Florida International visits Liberty after Hawkins' 20-point performance
Florida International Panthers (7-11, 2-1 CUSA) at Liberty Flames (11-7, 0-3 CUSA)
Lynchburg, Virginia; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Florida International faces the Liberty Flames after Javaunte Hawkins scored 20 points in Florida International's 72-68 victory over the UTEP Miners.
The Flames have gone 6-2 in home games. Liberty is fifth in the CUSA in rebounding with 36.5 rebounds. Joseph Venzant paces the Flames with 7.6 boards.
The Panthers are 2-1 against CUSA opponents. Florida International scores 76.7 points while outscoring opponents by 1.1 points per game.
Liberty is shooting 46.4% from the field this season, 0.7 percentage points lower than the 47.1% Florida International allows to opponents. Florida International averages 13.9 more points per game (76.7) than Liberty gives up (62.8).
The matchup Thursday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: Colin Porter is averaging 8.3 points and 3.9 assists for the Flames. Kyle Rode is averaging 13.2 points over the past 10 games for Liberty.
Hawkins is scoring 12.7 points per game and averaging 2.2 rebounds for the Panthers. Jaidon Lipscomb is averaging 2.4 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games for Florida International.
LAST 10 GAMES: Flames: 5-5, averaging 72.9 points, 36.6 rebounds, 17.9 assists, 6.7 steals and 2.4 blocks per game while shooting 44.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 60.7 points per game.
Panthers: 5-5, averaging 79.9 points, 34.6 rebounds, 16.0 assists, 10.9 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 46.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 73.1 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
