Penny Hardaway praises Charlotte 49ers after battle with No. 18 Memphis, despite skid
Even when the game may feel lopsided, the Charlotte 49ers are gritty.
Charlotte men’s basketball made it a single-digit deficit late in its 77-68 loss to No. 18 Memphis at home Sunday afternoon. The Niners attacked the basket throughout and didn’t let their opponent pull away, outscoring the nationally ranked Tigers throughout the second half.
“Coach (Aaron) Fearne is one of the best coaches in the country,” Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway, the four-time NBA All-Star with the Orlando Magic, said in the postgame news conference. “Last year’s team was ridiculously great, so much talent — and you can tell they had a lot of guys leave. Obviously we know where these guys are. (Lu’Cye) Patterson is at Minnesota, (Igor) Miličić is at Tennessee, (Dishon) Jackson is at Iowa State, and they’re all doing well for their respective teams.
“But this year’s team, they’re going to put it together, man. They’re not this bad, where they’re 0-6 — they’ve lost some close games. They’re not getting blown out. They have talent, and Fearne has done a phenomenal job for Charlotte. He’s one of the best coaches in our league.”
The road ahead isn’t getting any easier for Charlotte (7-12, 0-6 American Athletic Conference), which hosts reigning regular-season conference champion South Florida at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
From junior college to averaging double figures in Division I
One of Charlotte’s best scorers wasn’t playing in the NCAA last season.
Jaehshon Thomas, who joined the Niners this season from Florida SouthWestern State, contributed 18 points Sunday. That matches the junior college transfer’s second-highest total of the season.
The Aurora, Illinois, native spent the past two seasons in the NJCAA, where he averaged double figures and became an all-conference player at the Fort Myers school.
“I like playing here,” said Thomas, who’s averaging 10.5 points per game. “But obviously, there are a lot of adjustments I’ve been having to make each and every day. I feel like I’ve come a long way, still making strides with this team, just trying to help this team get some wins.”
‘Stepping up four or five levels’
Fearne noted it in the postgame news conference: Thomas had never seen an opponent like Memphis.
Now a junior, Thomas played his true freshman and sophomore seasons in junior college before transferring to Charlotte. He’s scored in double figures in nearly half of his games as a Niner — including his 18-point performance against nationally-ranked Memphis on Sunday.
Fearne likened it to when he started taking the court alongside players he grew up watching in Australia. As “awesome” as the experience may seem initially, it’s just as much about learning.
“You learn pretty damn quickly how good they are,” Fearne said. “(Thomas)‘ adjustment is obviously stepping up four or five levels to play at this level. He’s had his ups and downs; I still don’t think he’s quite gotten there yet to where he just plays kind of free.”
College athletics are ‘transactional.’ Fearne wants transformation
Charlotte has now dropped seven games in a row. Its last victory came on Dec. 24, when the Niners took down Murray State in overtime at the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii.
Memphis, which ranks No. 18 in the AP Top 25 and No. 17 in the USA Today coaches’ poll, presented the toughest opponent the team had faced. Charlotte knocked down several 3-pointers early in its loss Sunday afternoon, before an 18-2 run put the Tigers in command during the first half.
Following USF’s visit to Halton Arena on Wednesday, Charlotte hits the road to play at Temple and defending AAC tournament champion Alabama Birmingham.
The Owls, whom the Niners will see Jan. 29 in Philadelphia, recently knocked off Memphis.
“As I said in the locker room afterward, unfortunately, this landscape is very transactional,” Fearne said. “And that sucks. You want it to be transformational, where you spend a lot of time with guys, help them really grow and reach their full potential — as you would back in the day — but it’s not like that now. You’ve got to transform quickly.”
