FIU announces home-and-home series with USF in football for 2026, 2029
FIU football announced Monday that a two-game nonconference series against the University of South Florida has been finalized for 2026 and 2029.
The Panthers will play the Bulls on September 5, 2026, at Raymond James Stadium and host USF on September 22, 2029, at FIU Stadium.
The first time these two teams met was back in 2006 when the Bulls edged FIU in a 21-20 win in Tampa.
Their other matchup was in 2008 when the Bulls spoiled the Panthers’ debut of their new on-campus stadium with a 17-9 victory.
Other opponents added to the Panthers’ future schedule include North Texas, which FIU faces at home in 2023 and at Apogee Stadium in Denton, Texas, in 2029.
Tennis
No. 38 FIU women’s tennis routed No. 58 Rice 4-1 in Denton, Texas, to win its second Conference USA Championship in program history and earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
It will be the Panthers’ third consecutive NCAA appearance under coach Katarina Petrovic. The team (18-4) has won at least 15 matches five times since 2013.
The doubles teams of Salma Loudili and Katerina Mandelikovaa, Ekaterina Khairutdinova and Kamila Umarova and Yasmine Kabbaj and Oyinlomo Quadre earned doubles victories. The singles matches were just as dominant, setting up Quadre phenom to carry the team across the finish line.
“Quadre was late getting in. Being from Nigeria, she had to do extra paperwork from the NCAA standpoint,” Petrovic said.
“Therefore, she wasn’t here in August and was not allowed to compete at all. So she had not played a tennis match in six months and for her to step up in January, miss the first few days of practice and step on the court three days prior for the first match against Liberty was huge.”
Quadre finished the Owls off to fulfill FIU’s championship dreams, dispatching Diae El Jardi 6-3, 7-5.
The team stormed the court seconds after, celebrating the culmination of their work this season.
But once the cheers died down, the Panthers all echoed a similar sentiment: there was still work to be done.
“We have a few days off and then we are back to work because like the team said after we won the conference, ‘we’re not done yet.’ They’re not done,” said Petrovic.
The Panthers will be given their regional matchup for the NCAA Tournament on May 1. The tournament will take place at regional campuses from May 11-16 and at the UTSA National Campus from May 17-27.
Basketball
After receiving offers from Memphis, Maryland and Kansas State, JUCO star Okechukwu Okeke has signed with FIU, as announced by head coach Jeremy Ballard on April 17, 2023, via Twitter.
The 6-9, 230-pound forward spent his last season with the Tallahassee Community College Eagles, where he averaged 8.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game.
He served his team with energy, hustle and intelligence, leading the league in field-goal percentage (64.5 percent).
In only 19 minutes a game, Okeke managed to average 1.7 blocks and 0.5 steals per game. Something to note with Okeke’s defense is that he averaged fewer fouls (1.5) than blocks (1.7) last season, proving his patience and discipline. He also played in 37 out of 38 games last season.
He led the Eagles to the NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship tournament last season, where they reached the semifinals for only the third time in school history.
Okeke’s dominance put him 15th in JUCO Recruiting’s top 100, and his addition is a key as the Panthers look to drastically improve their defense from last season, which ranked ninth in Conference USA.
Baseball
After their previous matchup was canceled due to poor weather, FIU baseball defeated the FGCU Eagles 5-4 on April 19 at home.
FIU’s Ryne Guida opened the second inning with a single. Adrian Figueroa advanced Guida to second base. Cesar Franco doubled to score Guida. Craig Palidar singled to score Franco for a 2-0 lead.
FGCU responded in the third when Jalen Townsend singled and Edrick Felix hit a two-run home run to tie the score.
The Eagles and Panthers could not take advantage of scoring opportunities until extra innings.
With two outs in the 11th inning, FGCU’s Jacob Lojewski walked and Harrison Povey smashed a two-run home run, giving the Eagles a 4-2 lead.
In the bottom of the inning Alec Sanchez and Figueroa singled. Henry Wallen’s single scored Sanchez to cut the lead to 4-3.
Wallen’s hit was the last of FIU’s hits for the night, but the pitching errors from FGCU sealed the game.
After a wild pitch, the Panthers had players on second and third base.
In the next five at-bats, four Panthers walked.
This allowed Figueroa and Wallen to score and come away with the victory.
Brian Olmo is the Sports Director for PantherNOW. William Duval is the assistant director.
Follow Brian Olmo and William Duval on Twitter at @Brian_Olmo11 and @WillDuval40
