2024 NC Basketball Spotlight & 10-Year Snapshot: Charlotte 49ers (MARCH)

2024 North Carolina Sports Network
NC Basketball Spotlight, 10-Year Snapshot:
Charlotte

By Ben McCormick
North Carolina Sports Network

School: University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Charlotte)

Location: Charlotte, N.C.

NCAA Division I Member Since: 1970-71

Conference: American Athletic Conference (AAC)

AAC Member Since: 2023-24

AAC Ranking Among 32 Leagues (KenPom): 9th (2024), 8th (2023), 8th (2022), 7th (2021), 7th (2020)

NCAA Tournament Bids: 11 (1977, 1988, 1992, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005)

Conference Titles: 5 (1977, 1988 in Sun Belt; 1992 in Metro; 1999, 2001 in Conference USA)

Conference 1st-Place Finishes: 5 (1977, 1978, 1988 in Sun Belt; 1995 in Metro; 2004 in CUSA)

Head Coach: Aaron Fearne (49, 1st season)

As A Player: Western Wisconsin (1993-94), Mid-State (1994-95), Mayville State (1995-97), then professionally in Australia

Record as Head Coach (Through March 1): 17-10 (.630) in 1st season

Previous Head Coaching Experience: in Australia; NBL1 North for Cairns Marlins (2006-09), NBL for Cairns Taipans (2009-18)

College AC Experience: Charlotte (2018-23)

Assistant Under: Ron Sanchez

2022-23 Record: 22-14, 9-11 (5th in 11-team CUSA)

2023-24 Preseason Prediction (Coaches): 13th in 14-team AAC

2023-24 Record (Through March 1): 17-10, 11-4 AAC

2023-24 Midseason Ranking (KenPom/NET): #106/103 nationally (6th/6th in AAC)

Remaining Regular-Season Games: South Florida (3/2), Rice (3/6), at ECU (3/9)

Last fall, Charlotte entered its first year as a member of the American Athletic Conference, led by an interim head coach, after losing last season’s top two scorers to the transfer portal.

Four months later — somehow — the 49ers are knocking on the door of a special season. Picked to finish next-to-last in the AAC, they’re instead in second place, they host first-place South Florida on Saturday, and the atmosphere in Halton Arena has reached levels rarely seen over the last two decades.

After capturing the school’s first-ever nonconference postseason title at the College Basketball Invitational last season, then-49ers head coach Ron Sanchez left to become the associate head coach under coach Tony Bennett at Virginia, where Sanchez had worked as an assistant for Bennett from 2009-18.

The timing of Sanchez’s departure — early June — was extremely unusual and well outside the usual March/April coaching carousel timeframe, when college coaches tend to be much more receptive to job-change inquiries.

So, after five years as Sanchez’s assistant with the 49ers, Aaron Fearne was promoted to Charlotte’s interim head coach.

“Last summer, we all thought we might lose our jobs,” Fearne said. “Instead, here we are. We’ve already done a lot of good things, with a chance to do more.”

Despite losing their top two scorers (Brice Williams-Nebraska and Aly Khalifa-BYU) to the transfer portal, the 49ers retained three players who played 20-plus minutes per game in 2022-23.

Redshirt junior Lu’Cye Patterson is back to help orchestrate the offense. The 6-foot-2 guard began his career at Missouri State before landing in the Queen City last season. He leads the 49ers in scoring with 14.4 points per game.

Meanwhile, although the 49ers lost Sanchez to Virginia, they have a former Cavaliers player on their own roster. Croatian junior Igor Milicic Jr. is part of the Australian-born Fearne’s intentional effort to stretch the 49ers’ roster beyond international borders.

“We’ll definitely recruit internationally,” Fearne said, “and add that style of game to our program, which I think is a beautiful game of basketball, and try and get us to play that way.”

Milicic, who leads the team in rebounding (8.4 per game), blocked shots (32) and 3-pointers (45; 36 percent), has posted nine double-doubles this season, including a 22-point, 13-rebound game in a 75-71 AAC victory at Tulane.

After a slow start to the season offensively, the 49ers have picked it up. In AAC play, they now rank fifth in both offensive and defensive efficiency. On defense, they’re holding their opponents to 29 percent 3-point shooting accuracy, which ranks first in the conference.

2023-24 Charlotte 49ers
(17-10, 11-4 AAC; through March 1)

Starters

G Lu’Cye Patterson*, r-Jr. — 32 mpg, 14 ppg, 3 rpg, 44% FG, 74% FT, 36% threes, 67/33 ATO, 5 blocks, 26 steals
(6-2/205); 2022 Missouri State transfer (starter); 2023 HM All-CUSA; Minneapolis, Minn.

G Nik Graves, So. — 30 mpg, 10 ppg, 3 rpg, 45% FG, 82% FT, 33% threes, 80/30 ATO, 4 blocks, 27 steals
(6-3/185); mother, Nikki, a former 49ers star; Greensboro Day; Durham, N.C.

G Isaiah Folkes, Jr. — 20 mpg, 4 ppg, 2 rpg, 52% FG, 37% FT, 0% threes, 62/32 ATO, 3 blocks, 21 steals
(6-4/200); late-season 2022-23 starter; Middleburg Academy; Gainesville, Va.

F Igor Milicic*, Jr. — 32 mpg, 13 ppg, 8 rpg, 49% FG, 82% FT, 36% threes, 48/53 ATO, 32 blocks, 17 steals
(6-10/225); 8 ppg, 4 rpg last season; 2022 UVa transfer (reserve); Rovinj, Croatia

C Dishon Jackson, r-So. — 26 mpg, 12 ppg, 6 rpg, 55% FG, 70% FT, 14% threes, 36/31 ATO, 26 blocks, 15 steals
(6-11/260); Washington State transfer (2022-23 redshirt); Oakland, Calif.

Key Reserves

G Jackson Threadgill*, Sr. — 27 mpg, 6 ppg, 2 rpg, 40% FG, 77% FT, 32% threes, 28/15 ATO, 3 blocks, 16 steals
(6-6/200); 3-year starter for 49ers; Davidson Day School; Concord, N.C.

F Robert Braswell IV, Gr. — 16 mpg, 7 ppg, 2 rpg, 46% FG, 64% FT, 38% threes, 6/13 ATO, 7 blocks, 5 steals
(6-7/205); 2021 Syracuse transfer (reserve); Blythewood (S.C.) HS; Jacksonville, Fla.

F Dean Reiber, r-Jr. — 15 mpg, 3 ppg, 2 rpg, 35% FG, 75% FT, 21% threes, 21/12 ATO, 10 blocks, 10 steals
(6-10/225); 2023 Rutgers transfer (reserve); NW Guilford HS; Greensboro, N.C.

*—returning starter (started at least 50% of current team’s games last season)

Charlotte 49ers
10-Year Snapshot

Season — Overall, League (Place), Postseason

2022-23 — 22-14, 9-11 CUSA (5th), CBI champion (Ron Sanchez)
2021-22 — 17-14, 10-8 CUSA (8th), no postseason (Ron Sanchez)
2020-21 — 9-16, 5-11 CUSA (11th), no postseason (Ron Sanchez)
2019-20 — 16-13, 10-8 CUSA (4th), no postseason (Ron Sanchez)
2018-19 — 8-21, 5-13 CUSA (13th), no postseason (Ron Sanchez)
2017-18 — 6-23, 2-16 CUSA (14th), no postseason (Mark Price)
2016-17 — 13-17, 7-11 CUSA (10th), no postseason (Mark Price)
2015-16 — 14-19, 9-9 CUSA (7th), no postseason (Mark Price)
2014-15 — 14-18, 7-11 CUSA (11th), no postseason (Alan Major)
2013-14 — 17-14, 7-9 CUSA (8th), no postseason (Alan Major)

*—conference champion

NOTE: Please visit the North Carolina Sports Network’s 2023-24 profiles and 10-year snapshots for all 19 Division One men’s basketball programs in North Carolina.