Jose Garcia/Contributing Writer
The Panthers basketball team faced off against the Rice University Owls in a match up that left the fans craving for more.
The game ended 68 to 47 with a dominant offensive effort by the Owls. The Panthers took few positive notes from a game that saw them struggle on both ends of the court. Deane Diane of FIU was the teams leading scorer with 10 points, but the best performance of the evening came on behalf of Rice University’s Jasmine Smith with 12 points and 6 assists.
FIU was greatly outmatched in the paint scoring only 16 points in the paint compared to a staggering 40 by the Owls.
A constant roster rotation did not prove enough to get new ideas on the court, but a young team needs minutes and that is exactly what head coach Tiara Malcom did.
The defensive effort started off well by holding the opponents to only a five-point lead going into the second half, but soon into the 3rd quarter they trailed by 20 points.
The game seemed already lost by the beginning of the 4th quarter, and a couple of three-point attempts were only matched by a dominant paint performance on behalf of the Owls.
It should be noted that Rice University in the 2018-2019 season were the conference champions with a remarkable undefeated season, in no way did they appear to be an easy match up leading up to the game, but the Panthers did everything possible to move the ball and create shots.
Looking forward the team is now 4-11 in the season; Thursday they travel away to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and they will hope to perform better against them who are currently 9-7 in the season.
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