FIU’s undersized point guard overcomes big odds to earn starting job in Division I

When the starting lineups were announced this past Tuesday night at Mississippi State, there was 5-8 FIU Panthers point guard Tevin Brewer — shorter by seven inches than any Bulldogs starter.

But it isn’t only his height that makes Brewer noteworthy.

A native of Fort Smith, Arkansas, Brewer averaged 20 points in high school and yet received no scholarship offers to four-year colleges.

“I got down on myself because I wasn’t getting the recruitment I wanted,” Brewer said. “But I stuck to it and went to junior college.”

Two of them in fact.

Brewer started out at Eastern Oklahoma State, where he averaged 27 points and 5.9 assists. He scored in double figures in all 27 games and had at least 20 points 20 times.

Yet, he still had no offers from four-year schools.

“I couldn’t understand what I was doing wrong,” Brewer said. “Nobody was calling me — not even NAIA schools.”

Brewer decided to head to Kansas, where he enrolled at Coffeyville, a junior-college power. Brewer helped Coffeyville post a 31-4 record last season, reaching the national semifinals.

As part of a more talented roster, Brewer’s scoring average shrunk to 11.8, but his three-point percentage improved from 37.4 at East Oklahoma to 41.1 last season. His free-throw shooting also rose, from 80.5% to 92.2%.

Thanks to those numbers and the added exposure that came with playing at Coffeyville, Brewer finally got his first four-year offer last December, from Eastern Kentucky.

One month later, FIU — which was looking to improve its perimeter shooting — contacted Brewer, who visited campus in May and signed that month.

“I put in all that work,” said Brewer, who often trained five hours per day in the summer. “It was a blessing.”

Jeremy Ballard, FIU’s second-year coach, feels the same way about finding Brewer, who is averaging 7 points, 6 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 3.5 steals in his two games with the Panthers.

Brewer is also shooting 44.4% (4 for 9) on three-pointers.

“Tevin earned [the starting job] in large part because he is a winner, and that’s all he cares about,” Ballard said. “Throughout the summer and the fall, the teams he was on tended to win.

“All our practices are competition-based. There’s a winner and a loser to every drill, and Tevin usually comes out on top.”

Brewer and the Panthers didn’t prevail in the season opener at Mississippi State, but FIU trailed by only two points with eight minutes left before falling 77-69.

“Playing with those guys gave us a confidence boost,” Brewer said. “The environment there was loud and high-energy.”

Brewer describes himself as a “playmaker who gets my teammates involved and can knock down open shots.”

The Panthers will need that type of play Wednesday when they visit North Carolina State.

FIU splits its point-guard duties between Brewer and 6-1 sophomore Antonio Daye, a fellow starter who is averaging 7.5 points and 6 assists.

The primary backup is 6-1 sophomore Cameron Corcoran, who is averaging 9.5 points and 3 assists, shooting 5 for 9 on three-pointers.

That’s solid point-guard production, but Ballard is looking for fewer mistakes. FIU turned the ball over 18 times against Mississippi State and 15 in its 101-59 win against Ave Maria on Friday. Of those 33 turnovers, 11 were by their point-guard trio.

Otherwise, Ballard was pleased with his team’s attitude, especially against the Bulldogs, who made the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

“Our guys were hungry,” Ballard said. “You could look in the eyes of our players and know that we didn’t come to Mississippi State to come close. We came to win.”

This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 12:18 PM.