Charlotte 49ers among national leaders in free-throw shooting

Ranked second in NBA history with a 90.39 free-throw percentage, Charlotte 49ers’ men’s basketball coach Mark Price knows what it takes to succeed at the foul line.

In the aftermath of Saturday’s 74-72 win against Old Dominion, during which Charlotte went 24-for-28 on free throws, Price mixed his analytical side with a pinch of humor as he addressed his team’s free-throw shooting.

“Going 24-for-28, that’s not quite as good as I would’ve done myself, but it’s pretty close,” said Price with a grin during his postgame news conference. “You shoot 85 percent from the free-throw line and you’re going to help yourself.”

The 49ers (9-9, 3-4 Conference USA) certainly haven’t hurt themselves there this season.

Charlotte ranks 27th nationally and second in C-USA with a 75.7 free-throw percentage, about six percentage points higher than it shot last season.

Senior Anthony Vanhook, who, along with sophomore Andrien White, was suspended by the NCAA for Thursday’s game at North Texas after participating in a fight with an Old Dominion player Saturday, ranks 105th nationally with an 82.8 free-throw percentage.

“When you get fouled and you get teams in the bonus, you need to take advantage of that,” Price said. “For the most part, we’ve been pretty good. If we continue to do that down the stretch, I think it’s going to give us a great opportunity to win some games.”

Davis takes weekly honor

After scoring a career-high 35 points, including two on his game-winning jumper with two-tenths of a second left Saturday against Old Dominion, sophomore guard Jon Davis was named C-USA Player of the Week.

He’s the first Charlotte player named C-USA Player of the Week since Mike Thorne Jr. in November 2014. Through Monday’s games, Davis ranked second in the conference with 19.5 points per game.

49ers’ women are road warriors

Through its first seven conference games, the Charlotte women’s basketball team has played five on the road.

With a 4-1 record in those games, the 49ers (14-4, 6-1 C-USA) find themselves in a three-way tie atop the conference standings entering this week’s two-game homestand against North Texas (Thursday) and Rice (Saturday).

“We’ve been lucky this year that we have a pretty veteran group. So when we go on the road, we don’t get rattled,” said coach Cara Consuegra, whose team has won 12 of its past 13 games. “When you look at the course of the season and knowing in January we were on the road so much, I think that sets us up well for the second part of the season.”

This story was originally published January 24, 2017 at 4:01 PM with the headline "Charlotte 49ers among national leaders in free-throw shooting."