Men’s basketball uses underdog label as motivation for new season

Dennis Mavin scored 11.8 points per game last season and steps into a bigger leadership role this season as a senior.

By Joel Delgado ’12, MS ’17

FIU men’s basketball senior guard Dennis Mavin doesn’t mind being labeled an underdog.

But by the end of the upcoming 2014-2015 season, which begins Nov. 14 against Florida College, Mavin is certain that the Panthers will shake off that label with their play on the court.

“We’re playing with a chip on our shoulders. We know that we’re going to be underdogs,” Mavin says. “But we’re going to be a competitive team that plays hard and works hard every night.”

Now in his second season at the helm of the program, Head Coach Anthony Evans faces the challenge of entering a new season without two of its top scorers – Tymell Murphy and Rakeem Buckles – from last season.

But Evans says the team has more depth than it did a year ago and is moving closer to becoming the kind of program that he envisions FIU eventually coming. The team has more versatility, athleticism and depth, a combination of attributes that Evans found success with elsewhere and believes will lead to more success at FIU.

The Panthers will also be eligible for the Conference USA tournament at the end of the season after the NCAA lifted the program’s one-year postseason ban after the conclusion of last season.

The prospect of competing beyond the final regular season game is a source of motivation for Evans and his players.

“Having postseason gives you a light at the end of the tunnel,” Evans says. “We didn’t have that last year, and competing in the conference tournament is important for the growth of this program.”

BLENDING THE OLD WITH THE NEW 

Mavin and fellow senior guard Macro Porcher-Jimenez provide experience and leadership for a team looking to do what few FIU men’s basketball teams have done since the program’s inception: put together a 20-win season.

Mavin is the team’s leading returning scorer from last season, starting every game for the Panthers last year and averaging 11.8 points per game. Porcher-Jimenez made a team-high 40 three-pointers last season and shot 35 percent from beyond the arc last season.

The Panthers will also be looking for some big contributions from its newest additions to the roster.

Redshirt junior forward Adrian Diaz and senior forward Kris Gulley, both transfers, will both be making their debuts for FIU this season, giving the team size in the paint. Diaz, a Miami native, transferred from Kansas State and was forced to sit out last season due to NCAA transfer rules while Gulley comes to FIU via Long Beach State.

“We’re not going to rely one person,” Evans says. “It’s going to take a collection of guys to equal that production we had last year.”

UP TO THE CHALLENGE

The Panthers’ schedule includes 12 home games at FIU Arena and a tough stretch of eight straight road games in December and January, including matchups with powerhouse Louisville on Dec. 5 and in-state rival Florida Gulf Coast on Dec. 14.

One of the main challenges for a team with a number of new players will be building chemistry, which may result in somewhat turbulent start to the season.

“Chemistry happens on the court,” Evans says. “The more they work and play together, the more comfortable they’ll be and it will come naturally.”

By the time conference play arrives in early January 2015, however, Evans believes his squad will be ready to prove the skeptics wrong.

“We use that underdog label as motivation,” Evans says. “It is what it is. It’s up to us to prove it wrong.”