Below is the game story.
Memo to Sergio Rouco - it's YOUR JOB to make sure the team doesn't come out like "cool dudes". I will repeat what I posted some time ago, this guy needs SERIOUS media consulting.
www.miamiherald.com/sports/colleges/fiu/story/386698.htmlLOUISIANA-MONROE 68, FIU 66
FIU loses on last-second shot
FIU coach Sergio Rouco said his team came out too confident Saturday night and paid for it with a loss at the buzzer.
Posted on Sun, Jan. 20, 2008
BY PETE PELEGRIN
ppelegrin@MiamiHerald.com
With a losing record and having dropped 8 of its past 10 games, Florida International has nothing to be thingyy or ''cool'' about.
The Golden Panthers thought they could be overconfident against Louisiana-Monroe -- the only winless team in the Sun Belt Conference -- on Saturday night at FIU's Pharmed Arena.
That was until FIU stepped on the floor.
Hindered by horrid shooting and sloppy defense, the Golden Panthers handed the Warhawks their first conference victory of the season when Jonas Brown hit a last-second layup on a defensive breakdown for the 68-66 win.
''You can't start the game with four turnovers in a row,'' FIU coach Sergio Rouco said. ``They weren't even pressing us.
We came out with a mentality looking at their conference record. We aren't the cool dudes. We got to jump on people like everybody is the best team in the league.
Why we take anybody lightly I wouldn't understand. It's a tough loss for us. It's one that we should have had.''
The Golden Panthers (5-12, 2-5) were behind 52-38 with 11:39 remaining before finally waking up behind forward Alex Galindo, who scored a career-high 34 points -- 29 in the second half.
FIU went on a 17-4 run to close the deficit to within one point at 56-55 with 5:36 left before tying it at 66 with 18 seconds left.
After the Warhawks (7-12, 1-6) called a timeout with 11 seconds left, FIU went to a man-to-man defense, but Brown slipped through the lane and scored the decisive basket on a layup with one second left.
''It was a miscommunication on defense,'' said Galindo, who was one of three Golden Panthers in the paint on the final basket. ``It cost us the game. We just have to keep getting better on defense.''
FIU inbounded the ball, but guard Erick Nsangou was called for traveling and the Warhawks walked out with their first conference win.
''We weren't mentally prepared,'' said FIU center Russell Hicks. ``We just kept messing up, messing up. We didn't get enough stops right away to give them a deficit. We didn't get any runs. We just struggled.''
FIU was 16 of 27 from the free throw line and outside of Galindo, Hicks (15 points) and Nsangou (11 points) the rest of the team shot 2 of 15 from the field.
''I don't know what's up,'' Galindo said of the team's offensive woes. ``We practice hard every day. They were tired of losing and they wanted to beat us. They started well and we started flat. We came back, but we came up short.''