HATTIESBURG, Mississippi (February 16, 2017) – With just six games left in the regular season coming into Thursday's game at Southern Miss, FIU knew how much was at stake as it battles to move up in the Conference USA standings, and for the final seed in the C-USA Men's Basketball Championship presented by MetroPCS, March 8-11 in Birmingham. The Panthers could ill afford to drop a game to one of the teams that was directly within striking distance in the standings.
Unfortunately for FIU, it could not hold onto a 14-point second half lead as the Golden Eagles stunned the Panthers in overtime, 69-66, at Reed Green Coliseum.