MIAMI — FIU's men's basketball program welcomes the Maine Black Bears for its final contest before the calendar flips over to 2024 at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center on Thursday evening at 7 p.m.
This will be just the second-ever meeting between FIU (4-9) and Maine (8-5) and the first since Jan. 4, 1992, in which the Panthers were defeated 68-61 at home.
The Panthers are looking to rebound after a back-and-forth, tightly-contested defeat to Stetson 80-68 on Tuesday evening. Javaunte Hawkins led the way for FIU with 17 points on 4-of-9 shooting from deep. Dashon Gittens and Jaidon Lipscomb chipped in 13 and 11 points in support, respectively.
Arturo Dean maintains the top-spot as the national leader in steals (52) and steals per game (4.00) and is still on pace to break the FIU all-time record for steals in a season (90, Brian Beard, Jr., 2017-18). As a team, the Panthers sit third in both steals per game (12.1) and turnovers forced per game (18.9).
SCOUTING MAINE
The Black Bears enter this match-up following a 74-51 to UCF on Monday, Dec. 18. That defeat snapped a four-game winning streak for Maine.
As a team, Maine is the top-ranked scoring defense in the America East Conference, allowing just 64.0 points per game, of which ranks 34th-nationally. Maine also leads its league in steals per game, turnovers forced per game and turnover margin.
The Black Bears' balanced scoring attack is led by Kellen Tynes' 13.5 ppg. Peter Flipovity (13.2 ppg) and AJ Lopez (11.1 ppg) are also key contributors to the Maine offense.
In a match-up of like-minded teams that apply pressure on the defensive end, the side that can control the turnover-game will likely come away with the victory.
