The Florida International Panthers and the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles meet Sunday in college basketball action from Alico Arena. Florida International enters this matchup at 4-3 overall. The Panthers lost to Eastern Michigan in their last game. As for Florida Gulf Coast, they’re 6-2 following a win over Georgia Southern on Wednesday. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Florida International went 2-2 to kick off the year with wins over Houston Baptist and Florida National before losses to NC State and Bryant. FIU would beat Stony Brook and Eastern Washington in their next two games.
The Panthers took another loss on Wednesday to Eastern Michigan. FIU had a 35-27 advantage at halftime but got outscored 53-33 from there in an 80-68 result. Both Dashon Gittens and Arturo Dean posted 14 points to lead the team.
Over on the Florida Gulf Coast side, they opened the year at 2-2 as well, beating USC and Ave Maria with losses to San Diego and Tennessee otherwise. FGCU would then hit wins over Northern Kentucky, Drexel and UMKC in the next trio.
On Wednesday versus Georgia Southern, Florida Gulf Coast scored 28 points in the first half and 42 in the second during a 70-53 victory. Leading scorer Isaiah Thompson put up 17 points, and Caleb Catto added 13 points.
PICK: I’ll probably stay with Florida Gulf Coast. The Eagles are on a nice run since their blowout loss to Tennessee on November 16. FGCU has hit 70 or more points in three of the four games and held opponents to 61 or fewer points in all four as well. The Eagles shouldn’t have too much trouble putting up points in this one.
As for FIU, they had a rough second half against Eastern Michigan in their last game, shooting just 1-of-15 (6.7 percent) from 3-point range and 11-of-24 (45.8 percent) from the line. The Panthers’ stats should look better here but I don’t think they’ll cover.