![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/James-Madison.png\")
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Next Game:<\/p>\n
James Madison<\/p>\n
11\/24\/2025 | 7:00 PM<\/p>\n
\n ESPN+
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\n Nov. 24 (Mon) \/ 7:00 PM
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<\/p>\n
\n \u00a0James Madison
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History <\/a><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n MIAMI\u2013 Jeremy Ballard<\/a> recorded his 100th career win as FIU head coach in a 104-80 FIU men’s basketball (2-2) victory over Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n “It feels incredible. I just told our team how much of a blessing it is to do this for a living. I get to work with a staff I love and coach kids I love every day,” he said. “Sometimes they might lose sight of that, but I don’t. I wake up encouraged, excited, and motivated to come in and work with these guys. It’s an amazing feeling. I’m extremely fortunate, and I can’t express enough gratitude to the administration for allowing me to be here all these years and to achieve these wins.”<\/p>\n While the Panthers struggled early with turnovers, even being tied as late as 4:29 remaining in the first half, the team rallied and pulled away on the strength of a few Corey Stephenson<\/a> dunks. Brit Harris’<\/a> lay-in stretched it to a 12-point lead with 1:29 remaining in the first half, which the Panthers ended up leading 54-40 headed in.<\/p>\n Harris and Ashton Williamson<\/a>, who had slow starts to the season ahead of the game, were big parts of why the Panthers pulled away over a seven-minute stretch where the Eagles didn’t make a field goal. Williamson had six points in the span of two minutes early, and the rout was on.\u00a0<\/p>\n The largest lead of the night was 31, which came with just over five minutes remaining on a Julian Mackey<\/a> free throw. Mackey, who had 15 points, went a perfect 12-12 from the line, becoming the first Panther since Donte McGill on 12\/11\/16 at FGCU to do so. He also added nine assists in the win.<\/p>\n Six different Panthers pushed their scoring totals to double figures (first time that has occurred since 2023), including Williamson (career-high 19), who paced the floor by going 7-9 from the field, 4-5 from three and dishing six assists in the game.<\/p>\n “I always say to bring the energy, whether you’re playing well or playing badly,” Williamson said. “Always bring energy, lift your teammates up, and be a great teammate.”<\/p>\n Also joining the scoring barrage was Harris, who chipped in a season-best 16 points after being held scoreless in the last two games.<\/p>\n “Obviously, I got off to a slow start, but my teammates and coaches trust us to make shots,” Harris said.\u00a0“We’re in the gym 24\/7,\u00a0sometimes two hours before we even need to be there. That’s really all it is,\u00a0just putting in the work.”<\/p>\n Stephenson had another double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Ibrahim Olajuwon<\/a> (career-high 14 and seven rebounds) had a strong game in his first career start. Hamed Olayinka<\/a> continued his good start to the season with 13 points and eight boards.<\/p>\n UP NEXT SOCIAL MEDIA General athletic news can also be found at @FIUSports on Facebook and @FIUAthletics on Twitter and Instagram.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Next Game: James Madison 11\/24\/2025 | 7:00 PM
ESPN+
Nov. 24 (Mon)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-52245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe Panthers commence their Thanksgiving MTE with a bout against James Madison, their first matchup since 2017.<\/p>\n
\nFans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Instagram (@FIUHoops), Twitter (@FIUHoops), and Facebook (Facebook.com\/FIUMensBball) for all the latest Men’s Basketball news.<\/p>\n