RUSTON – The Louisiana Tech men's basketball team will attempt to get a split out of the Florida road trip on Saturday night when they take on FIU in Miami at 6 p.m. CT inside the Ocean Bank Convocation Center.
 
The matchup will be streamed live on ESPN+ (subscription required) with A.J. Ricketts and Mike Gillian calling the action.  Fans can also listen to the Voice of the Bulldogs Dave Nitz call the game through the LA Tech Sports Network on KXKZ 107.5 FM (Ruston), KJVC 92.7 FM (Mansfield) and KRMD 100.7 FM/1340 AM (Shreveport) as well as on the Louisiana Tech X mobile app.
 
Unfortunately, LA Tech (15-8, 5-5 C-USA) struggled with the same issues when it comes to conference road games.  The Bulldogs played well enough defensively to win, holding the Owls to a season-low 20 made field goals and just five three-pointers.
 
However, the 'Dogs struggled to score the basketball themselves with 20 made FGs as well.  The one hot-hand was that of Amorie Archibald who tallied a game-high 18 points, including a career-tying five three-pointers. 
 
And execution down the stretch was not where it needed to be, being outscored 12-4 in the final three minutes after cutting the deficit down to one. 
 
The paint, both offensively and defensively, was won by FAU.  LA Tech was outrebounded 45-36 and outscored 24-16 in the paint.  The 16 paint points tied for a season low for the Bulldogs. 
 
Despite the team going to 0-5 in conference road games, they still have a chance to make the top pod in bonus play thanks to their 5-0 record in league home games and the balance within C-USA.  The Bulldogs are currently tied for seventh in the league stands, but the top seven teams are within two games of first.
 
LA Tech is going to have to win on the road to have a chance though, and to do that they will need to find better offensive output as they are averaging 57.8 points per game in the league road games. 
 
It will definitely take more points to knock off FIU (13-9, 4-5 C-USA) who ranks No. 1 in the county in adjusted tempo, making them the fastest playing team in the country.  The offensive numbers reflect that as the Panthers rank fifth in the nation in points per game, averaging 87.0.  
 
FIU suffered back-to-back losses for the first time this season in its last two games, falling at home to both FAU and Southern Miss by scores of 89-72 and 89-73, respectively.  The Panthers are still on pace to have their first winning season since 2012-13 under first-year head coach Jeremy Ballard.
 
They rank No. 1 in the entire country in four different categories – steals per game (11.1), total steals (234), turnover margin (6.7) and turnovers forced per game (21.1).
 
Senior guard Brian Beard is the engine that makes FIU go.  The third team All-Conference USA selection a year ago is averaging 18.1 points per game.  He is also averaging 6.4 assists and 3.1 steals per game.  His 67 steals are the most of any player in the nation.
 
LA Tech and FIU will meet for the 12th time with the Bulldogs holding a slim 6-5 advantage.  Only once has a team won back-to-back games in the series which became in 1999 when the two teams were league foes in the Sun Belt Conference.  FIU won, 71-68, last season with a buzzer-beating three.
 
Twitter users can follow @LATechHoops for live in-game updates.