Friday, March 7, 2014

Observations from Charlotte 49ers' win at Marshall

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Observations from the 49ers' 74-70 victory at Marshall on Thursday:

-- If nothing else, the 49ers will be feeling better about themselves as they head to El Paso for next week's Conference USA tournament than they might have a week ago. Since then, Charlotte has ended a six-game losing streak by winning its final two regular-season games.

That's not to say that the effects of the losing streak -- or its causes -- are gone. The 49ers had 16 turnovers against Marshall, missed some free throws down the stretch that might have cost them the game and allowed the Thundering Herd 17 offensive rebounds (which Marshall converted into 23 points).

This against a Marshall team that finished 14th in the league.

But Charlotte also showed that if point guard Pierria Henry (26 points, 7 rebounds, four assists, two steals, one block) and big men Mike Thorne (18 points, 10 rebounds) and Willie Clayton (15, 10) are fully involved and on their games, the 49ers can compete with anybody in the league.

-- The ninth-seed 49ers (16-13, 7-9)  will play No. 8 UAB (18-12, 7-9) in the Conference USA tournament at 10:30 p.m. next Wednesday. The Blazers beat Charlotte 64-62 in Halton Arena in February. The winner gets top-seed Louisiana Tech on Thursday, also at 10:30 p.m.

-- The 49ers won just two road conference games, their opener at UTEP and Thursday at Marshall. Charlotte went 0-6 between those two games on the road.

-- Charlotte's Ben Cherry was named to the league's all-academic team Thursday.

-- The 49ers women's team plays a weather-makeup game Friday at UAB. Charlotte (14-14, 8-7) will be the sixth seed in the league tournament (also next week at UTEP) with a victory against the Blazers, or eighth with a loss.

20 comments:

Chris said...

Marshall I'm pretty sure was 300 or so entering the week I think, I live in WV. Went to the game, both teams have athletes, just so sloppy. Glad we won. My Wife went to Marshall, so I saw both games. Its Hard to swallow in 2 games and 80'minutes of ball we tied them. Oh well hope maybe a 4 game run in store but doubt that with our ball coach. Go UNCC!

Anonymous said...

ALAN MAJORS DOING IT BIG! FINESHING THA SEASON STRONG!!

HATERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

we barely beat the 14th team in the conference. time to find a coach who can make charlotte relevant again.

Anonymous said...

I am finally numb to us losing which is a shame considering the old days. No way Major gets canned when Lutz is still on the payroll, they can't afford it.

Anonymous said...

^^^^^
Lutz is off the payroll in a month or two.
Still, Major isn't going anywhere.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations 9ers! Finish strong and make a run in El Paso! #proud #family #GoNiners!

All American Loser said...

UNC has a family concept. Fraternity of coaches. But they can them if they suck. doh, guth, ford. Ncsu cut bait on Lowe.

Jerry Richardson canned his own 2 kids.

Major makes $485,000 and is 23-42 all time conf record.

#accountability #business #produce #familyIsGoodForHolidays

Anonymous said...

Lutz might be going back to App State, rumor has it he has been in talks with their AD.

Anonymous said...

^^
Lutz is still on contract and owed $500,000 for the 2014-2015 season! Even though he hasnt coached here in four years and is making $250,000 as an assistant for NC State! A collosal blunder from Judy and the big reason Lutz wanted/tried to get fired since he moved to the A10.

Anonymous said...

Not true. Lutz will be paid $948,000 (4 years at $237,000 not to coach our team) and his contract with uncc will be final on June 30. Carry on.

Anonymous said...

PS- it was more than a colossal blunder. It was a complete screw up of epic proportions. I would bet that we would have been to 2 NCAA tourneys if he was still around during Major's lousy regime. Phew would have dominated cuss 2.0. Thus league is horrible.

Anonymous said...

Someone at the Observer should put the Lutz/Major contract situation in black and white. Lutz quit coaching here about 8 years ago.

Anonymous said...

What is funny about all this is Lutz will become App State's coach while still being paid by UNCC this upcoming year. Soon they will even be better than our team, and they aren't even a basketball school.......damn now I know why UHHH HUH is going back to Tarheel Blue.

Didn't we lose our ESPN affiliated radio station in Charlotte to App as well?

Anonymous said...

Lutz last coached at UNCC in 2010. So yes he is still owed money.

Anonymous said...

Lutz's contract with UNC Charlotte is over June 30 of this year. This was the 4th year "we" paid him not to coach. ESPN 730 did take Appalachian State football and basketball.

Anonymous said...

App didn't take anything....they agreed to pay 730am more than we wanted to pay them for broadcasts. That is all. They overpaid, we did not.

Anonymous said...

So they did take our station. Doesn't matter how they got it, they took it and shut us out in our own backyard.

Anonymous said...

@ 10:35, how are we not overpaying exactly, we are paying a former coach thru the end of June 2014, that hasn't coached at our school in over 4 years......just stop it.

Anonymous said...

Lutzs contract carried a one year rollover after each season which extended him until June 2015 before he was released.

Anonymous said...

Charlotte may now have football, but the basketball and baseball programs have fallen on hard times. Trying to figure out why a school with 27,000 students can't get the public support it needs? Simple, just win. The basketball team is poorly coached, beats itself and fans have let their displeasure show by boycotting basketball games. If students didn't get free admission, Halton Arena would be an empty place. What does the future hold for UNC Charlotte athletically? Hard to say--football is looking promising but, again, all the quality teams in C-USA have left, same as before. No natural rivalries exist (no teams from the Carolinas to play). Is UNCC really meant to play 2nd tier Texas schools?