SAN ANTONIO — UTSA will look to remain undefeated at home and get back to .500 on the season when it hosts FIU at 3 p.m. on Saturday at the Convocation Center. The game will be televised by Spectrum Sports and available on channel 323 in Texas.
Jeff Beverly registered the first double-double of his career with season highs of 29 points and 10 rebounds on Thursday night as the Roadrunners (8-9, 3-1 C-USA) extended their home winning streak, which dates back to last season, to eight games. The victory also gave UTSA its best-ever start in Conference USA play and best league start since the 2011-12 team won three of its first four games in the Southland Conference.
Beverly's big game came on the heels of a 27-point outing in last Saturday's win at Louisiana Tech and the junior leads UTSA at 18 points and 7.5 rebounds per game during conference action. Reigning C-USA Freshman of the Week Giovanni De Nicolao added 12 points against the Owls to match his average during league play, while Gino Littles finished with 11 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer as the shot clock expired with 1:18 to play.
Meanwhile, the Panthers (4-13, 0-4 C-USA) will look to snap a four-game losing streak since the start of conference play and FIU has dropped eight of its last nine games overall. The Panthers are coming off an 88-87 double-overtime loss at UTEP on Thursday night, falling at the buzzer on a Dominic Artis basket. FIU was without leading scorer Donte McGill (18.8 ppg) in the contest and instead were led by Kimar Williams' 16 points against the Miners. Michael Kessens nearly averages a double-double on the campaign with 14.2 points and 9.8 rebounds per outing, while Eric Nottage checks in at 10 points per contest. The Panthers are shooting 45.1 percent from the floor and average 70.7 points and opponents shoot 46 percent and average 73.1 points.
FIU leads the all-time series 4-2 and the Panthers have won the last three meetings, beginning with a buzzer beater to down UTSA in the first round of the 2015 C-USA Tournament. FIU has won both previous meetings in San Antonio.
In addition to the television broadcast, Saturday's game can be heard live in the San Antonio area on Ticket 760 AM beginning with the pregame show at 2:30 p.m. Andy Everett (play-by-play) and Jim Goodman (analyst) will have the call.
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