chipped in with 10 points in the loss. Osasumwen Osaghae (Miami, Florida) grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds, and had three blocks, to go along with nine points.
 
- With FIU leading by five, 42-37, with 1:47 left in the first half, the Owls closed the stanza on a 6-0 run which included a buzzer-beating three by Anthony Adger to give FAU its first lead, 43-42, since leading 2-0 to start the game. The Owls continued the run to start the second half, extending it to a 24-3 stretch, to give FAU a 16-point edge, 61-45, with 13:16 left in the game. The Panthers tried to put together a come-from-behind win for the 11^th time this season, cutting the lead to five points on an Andrews four-point play with 7:42 left. Unfortunately for FIU, that would be as close as the Panthers got the rest of the way.
 
- Despite forcing FAU into 22 turnovers on the night, which led to 23 points, the Panthers could not overcome the Owls' blistering shooting from the field and the free-throw line. FAU shot 53.8 percent (28-for-52) from the field, including a 65.2 percent (15-for-23) clip in the second half, and 83.9 percent (26-for-31) from the charity stripe. FIU could only muster 33.3 percent (23-for-69) from the field, including 30.0 percent (9-for-30) from behind the arc.  
 
Quotable
FIU Men's Basketball Head Coach Jeremy Ballard Opening statement ...
"Credit to FAU, and their staff, after playing them two games in a row. That team has a lot of character, a lot of resolve. (FAU Head Coach) Coach (Dusty) May has done an excellent job coaching them and rebuilding that program. They got some really good wins this year and they never stop fighting; a credit to them. They will be very good going forward. I am very proud to be a part of this family that we have. Very proud of this team, very proud of the things that we have done so far this year, but certainly not proud of our effort tonight. We played some really good ball in the first half but I give credit to FAU. They didn't quit, they kept battling. They came back and we really never responded except for a little minute stretch there, and that is a shame. I apologize to everyone that was here today because we are better than that. Along those lines I would like to thank all the students that came out. All the alumni that came out. The effort by the marketing, ticketing people, and all of the student-athletes that were here. We certainly appreciate you out here and wish we could've played much better."
 
Jeremy Ballard on what led to FAU opening the game up in the second half ...
"We could never string together enough stops. We got down on ourselves (and) we got dejected. We got caught on things that are beyond our control and effected our play out there and it affected our ability to impact the game on the defensive end. Things were really just clicking there in the first half and it sparked our offense, as it has done all year long. Once we quit getting stops and got down on ourselves for one thing or another, there was a snowball effect. We have had a number of comeback wins this year and as I said we can't keep digging holes for ourselves. It is tough to come back, especially against good teams." 
 
Notable
- Tonight's starters for FIU were: G Trejon Jacob (Raleigh, North Carolina); G Brian Beard, Jr. (Rancho Cucamonga, California); F Devon Andrews (Lorain, Ohio); F, Antonio Daye, Jr. (Durham, North Carolina); and C Osasumwen Osaghae (Miami, Florida) … FIU is 3-4 with this lineup on the year.

- Tonight's attendance of 4,710 is the largest crowd to ever see a home FIU men's basketball game.

- FIU's 17-point loss tonight against Florida Atlantic is its worst at home since dropping a 78-61 decision to South Carolina on Nov. 27, 2017.

- Brian Beard, Jr.'s 16 points marks his 46^th career double figure scoring game.

- Beard, Jr.'s two steals against the Owls gives him 156 for his career … He is currently in sole possession of fourth all-time on FIU's career steals list surpassing Patrick McDonald (147, 1982-86) against Old Dominion on Jan. 12 … Next up is Dwight Stewart in third place (172, 1988-91).

- In addition, Beard, Jr.'s two assists gives him 311 for his FIU career – in just 52 career games … He sits second on the Panthers' all-time assist list behind Carlos Arroyo (459, 1997-01).  

- Devon Andrews' 21 points marks his 16^th career double-figure scoring performance with the Panthers, and his fifth of 20 points-or-more

- Through tonight's game with Florida Atlantic, Osasumwen Osaghae has 84 career blocked shots, good enough for sole possession of fourth all-time in school history … With his three rejections against the Owls, Osaghae moves past Tymell Murphy (83, 2012-14) for fourth on the school's blocked shots list.    

- Osaghae's 13 rebounds was his seventh double-figure rebounding performance of his career – all this season – and his fourth in the last five games … He was two boards shy of equaling his career-high of 15.

 - Isaiah Banks' 10 points is his ninth double-figure scoring performance of his FIU career, and his first since Dec. 20, 2018, against Florida Memorial (20).  

Up Next
The Panthers continue their three-game homestand against Southern Miss on Jan. 31, before closing out the stretch against Louisiana Tech on Feb. 2. All three games start at 7 p.m.

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