The FIU Panthers men's basketball team represents

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest university in Florid ...

University Park, Florida University Park is a former census-designated place (CDP) in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It was merged into Westchester CDP for the 2020 U.S. Census. In 2010, the population was 26,995. It encompassed the Modesto A. Maidique Camp ...

. The school's team currently competes in Conference USA. They are led by head coach Jeremy Ballard and play their home games at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center. UCLA basketball 08

Richard Pitino era

On April 15, 2012, Richard Pitino left his position as the associate head coach at the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one o ...

to become the head coach at FIU. With only six players remaining from the previous season, and not all of them on scholarship, Pitino cobbled together a team and coached a high-pressure defense that finished eighth in the nation in steals. He was able to compile an 18-14 record (11-9 in the Sun Belt conference) in his only season as head coach. His FIU team set a record for the best conference record in school history. Additionally, FIU reached the Sun Belt tournament championship game as a four seed, before falling to

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

, 65-63. On April 3, 2013, Richard Pitino was hired to become the next head coach at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

, replacing

Tubby Smith Orlando Henry "Tubby" Smith (born June 30, 1951) is an American college basketball coach. He was the men's basketball coach at High Point University, his alma mater. Smith previously served in the same role at the University of Tulsa, the Univer ...

Anthony Evans era

On April 15, 2013, Anthony Evans left his position as head coach at

Norfolk State University Norfolk State University (NSU) is a public historically black university in Norfolk, Virginia. It is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and Virginia High-Tech Partnership. History The institution was founded on September 18, 1935 ...

to become the head coach at FIU. On April 2, 2018, FIU fired Evans after 5 seasons, in which the Panthers finished 65-94 with no postseason tournament appearances.

Jeremy Ballard era

On April 20, 2018, VCU associate head coach Jeremy Ballard was hired by the Panthers for the head coaching job.

NCAA Tournament appearances

FIU men's basketball team had its lone NCAA Tournament appearance in the 1995 tournament under then Head Coach

Bob Weltlich Bob Weltlich (born November 5, 1944) is an American former college basketball coach and author. Weltlich coached 22 seasons with a career record of 300–335. He was head coach at the University of South Alabama, Florida International University ...

, who had already announced his resignation following the season. FIU won the TAAC Basketball Tournament and in doing so earned an automatic bid for the NCAA tournament. FIU was seeded #16 and played the #1 seeded

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...

in the first round of the West Regional, which was played at the

Taco Bell Arena ExtraMile Arena (formerly BSU Pavilion and Taco Bell Arena) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the western United States, on the campus of Boise State University in Boise, Idaho. It is located on the east end of campus, between West Campus La ...

Boise Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown area' ...

. The Panthers lost the game to the Bruins by the score of 92–56, being the first tournament win in UCLA's successful run to the National Championship that year. Weltlich notably said during the post-game interview, "If anyone knows of any openings out there, my number is...".

Media appearances

The "Sunblazers" men’s basketball team was also featured in a second-season episode of

Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs, two M ...

entitled "The Fix".

Postseason

NCAA tournament results

The Panthers have appeared in one NCAA tournament. Their record is 0–1.

CIT Results

The Panthers have appeared in the

CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament The CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) was an American men's college basketball postseason tournament founded by Collegeinsider.com. The tournament was oriented toward schools that did not get selected for the NCAA Division I men's ...

(CIT) one time. Their record is 1-1.

Year-by-year results

Records

Team Honors

'' NCAA tournament Appearances (1):''

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

'' Trans America Athletic Conference tournament champions (1):'' 1995
''Trans America Athletic Conference regular season champions (1):'' 1992–93

FIU basketball alumni in professional leagues

FIU Panthers alumni to have gone on to the NBA and international professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

. *

Oren Aharoni Oren Aharoni (אורן אהרוני; born November 12, 1973) is an Israeli basketball coach and former basketball player. He played the guard position. Aharoni played in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, and on the Israeli national basketbal ...

(born 1973), Israeli basketball coach and former basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League

References

External links

* {{Conference USA men's basketball navbox