Kasey Mintz/ Contributing Writer
FIU Men’s basketball started the new year playing its first Conference USA game against the Old Dominion Monarchs in a weekend doubleheader. The Panthers won the first game 82-67 but lost the second 71-66.
Conference USA games start the most important part of the Panthers’ schedule as they determine the team’s ranking for the conference’s postseason tournament. Last season the Panthers placed fifth out of all 12 teams.
Friday’s win marked the second time FIU has beaten the Monarchs since they started playing in 2014. The Panthers now hold a 7-3 record this season.
FIU’s guard Antonio Daye Jr shined in game one scoring 16 points and five assists. Last season, Daye Jr was Conference USA’s assists leader. This season, he appears to have picked up right where he left off, earning 62 assists. He is also the fifth-best scorer in Conference USA, averaging 17.9 points a game.
Game two of the doubleheader ended in a loss to the Panthers, but FIU’s forward Radshad Davis performance was brilliant, reaching his second double-double of the season with 18 points and 10 rebounds. A double-double is when a player hits double-digits in two statistical categories in a single game.
Davis and Panthers forward Dimon Carrigan lead the Panthers in rebounds with four and seven, respectively. Both are top 15 rebounders in ConferenceUSA.
This season the Panthers have the second-best scoring offense in Conference USA, but also have the second-worst scoring defense. If the offense is under-performing, as it was in the second game against The Monarchs, the defense needs to pick up the slack. If the defense improves, the sky’s the limit for this Panthers squad.
The Panthers look to bounce back when they travel to Murfreesboro, Tennessee next Friday to play another weekend doubleheader against the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders.
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