Kevin Castaneda/Staff Writer Imagine you are the biggest fan of FIU’s men’s basketball team. You not only go to every single home game, you travel to watch the Panthers on the road. Having watched basketball your whole life, you begin to nitpick some of the things the team does wrong – plays like Malik Smith […]
Tymell Murphy/Men’s Basketball junior forward “Coach Pitino just got the job at Florida International, Tymell, I’ll call him up and tell him about you.” Those were the words of my junior college coach Hank Plona. I said “Who, coach Rick Pitino from Louisville?” He said no, his son. I laughed it off. I went […]
Kevin Castaneda/ Staff Writer It is undeniable that the FIU men’s basketball team had a run for the ages. Their 11 conference wins this season were the most ever in school history. Their 18 wins were the most the program has ever recorded since joining the Sun Belt Conference 13 years ago. The team even […]
Kevin Castaneda/staff writer For the last 13 years, FIU stewed in the bottom of the Sun Belt Conference rankings. They were not supposed to get a first-round bye this year. They were not supposed to make it out of their first game in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, against Arkansas-Little Rock. They were not supposed […]
Kevin Castaneda/staff writer The FIU men’s basketball team defeated No.1 Middle Tennessee 61-57 in the Sun Belt Conference tournament semi-finalson March 10 to advance to the championship round for the first time in school history. The Panthers had every opportunity to collapse like they did on Jan. 31 against the Blue Raiders, giving up a […]
Patrick Chalvire/staff writer Kermit Davis, I’m really happy for you and I’m going to let you finish, but Richard Pitino had one of the best turnarounds of all time. I had to bring out my inner Kanye West once I found out Middle Tennessee State’s men’s basketball coach Kermit Davis won Sun Belt Conference Coach […]
Kevin Castaneda/Staff Writer The FIU men’s basketball team ended the season on a sour note. Though finishing with a 16-13 record, the best mark the program mustered in the last 13 years, the team lost its final game to the Florida Atlantic Owls, leaving them to linger in the air of defeat for a week. […]
Kevin Castaneda/staff writer On Oct. 24, the Sun Belt Conference Coaches’ Poll for men’s basketball was released. The coaches picked FIU to finish second to last in the SBC and dead last in the East Division. Head Coach Richard Pitino shrugged off the preseason prediction and went to work with his hard-nosed team. The first-year […]
Juan Gutierrez/contributing writer Despite his 6-foot-4-inch frame, it might be easy to overlook Marco Porcher-Jimenez in a large crowd. The guard is quiet and laid back. However on the court, his style of play is quite the contrary; it’s loud and clear. “Marco is a pretty quiet guy off the court, but on the court, […]
Ruben Palacios /Staff Writer FIU’s four-game winning streak, which was their second longest of the year, ended on Feb. 21 by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The Trojans fought fire with fire; they traveled to Miami on a seven-game winning streak. The Trojans proved to be too much to handle for FIU, beating them […]
Kevin Castaneda/staff writer The FIU’s men’s basketball team won their final home game of the season against the Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans on Feb. 21, guaranteeing a winning season for the team. The last time the Panthers accomplished such a feat was during the 1999-2000 season, when they went 16-14 under Head Coach Shakey Rodriguez. Head […]
Kevin Castaneda/Staff Writer The FIU men’s basketball team needs to take some road safety courses if they want to survive the highway of wins and losses. Road wins in the Sun Belt Conference have been elusive for the Panthers, as they are 2-6 in conference games away from the U.S. Century Bank Arena. It is […]
