EL PASO, Texas — FIU's men's basketball program matches up with the University of Texas at El Paso in Conference USA (CUSA) play on the road on Thursday evening at 9 p.m. ET.
The Panthers (10-19, 5-9 CUSA) enter this tilt freshly off a dramatic home win over Western Kentucky on Senior Night. FIU's final two regular season games will be pivotal in determining its seeding for the CUSA Championships, which await the Panthers March 12-16 in Huntsville, Ala.
Looking at the current CUSA standings, fourth and last place are separated by just two games. FIU would hold the tiebreaker over UTEP and NM State if the Panthers can win both games on the road trip.
In the previous meeting between FIU and UTEP, the Panthers defended their home court with a 72-68 win on Jan. 13. In that game, FIU trailed by 16 points in the second half before scoring 15 of the game's final 17 points to earn the win.
Javaunte Hawkins led FIU with 20 points in that contest and made four threes in 33 minutes. Hawkins continues to climb the season charts for most made threes as FIU as he now sits tied-sixth all time with 76 threes made.
Arturo Dean is expected to be back in the lineup for the Panthers and still sits atop the NCAA rankings in both steals (92) and steals per game (3.4) for 2023-24.
The Panthers are in search of their first road win in CUSA play and their second overall this season.
SCOUTING UTEP
The Miners (15-15, 6-9 CUSA) host FIU for their Senior Night after back-to-back road wins in CUSA play. UTEP swept both Jax State and Liberty on the road last weekend to secure its first and second road wins of the season.
UTEP is the national leader as a team in both turnovers forced and steals per game, an area in which FIU also excels. Individually, the Miners are led by Tae Hardy, who averages 14.8 ppg, fourth-most in CUSA.
Zid Powell makes up the one-two punch for the Miners, also averaging double-digits with 10.8 ppg.
UTEP currently sits in a logjam of four CUSA teams at 6-9 in CUSA play. FIU, just one game back of fifth, has an opportunity to climb the CUSA ladder with a big road win over the Miners.
