As FIU’s basketball teams play their first Sun Belt Conference home games of the season Saturday night at U.S. Century Bank Arena, to paraphrase the tune, it’s not quite a fully new day, but they’re feelin’ good.

And it has nothing to do with Saturday’s opponents being from Louisiana-Monroe, holders of a combined 5-27 record.

On the women’s side, “We have definitely gotten better as a team,” coach Cindy Russo said. “We’re shooting really well. We’re doing a really nice job defensively. I think we’re playing some really tough defense, committed to defense. We’ve elevated and had some players elevate in every area as well — in every area.”

One of those players, sophomore guard Jerica Coley, leads FIU in scoring, rebounding, assists and blocks, the Sun Belt in scoring and blocks, and her 24.2 points per game ranks third in the nation. Fifth-year senior guard Fanni Hutlassa leads the team in steals and has scored in double figures in 11 of the past 14 games. Fellow Hungarian Finda Mansare is third in the Sun Belt in blocks.

On the men’s side, after playing 11 of their first 14 games on the road, “I think we’re prepared well for conference play,” Panthers coach Isiah Thomas said. “We went to Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky, those are usually two [losses], and we walked away with a split.”

They won at Western Kentucky for the first time since the millennium — OK, it was only 1999 — without senior guard DeJuan Wright, their leading scorer and rebounder who has been out with a leg injury since the Dec. 14 loss at Maryland. Wright will still be out Saturday.

By the end of last month, the addition of highly regarded freshman center Joey De La Rosa and redshirt junior Brandon Moore inside helped make up for the loss of Wright, although the Panthers can’t replace his senior experience and leadership. Much more of that load has fallen on senior guard Jeremy Allen, who had a career-high 22 points in the upset at Western Kentucky last Saturday.

De La Rosa, at 6-10 and 260 pounds, has averaged only 6.5 points and 3.5 rebounds in his first two games, both of which he has started. But the presence of he and Moore (nine blocks in four games) allows for better matchups around the court. Before De La Rosa’s arrival, 7-0 freshman Gilles Dierickx handled the center position, with Dominique Ferguson at the power forward spot.

“Brandon’s 6-10,” Thomas said. “That frees up [6-9] Dominique Ferguson the last couple of games to play his more natural position, small forward. He’s not overmatched inside with centers. The presence of a real center puts everyone in their right position.”