Charlotte 49ers open women's basketball C-USA schedule at ODU

The Charlotte 49ers will open their 18-game Conference USA schedule with a game at Old Dominion on Jan. 4. Most league games will be on a Thursday-Saturday basis, with the 49ers playing home-and-home series against ODU, C-USA newcomer Western Kentucky, North Texas, Rice and Marshall.

Charlotte opens its season Nov. 14 at Liberty. The home opener is Nov. 18 against N.C. State.

2014-15 Charlotte 49ers women's basketball schedule

 

Nov. 14, at Liberty; 18, N.C. State; 21, Elon; 27, Montana*; 28, Wake Forest*; 29, Princeton*.

Dec. 4, at South Carolina; 7, Charleston Southern; 15, at Ball State; 18, Presbyterian; 21, Davidson; 29, at Utah.

Jan. 4, at Old Dominion; 8, Western Kentucky; 10; Marshall; 15, at North Texas; 17, at Rice; 22, Ala.-Birmingham; 24, Middle Tennessee; 29, at Florida Atlantic; 31, at Florida International.

Feb. 7, Old Dominion; 12, Texas-El Paso; 14, Texas-San Antonio; 19, at Louisiana Tech; 21, at Southern Mississippi; 26, North Texas; 28, Rice.

March 5, at Western Kentucky; 7, at Marshall; 11-14, Conference USA tournament (at Birmingham, Ala.).

*Triple Crown Cancun Challenge Mayun Tournament, Riviera Maya, Mexico.

Charlotte 49ers to face Penn State in Charleston

-- Charlotte’s men’s basketball team will play Penn State in the first round of the Charleston Classic at 5 p.m. Nov. 20. The 49ers and Nittany Lions are in the same bracket as Cornell and South Carolina, with other first round games featuring Southern California against Akron and Drexel against Miami. Charlotte and Miami will also play a game at the 49ers’ Halton Arena on Nov. 25.

-- The 49ers are the preseason pick to win the Conference USA women’s soccer championship. Charlotte, which returns eight starters from last season’s 11-7-2 team that went 5-3-2 in the league, also have C-USA’s preseason defensive player of the year in Monica Trickett and a preseason all-league player in midfielder Amanda Jones. The 49ers open their season Aug. 22 at UNC Greensboro.

49ers women's basketball home opener against N.C. State

The Charlotte 49ers' women's basketball nonconference schedule is highlighted by a home opener against N.C. State and a holiday tournament in Mexico.

Charlotte will face the Wolfpack on Nov. 18 in Halton Arena, four days after their season opener Nov. 14 at Liberty. The 49ers travel to Riviera  Maya, Mexico to play in the Triple Crown Cancun Challenge Nov. 27-29. They will face Montana, Wake Forest and Princeton in the event.

The schedule also features games at South Carolina (Dec. 4) and Utah (Dec. 29) and a home game against Davidson on Dec. 21.

The complete nonconference schedule (Conference USA will release the league schedule later):

Nov. 14, at Liberty; 21, N.C. State; 21, Elon; 27-29, at Triple Crown Cancun Challenge, Riviera Maya, Mexico) vs. Montana, Wake Forest, Princeton.

Dec. 4, at South Carolina; 7, Charleston Southern; 15, at Ball State; 18, Presbyterian; 21, Davidson; 29, at Utah.

Observations from Charlotte 49ers' opening football practice

Observations from the Charlotte 49ers' first preseason football practice Wednesday morning:

-- There was a decidedly different feel to the workout from last season's first practice, which opened the program's inaugural season. With more scholarship players on hand -- 74 this season as opposed to 63 in 2013 -- the players appeared to be bigger, faster and more in tune to what the coaching staff wants. Things were helped also by a nice, cool morning, with temperatures in the upper 60s.

-- Perhaps the best example of the new-look 49ers is right guard Daniel Blitch, who played last season at 320 pounds but has bulked up to 345. The increased weight appears all muscle. Whether that hinders his speed and quickness coming off the line, we'll see.

-- One open spot on the offense is at a receiver spot, where Mikel Hunter (now a grad assistant) played last season. Dmarjai Devine, who played sparingly last season, got several reps with the first team on Wednesday morning.

-- Running back Kalif Phillips has changed his number from 25 to 3. "I like the single digits," he said. Phillips, who led the 49ers with 716 yards and 12 touchdowns last season, said he's ready to be the No. 1 back this season after Alan Barnwell was thrown off the team last spring. Top candidates to be the No. 2 back are Damarrell Alexander and Donjore Gainey.

-- With Hunter graduated, the 49ers' return game will be overhauled. Coach Brad Lambert said punt-return candidates are Ardy Holmes, Austin Duke and Corey Nesmith. Trent Bostick and Alexander will get looks at kick returner.

-- Kevin Donnalley, who handles radio color commentary for the 49ers, has been hired as an intern on Charlotte's strength and conditioning staff. That's a high-level intern: Donnalley was an offensive lineman for 13 seasons in the NFL, including three for the the Carolina Panthers. He played in college at Davidson and North Carolina.

7-foot transferring from Auburn to Charlotte 49ers

Seven-footer Benas Griciunas, a member of Lithuania's U-20 national team, is transferring to Charlotte from Auburn, the 49ers are announcing this afternoon.

Griciunas will sit out the 2014-15 season per NCAA transfer rules and will have three years of eligibility remaining.

Griciunas averaged 2.0 points and 1.8 rebounds for the Tigers last season. He played in 12 games and started one against Illinois. He had a season-high eight points against Jacksonville State and a season-high five rebounds against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Griciunas was a 3-star prospect coming out of Findlay (Nev.) Prep two years ago. He has 3-point range and made five-of-six from long-range in a high school all-star game.

First of 3 surgeries successful for Alan Major

Charlotte 49ers men's basketball coach Alan Major successfully underwent the first of three surgeries he is scheduled to have this summer in early June. The first procedure was on one of his eyes, with a heart operation coming up in mid-July. Major will have surgery on his other eye in August.

Major, who is taking a medical leave of absence to have the operations, is still recovering from the first procedure and expected to return to work by the time school starts later in August.

Notes

-- The 49ers' season-opening football game at Campbell on Aug. 28 will start at 7 p.m., Campbell announced Thursday.

-- Match play is coming to Conference USA's men's golf championship. Teams will play 54 holes of stroke play with the top four teams advancing to a four-team seeded match-play playoff. The format change is the same as the NCAA's championship format. C-USA is the first league in the country to go to the format.

-- Charlotte long-jumper Coye Still was one of 15 recipients of Conference USA's Jim Castaneda Postgraduate Scholarship. Still who won the Atlantic 10 long jump event as a junior, will receive a $4,000 scholarship. Still, from Harrisburg's Hickory Ridge High, also received the UNC Charlotte Provost's Athletic Academic Achievement Honor.

Robinson promoted to 49ers baseball staff

-- Former 49ers baseball star Bo Robinson has joined Charlotte's staff as a fulltime assistant coach. Robinson, who had been a volunteer assistant the last two seasons, is the only player in Charlotte history to have 100 RBIs in one season in 1998. He holds school records in doubles (82), RBIs (232) and total bases (499).

-- Marcus Bryan, who left Charlotte's basketball program in May, announced on his Twitter account that he's transferring to UNC Wilmington.