FIU’s swim team got to U.S Century Bank Arena on time for Saturday’s FIU men’s basketball game to show support to its athletic brethren. The University of Denver’s men’s basketball team got there on time.

FIU’s men’s team? Late for everything but the second half.

And that’s only because, halfway through the 77-63 loss that dropped FIU to 7-17 and 4-8 in the Sun Belt, it doesn’t take long to say the words FIU coach Isiah Thomas used to describe the Panthers’ first-half effort.

Comedian George Carlin could run off the seven words you can’t say on TV in about seven seconds. FIU wasn’t in the locker room much longer than that. The Panthers took the court with 10 minutes left in the halftime break, beneath scoreboards that told of their 38-14 deficit.

“I changed the lineup and had a few choice words for them, not applicable in a press conference such as this,” Thomas said.

After throwing in a career high 29 points, 27 in the second half, senior guard Jeremy Allen said, “You can’t teach effort, energy and concentration.”

That sounds like something Thomas might have said in that brief halftime speech.

Allen also reached a milestone with his 1,000th career point.

After the game, Thomas criticized the starters for what he called a lack of energy, benched sophomore point guard Phil Taylor and forward Dominique Ferguson for the second half (they played a combined 15 minutes) and said Taylor’s starting job could be in jeopardy.

“I thought Deric [Hill] did a great job of coming in, picking up the pace,” Thomas said. “He moves the team.”

FIU opened the second half with Hill, guard Cameron Bell, guard Manny Nunez, Allen and senior guard DeJuan Wright. Only Wright and Allen are starters.

“I think Jeremy and DeJuan, the two things you can always depend on with both guys, they may not play well or shoot well, but you can never walk into the room and say they didn’t play hard,” Thomas said.

Allen’s three free throws, after the second time he drew a foul while shooting a three-pointer, got FIU all the way back to 58-55 with 5:27 left. But a flurry of missed layups, blown breaks soon allowed Denver to pull away again to 63-55 lead with 2:57 remaining.

“You’re so far down, you have to make every play right,” Thomas said.

In the first half, Denver whipped the ball around with a mountain morning’s crisp beauty. Several possessions included less than five dribbles before it got off a shot, often from behind the arc. Chase Hallam, 3 of 3 from three-point range in the first half, led Denver to 8-of-15 shooting from the three-point line and 13 of 26 overall in the first half.

“They were cutting hard, moving the ball, kept us moving, sharing the ball, setting good screens,” Allen said.

Bell, who played 32 minutes and put in 12 points, said, “They were using a lot of the shot clock, which makes it difficult on defense. Playing so long on defense, then going back on offense, it breaks you down.”