Sam Houston Bearkats (11-5, 4-1 CUSA) at Florida International Panthers (10-6, 3-2 CUSA)
Miami; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Florida International hosts Sam Houston after Rhema Collins scored 22 points in Florida International’s 67-59 win against the UTEP Miners.
The Panthers have gone 7-3 in home games. Florida International is eighth in the CUSA with 11.3 assists per game led by Grecia Ferrer Leal averaging 4.1.
The Bearkats have gone 4-1 against CUSA opponents. Sam Houston is 1-1 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.
Florida International makes 42.1% of its shots from the field this season, which is 2.8 percentage points higher than Sam Houston has allowed to its opponents (39.3%). Sam Houston averages 65.9 points per game, 2.7 fewer than the 68.6 Florida International gives up to opponents.
The matchup Thursday is the first meeting of the season between the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: Collins is scoring 19.9 points per game with 10.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists for the Panthers. Parris Atkins is averaging 16.9 points and 2.6 steals over the past 10 games.
Whitney Dunn is shooting 27.0% from beyond the arc with 1.1 made 3-pointers per game for the Bearkats, while averaging 10.3 points and 1.5 steals. Deborah Ogayemi is averaging 13.3 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.7 steals over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Panthers: 7-3, averaging 80.2 points, 34.7 rebounds, 12.6 assists, 13.3 steals and 2.2 blocks per game while shooting 44.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 65.4 points per game.
Bearkats: 6-4, averaging 64.6 points, 30.4 rebounds, 14.7 assists, 14.8 steals and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 39.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 59.4 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.