WKU Basketball: Assessing the Adversary — FIU Panthers

Everything is terrible. Well, it sure felt that way as the Tops found a way to lose yet another game where they carried a huge lead for long stretches of the game. Shhhhhhhssh, it’s still too sore. Let’s just get on with this three game home stand and make some Florida man jokes.

• Location: Miami, FL
• Student Population: Approx. 57,000 (Seriously?)
• Endowment: $196.2 Million
• Motto: Hope, Knowledge, Opportunity
• Mascot: Roary the Panther (I’ll give you that one. I like puns)
• Percentage of students who would rather be anywhere but on the actual campus-92%
• Famous Alumni: T.Y. Hilton

All of the sources I used to learn about FIU had one thing in common: The fact that was most emphasized was the sheer size of the FIU student body and campus. That’s it. The most notable thing about your school is that they let everyone in. What most of them don’t tell you is that only 8% of this massive throng of humanity actually live on campus or in campus maintained housing. That’s around 4,500 students. That’s how meh their campus is. (Though to be fair, if I was a school in Miami I wouldn’t try to compete with the city either.)

Speaking of the campus, I like to look at virtual tours or pictures to get a sense of what it looks like. FIU’s main campus looks like a conglomeration of cheap hotels from the 1980s with a couple of parking structures mixed in. At any moment I expect a guy with a Tom Selleck mustache, short shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, and cheap aviators to come and ask me where to find some yo-yo. Detective Tubbs called guys, he wants his white polyester blazer back. Again, this probably has something to do with the fact that the town is on a beach, so why would you spend money beautifying a campus when you can just point to Miami beach when asked what makes your school special.

The problem with this article was, like some other schools, there wasn’t a whole lot that stands out about FIU that is really interesting to poke fun at. It’s just a big school no one cares about because they are in Miami but aren’t the U. Might as well call them Florida Vanilla University. On that happy note, let’s move on to their Men’s basketball team.

• 2018–19 Record: 11–6
• Kenpom/NET Ranking: 212/222
• Projected Conference Finish: 10th

I feel like I get burned every time I say this, but FIU is not a great team. They have some decent players, but it’s difficult to evaluate their production because of some early season blowouts against division 2/NAIA teams. The heart and soul of this team is guard Brian Beard Jr. who poured in 28 points in their recent one point loss to ODU (I feel you fam). He leads the team in PPG at 20 and assists at just over 6 per game. He is a quick and effective scorer and distributor, getting his teammates involved often. Defensively he leads the NCAA in steals. He is complimented by guard Jacob Trejon who leads the team in three point shooting accuracy (38.9%) and forward Devon Andrews who is the second leading scorer on the team and gathers about 5 RPG. Another notable and often game changing player is center Osasumwen Osaghae (who I will now refer to as “O”, which is apparently what his teammates call him as well. I wonder why?). Though he’s not incredibly tall at just 6’7” he appears to be an absolute bulldog defensively. He leads the conference in blocks and is one of the main reasons for the fast break points FIU so heavily relies on.

What to Watch

A quick glance at just the team stats alone would be cause for concern. The Panthers have four players scoring in double figures and hang nearly 90 points on their opponents per game. This needs to be taken with a large grain of salt (think those big pink salt lamps all those suburban moms swear by) as they scored well over 100 points in several outings against non-division 1 opponents early on in the season (this also adds to their 11–6 record).

What I’m concerned about is their ability to create turnovers and block shots. Their point guard is leading the country in steals and we’ve seen that be an issue for the young Tops. Combine that with “O’s” ability to bat shots back down the court for easy layups and a rough night could ensue.

I firmly believe this game will come down to the Tops’ turnover margin. They must take care of the ball or they’ll watch another game slip through their fingers. Hopefully they’ve woken up and will play well in front of the warm and friendly confines of E.A. Diddle Arena, but we will see tonight.