49ers: Patience needed as basketball team endures growing pains

Mark Price’s dour demeanor made it abundantly clear how he felt about the Charlotte 49ers’ 55-point loss to Michigan late Thursday night in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.

Price, in his first year as Charlotte’s coach, was given a chance to explain the 102-47 defeat to the Wolverines, the most lopsided defeat in the 49ers’ 46-year Division I men’s basketball history.

Surely, Price was asked, there will be other nights like this for your young and under-sized team?

“I hope not,” Price said tersely. “There’s not much to say other than that was a disaster. It was a terrible job from a coaching standpoint, from getting our players ready to go. I take that. It was on me. It was my job. (It was) extremely disappointing.”

Price was holding himself accountable for the 49ers’ loss to a Wolverines team with far more size, experience and skill. But what was most disappointing to Price was what he felt was his team’s lack of effort. Charlotte was similarly over-matched in a first-round game against Syracuse, but the 49ers showed enough grit to rally in the second half before losing 83-70.

Friday, in a performance that offered a glimpse of what might yet be for the 49ers, Charlotte played its best game of the season but fell to Washington 71-66 in the seventh-place game at the Atlantis resort. That loss dropped the 49ers to 1-5, among the worst starts in program history.

This time, however, Price was more upbeat. “I feel like we grew up a little bit (Friday),” he said.

The 49ers’ ups-and-downs haven’t been unexpected, but how long will it be before the ride smooths out?

Price, a former NBA all-star hired in March, inherited a program that had been stuck in the mud under former coach Alan Major, who was fired with a five-year record of 57-60 (Major took a medical leave of absence during the second half of last season).

Price’s first job was to replenish a roster depleted by the transfers of four key players. Guards Torin Dorn (Conference USA’s freshman of the year who is sitting out this season at N.C. State), guard Keyshawn Woods (sitting out at Wake Forest) and center Mike Thorne (at Illinois, where he is the Illini’s second-leading scorer and top rebounder) are at “Power Five” programs. Forward Willie Clayton transferred to Georgia State, one of the country’s rising mid-major programs.

Also gone were senior starters Pierria Henry (the program’s career assists and steals leader) and Terrence Williams, both playing professionally in Europe.

“With the coach we were bringing in, the transfers were really difficult for me to understand,” said 49ers Athletics Director Judy Rose. “You would think that those players would be elated to stay.”

The only players remaining who made significant contributions last season were junior guard Braxton Ogbueze and senior forward Bernard Sullivan.

Left with several roster spots to fill and getting a late start in recruiting, Price signed four freshmen (guards Andrien White, Jon Davis and Curran Scott and center Lukas Bergang) and three transfers (guard Ridell Camidge, forward Anthony Vanhook and center Joseph Uchebo).

That mixture of inexperience and unfamiliarity – to go along with a new coaching staff – has been the primary factor behind Charlotte’s rough start.

“Our guys have to grow as a team,” Price said after the Syracuse loss. “I told them it’s about the details, even though we’re a new group and a young group.”

The young guys are paying attention, but the lessons are difficult.

“It’s not necessarily tough, but we have to go quicker than most other freshmen,” said Davis, who scored 14 points and had six assists (with just two turnovers) against Washington. “We only have three dudes who have played college basketball before, so we have to go out there and play 25 or 30 minutes. I wouldn’t say we’ve done a great job, but we’re getting there.”

Price said one goal for this season is for the team to improve enough to be a factor when league play begins in Conference USA. Until then, the schedule continues to be formidable. Among Charlotte’s nonconference foes in December are Davidson (at Halton Arena on Tuesday), Miami and Georgetown. But there are also less-imposing opponents in Campbell, Appalachian State and The Citadel.

“There are a lot of things, when you come in as a new player, that you don’t learn until you get on the court and in a game,” said Sullivan. “(They) might be simple and second nature to me, but it’s not second nature and natural for the other guys. We have to be patient.”

But after five years of mostly mediocre results under Major, patience might be in short order for a program that hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament since the 2004-05 season.

“Patience is not a virtue many of us have,” said Rose. “I hope our fans realize we’re building something and it will take a while to get there.”

This story was originally published November 28, 2015 at 2:56 PM with the headline "49ers: Patience needed as basketball team endures growing pains."