Why the Charlotte 49ers are a team you shouldn’t sleep on in CUSA play

Charlotte is sitting. Waiting. Eager to play another game.

The 49ers’ Conference USA slate was delayed until Jan. 8, canceling its first two league games due to COVID-related issues among the competing teams.

Charlotte, Florida International and Florida Atlantic are working to reschedule the games, but perhaps more notably, the 49ers are 100% vaccinated, according to a school spokesman, and are in the process of receiving booster shots, which should decrease the likelihood of another team shutdown.

Charlotte’s 17-day break will conclude when the 49ers welcome Old Dominion to Halton Arena for their C-USA debut at 4 p.m. Saturday (ESPN+). The last time Charlotte took the floor, Ron Sanchez’s group poured in 98 points against Western Carolina — the most during his tenure and the most since 2017.

But that’s not the only reason the future is looking bright for the 49ers.

CONFIDENCE IMPROVING

This team was always going to hinge on the success of its incoming transfers. Charlotte’s early-season struggles can be attributed to two things: A lack of defensive cohesion and an unsteady secondary scoring option to pair with Jahmir Young.

Attacking the transfer portal is key for a mid-major program such as Charlotte. Sanchez is seeing the lack of familiarity appear in spurts, but he believes it’s about establishing a rhythm.

“You’ve got to keep in mind that these guys have not played together,” Sanchez said. “They all come from different programs and have been asked to do things differently than we do it here. Because they’re unselfish, sometimes they lose their aggressiveness. But we’re starting to find that balance.”

Young isn’t showing any signs of unfamiliarity with his new teammates. He leads C-USA in scoring with 20.1 points and ranks seventh with 4.2 assists per game. Young has scored in double figures in every game this season, including nine games of 20 points or more.

Sanchez knows what he’s going to get from Young, and Charlotte has shown flashes of the dangerous team it can be, like when Clyde Trapp Jr. scored 17 second-half points as the 49ers rallied from a 19-point deficit to tie Wake Forest with 20 seconds remaining.

Charlotte lost that game at the buzzer, but the boost in confidence paired with a pair of bounce-back wins has the 49ers itching to get back on the court.

Young said that he felt like he could score at will against the Demon Deacons, but when Trapp was locked in, Charlotte could play with anyone.

“When (Trapp) plays with that tenacity and aggressiveness, we’re better,” Young said. “Coach has ultimate confidence in us, and we have ultimate confidence in ourselves. When we defend how we did in the second half, I feel like we can compete with anybody.”

SCORING OPTIONS EMERGING

In Charlotte’s most recent win, albeit nearly two weeks ago, the 49ers saw three players score 20 or more points when running a small-ball lineup.

Syracuse transfer forward Robert Braswell scored a career-high 22 points on just eight shots, connecting on four of his five 3-point attempts in the win over Western Carolina. Braswell replaced Jackson Threadgill in the starting lineup following Charlotte’s loss against Davidson in the sixth game of the season and has provided additional shooting, leading the team in 3-point percentage at 47.6%.

Austin Butler also poured in 22 points, marking his season-high and best game at Charlotte. Butler shot 45.8% from beyond the arc at Holy Cross in 2020 but hasn’t been as efficient through 12 games under Sanchez (28.6%).

But it’s the intangibles and grit that are helping Butler emerge as a reliable scorer.

“I’m doing a lot better job of just letting the game come to me,” Butler said. “I would like to make a couple more three-pointers, but I’m going to keep shooting. Any night, any of us could go for 15 or 20, and we don’t care who it is. I feel like we’re sharing the ball really well right now.”

At 6-foot-5, he leads the team with 25 offensive rebounds and is second on the team with 6.6 rebounds per contest. As he continues to find comfort within the 49ers’ offense, expect his shooting percentages to increase.

Butler and Braswell have appeared in every game this season, but Musa Jallow’s return from injury adds another option off the bench.

Jallow, an Ohio State transfer, made his debut against Maryland-Eastern Shore where he scored 10 points and had a plus-minus rating for 30. Jallow suffered an ankle injury in his tenure with the Buckeyes and missed the first 10 games of the 2021 season recovering.

Known for his defensive intensity, Jallow could become the wing defender and spark plug that Charlotte needs in conference play.

CONFERENCE USA RACE

A 7-5 non-conference record isn’t necessarily something to brag about, but it is Charlotte’s best start to a season since 2013-14.

The 49ers were routed by Arkansas and Davidson and lost at the buzzer to Wake Forest.

Charlotte’s best win came in the season-opener with a narrow 68-66 victory over Monmouth, winners of 10 of their first 13. Sanchez’s group is shooting 36.4% from 3 as a team this season, the program’s highest mark since 2016. They’ve shown flashes of a highly competitive team, followed by extended scoring droughts and lack of defensive aggression.

This unplanned two-week break could be a chance for Sanchez and the 49ers to hit the reset button and get healthy for a two-month run to position themselves for the conference tournament in Frisco, Texas. C-USA is wide open this season, and Young is continuing to make his case for player of the year.

If the newcomers can contribute with consistency, Charlotte has a chance to earn a first-round bye in the conference tournament despite a seventh-place pre-season ranking.