GAME NOTES: Charlotte at Saint Louis
Feb. 13, 2004
St. Louis, Mo. -
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Charlotte Travels to Saint Louis Following Win Over #9/#9 Louisville (Sat., Feb. 14 - 1:00 p.m.) TV: ESPN+ (televised locally on Time Warner Cable; Ch. 96); Radio: WFNZ, SportsRadio 610am (Mattt Swierad) The Charlotte 49ers (15-5; 7-2; #22 RPI (Feb. 13) travel to Saint Louis (11-9; 4-5), Saturday. The 49ers have won four straight, including a pair of top 10 wins at #8/#7 Cincinnati and most recently, vs. #9/#9 Louisville, Thursday night. Charlotte is 3-0 in games vs. the Top 10, this season, setting a school record for Top 10 wins in a season. The 49ers current four-game win streak began with a 68-62 home victory over Saint Louis. The 49ers are in the middle of a crucial stretch that sees the 49ers playing on the road in five of seven games. Charlotte won the first three games in the stretch (@ #8/#7 Cincinnati; @ East Carolina; vs. Louisville), and plays three of its next four games on the road.
Charlotte v. Saint Louis: Charlotte trails its series with Saint Louis, 7-8, and has never won at Saint Louis (0-7). Charlotte is 7-1 all-time against the Billikens in Halton Arena, including this season's 68-62 victory, Jan. 28. Bobby Lutz owns a 5-6 record against the Billikens; 0-5 at Saint Louis. The 49ers win over Saint Louis earlier this season started the 49ers current four-game win streak.
A Balanced Diet: Known for its always dangerous perimeter game, Charlotte has been successful, this year, thanks to a balanced attack that conjures memories of NCAA teams past. Of the 65 double-figure outings, this year, 25 have been from frontcourt players (Withers 18; Clemmons 3; Iti 3; Pigford); 27 have been from the backcourt players (Plavich 11; Brown 10; Baldwin 6) and 13 have been from the wings (Basden 13; Johnson 2). See chart on page 2 for recent 49er NCAA teams and the leading inside-out contributors.
Quick Synopsis: At 7-2 in league play, Charlotte is a 1/2 game back of co-leaders Cincinnati and Memphis (8-2). The 49ers are #22 in the Feb. 13 RPI and own a school record three Top 10 victories as well as a 7-3 road record. The 49ers are 15-5, overall -- the program's best record in nine years (18-5; 1994-95 - NCAA). Charlotte is 3-0 vs. Top 10 teams; 2-0 vs. 2003 NCAA Final Four participants. The Niners sport Top 10 road wins over #7/#7 Syracuse and #8/#7 Cincinnati. Key wins, include the road wins at defending national champ Syracuse (1st time in NCAA that a defending champ lost its home opener); at Southern Illinois (snapped the Salukis 31-game home win streak), at DePaul (to open C-USA play), at Top 10 Cincinnati (Bearcats were 62-5 in C-USA home games prior to that) and vs. #9/#9 Louisville, Marquette and Saint Louis at home. All five losses are to Top 100 RPI (Feb. 9 RPI) teams with three coming to Top 35 teams (@ Alabama (23); UAB (31); @ Memphis (30). Charlotte has been led this season by a triumvirate of Curtis Withers (17.1 ppg; 9.8 rpg), Demon Brown (12.6 ppg; 4.5 apg) and Brendan Plavich (11.9 ppg; 62 3FGM). All three have had a 25+ scoring night and all have been named C-USA Player of the Week. Demon Brown was suspended for the Louisville game but will be available to play at Saint Louis.
"Curtis Withers is the best power forward in our league" -- UC head coach Bob Huggins: C-USA Player of the Year Candidate Curtis Withers leads C-USA in double-doubles (12), is fourth in scoring, second in rebounding and first in offensive rebounding. Withers is averaging 18.4 points and 9.6 rebounds in C-USA play and has posted five double-doubles in league play. He has quadrupled the 49ers season total (3, all by Withers) from last year. He has five double-doubles in nine league games. Withers has scored in double figures in all but one game played this year with at least 7 boards in each. He's also shooting .509 from the floor, 2nd-best in C-USA among players with at least 10 attempts per game.
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