49ers' 3-point defense clicking

The 49ers' 3-point defense -- the best in the Atlantic 10 -- helped them to an upset of Xavier on Wednesday. Charlotte's going to need that again Saturday when one of the league's best long-range shooters -- George Washington's Nemanja Mikic -- comes to town.

Charlotte allows opponents to shoot 29.3 percent from 3-point range, the best mark in the league. Xavier made just three-of-20 on Wednesday, and that included a dismal 0-8 night by guard Tu Holloway, the league's top scorer.

The 49ers' 2-3 zone invites opponents to take jump shots. When they're not finding holes in the interior of the zone, other teams are having a tough time making them from deep.

Coach Alan Major conceded Wednesday that Holloway missed some open looks, but he was having to work hard for his points all night as the 49ers stayed in front of him to keep him from getting to the basket.

Mikic is a 46.0 percent 3-point shooter and GW as a team makes 34.6 percent, fourth best in the league.

Hamilton on stopper-of-year watch list

49ers notes

-- Relief pitcher Bryan Hamilton is on the preseason watch list for the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year award.

Hamilton, a senior from Woodstock, Md., was 4-0 last season in 24 appearances, with two saves and a 2.01 ERA. He's also been named to a baseball writers' third-team preseason All-American team.

The 49ers, who opened preseason practice last Friday, open their season Feb. 18 at home against Coppin State.

Incidentally, Charlotte's winning percentage of 69.6 percent since 2006 is the eighth best in Division I over that period of time.

-- The 49ers raised $2,755 for Samaritan’s Feet in its Barefoot for Bare Feet Drives in January. The 49ers had drives during the men's basketball game against UMass on Jan. 19 and the women’s game against Xavier on Jan. 22. Coaches Alan Major and Karen Aston coached in bare feet to show support for the cause.

Seventy-seven pairs of new shoes were also donated. The money and shoes will provide 350 shoes for Samaritan's Feet.

Charlotte track star Darius Law helped organize the effort on campus.

“On behalf of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, I would like to thank the entire athletic department for supporting our efforts to provide new athletic shoes for impoverished children,” Law said in a statement. “I would like to specifically thank coach Major, coach Aston and her coaching staff for coaching barefoot and supporting such a great cause. I would also like to thank all of the students, faculty and fans that contributed to our Samaritan's Feet efforts by donating money and/or shoes. We are truly thankful and honored to be a part of Niner Nation.”

49ers women at home on the road

Charlotte's women's basketball team seems to be enjoying life on the road in the Atlantic 10.

The 49ers (17-5, 5-2) have won eight straight road games, including their first four in the league. They won at  Saint Louis 75-38 last Sunday and complete a three-game road trip on Saturday at UMass. They opened the trip with a 73-62 victory at Richmond on Jan. 26.

The 49ers return to Halton Arena on Feb. 9 (George Washington) and Feb. 12 (Dayton). Charlotte's two league losses have been at home, 60-57 against Temple and 82-61 against No. 7 Xavier on Jan. 22.

The 49ers continue to hammer most of their opponents on the boards. Charlotte has had games of 50-plus rebounds seven times and outrebounded the Billikens 47-26.

And that was an area that coach Karen Aston was worried about in the preseason.

Xavier's Mack: 'It was the right call'

Xavier coach Chris Mack didn't have a problem with how that weird sequence of events ended up for his team in a 66-62 loss Wednesday to the 49ers at Halton Arena.

 "As hard as it is to swallow, it was the right call," said Mack.

When Derrio Green was allowed to retake two free throws that Chris Braswell had missed (Braswell, as it turned out, shouldn't have been in the game because he had fouled out due to an elbow he inadvertently threw at Xavier's Tu Holloway that hadn't initially been caught by the officials), most coaches might have pitched a fit. Especially when Green made them both after Braswell's misses.

But Mack saw that a correctable error had been made -- and corrected. He was graceful enough to recognize that and not make an issue out of it afterward.

Mack began his coaching career as an assistant to the late Skip Prosser at Xavier and Wake Forest. Prosser was one of the classiest guys in the profession and some of that no doubt rubbed off on Mack. Prosser would have been proud of how his protege handled a delicate situation Wednesday.

Notes

-- Wednesday's victory was Charlotte's 150th in Halton Arena.

-- Major shook up the starting lineup by adding K.J. Sherrill in favor of An'Juan Wilderness. Sherrill had career highs in points (24) and rebounds (13) Saturday against La Salle, so he earned it. He had a quieter game against Xavier, with four and four.

--  No excuses about lack of depth had Charlotte lost. The 49ers played eight; Xavier played seven.

-- Gokhan Sirin's minutes have decreased since Charles Dewhurst's return. Both had an impact against the Musketeers. Sirin made his only shot -- a 3-pointer that gave the 49ers a nine-point lead with 7:51 left -- in three minutes of play. Dewhurst played a solid floor game, with two steals, a block and an assist in 27 minutes. He also made two free throws with 24 seconds left and the Niners up by four.

Amato would 'love to' coach 49ers

Former N.C. State coach Chuck Amato has applied to be the Charlotte 49ers first head football coach.

"I'd love to be the guy there, it would be a real neat thing to do," said Amato, who took the Wolfpack to five bowl games in seven seasons and had a 49-37 record. . "The opportunity to do something from scratch, to put everything in place.That would be a different mountain to climb."

Amato, 64, was fired at N.C. State after the 2007 season, then returned for two seasons to Florida State (where he had been an assistant before) as the Seminoles' executive associate head coach. He wasn't retained on the Seminoles' staff when coach Bobby Bowden retired after the 2009 season.

Amato said he hasn't been interviewed for the job yet and hasn't heard from 49ers athletics officials. Charlotte athletics director Judy Rose has said she won't comment on the football coaching job search until a hire has been made.

But Amato has talked to Rose about the job. While visiting Charlotte last August to watch the Carolina Panthers practice, he dropped in unannounced to speak with Rose.

"They've really done their homework on (football)," said Amato. "It looks like a great situation"

Amato, who has homes in Raleigh and Tallahassee, Fla., was diagnosed with throat cancer in early 2010. He said he's "clean" of the disease now after treatment. He said he served as a consultant last summer for the Canadian Football League's Montreal Allouettes.

The 49ers have received at least 100 applications for the job (which pays $175,000 per year), but they're culling the tightly held list to about 20 realistic candidates. Rose has said she would like to have a coach hired by April 1.

Multiple sources have confirmed that Grambling State coach Rod Broadway -- a former Duke assistant and N.C. Central head coach -- might have interest, although Grambling athletics director Lin Dawson said in an email that Charlotte hasn't requested permission to talk with him.

Two other former ACC coaches have told The Observer they're not interested in the 49ers job. Former Clemson coach Tommy Bowden said he hadn't heard from Charlotte and had not applied. Former North Carolina coach John Bunting said he is not interested in the job.

More aggressiveness needed from Barnett

It was pretty obvious during the first half of Saturday's loss against La Salle that the 49ers were trying to get forward Javarris Barnett to shake himself out of the shooting slump he'd been mired in for four games.

After scoring in double figures in five of seven games, Barnett had been struggling, averaging 4.7 points on six-of-26 shooting against Fordham, UMass, Duquesne and Temple.


Barnett -- who's usually a spot-up 3-point shooter -- scored 16 points in the first 20 minutes against the Explorers, going to the basket, shooting off the dribble and otherwise being much more aggressive offensively. It worked for a while but he only scored three points in the second half.

If the 49ers are to emerge from the slump they're in -- four straight losses, five in the last six games -- Barnett needs to continue to contribute offensively more consistently (he's been steady on the boards, averaging 5.5 per game). He doesn't need to do it by scoring 16 points each half, but by being more of an inside-out guy. Chris Braswell is Charlotte's only low-post scorer (although K.J. Sherrill is coming around), while guards Derrio Green and Jamar Briscoe are both sub-.400 shooters from the perimeter.

Milestone games approaching at Halton

-- The next 49ers victory at Halton Arena -- whether it comes Wednesday against Xavier or later -- will be a milestone (No. 150) for the program. Charlotte is 149-48 at Halton since it opened in 1997, a winning percentage of 75.6.

Also, Charlotte will play its 200th game at Halton on Feb. 16 against Dayton.

-- Job No. 1 for the 49ers against the Musketeers on Wednesday will be to contain point guard Tu Holloway, who is having a league-MVP-caliber season. Holloway averages 21.1 points and 5.3 assists. Xavier is tied with Duquesne for the lead with a 7-0 record (15-5 overall).

-- The 49ers' Darius Law and Grant Nowell picked up conference track and field awards this week. Law is the performer of the week after winning the 200 meters at the Penn State National, running a career-best 21.23 (which also ranks second fastest in school history). Law was also second in the 400 meters and anchored Charlotte's 4 x 400 relay team that ran a 3:14.95, fifth fastest in 49ers history.

Nowell is the league's newcomer of the week after running a personal best 6.94 seconds in the 60-meter dash at the Penn State meet. It's the second fastest time in the A-10 this season.

-- 49ers freshman Gabby Tyler is the A-10's women's basketball co-rookie of the week. Tyler averaged 9.5 points and 4.0 rebounds in two Charlotte victories last week.