Andrien White picks up a loose ball on the court. Photo by Chris Crews
Wednesday’s game against James Madison was a tale of two halves for the Charlotte defense.
After the first 20 minutes expired, the 49ers were behind to an 0-6 JMU team 35-29. The Niners would make a defensive stand in the second half and come out on top, defeating the Dukes 65-56.
The beginning of the game showed a sloppy Charlotte team. Within the first few minutes of the game loose ball turnovers, an over-and-back violation and a shooting foul allowed JMU to an early lead. Through their fouling, JMU was in the Bonus within the first nine minutes of the game as Charlotte had already tallied seven team fouls. Those free throws hurt the 49ers. In the first half JMU converted 12 of their 13 free throws. Meanwhile Charlotte’s Andrien White made the only two free throws for the Niners in the first half.
Having the high number in team fouls, the 49ers had to adjust their game plan to accommodate.
“We had to go more to a zone defense,” Price said. “We had to use it to keep guys out of foul trouble.”
JC Washington disagrees with a call made by the official. Photo by Chris Crews
Whether poor officiating, poor playing or both the matter of the fact is that the sloppy defense of the first half set James Madison up to take the lead, and potentially the game if the 49ers didn’t get their head on straight.
Charlotte was a new team on the defensive side of the ball after the intermission, holding JMU to eight points through the first 13 minutes. Making stops during the second half allows for momentum to build on the court.
“That one stop, two stops, maybe three stops in a row might be the difference in a game,” Price said.
Sophomore Jon Davis attributes the turning point in the second half to the appearance early on of the defense.
“It started defensively, we only allowed 21 points in the second half. That’s big. Once we felt like we figured it out on the defensive end then we can go all out on the offensive end too,” Davis said. “It’s about five guys getting locked in on the court.’
The 49ers had only two team fouls in the second half through 12 minutes of play. The Dukes, however, began to foul, allowing the 49ers to score 13 points on the free throw line during the final 20 minutes.
The team’s drive also has a lot to do with their performance on the court.
“The first half we were just like ‘okay we’re doing this,’ but the second half we came out and we wanted to win. That was the difference, that’s what we have to do,” White said.
Rebounding was also a troublesome area throughout the game. The Dukes were allowed to snag six offensive rebounds in the first half. This area didn’t improve after the half as James Madison got eight more offensive rebounds during the second half.
The void of Joseph Uchebo is still needing to be filled for the 49ers through the first eight games. White had a team-high eight rebounds during Wednesday’s contest. The 49ers have yet to out rebound and opponent all season. Currently the team averages 34.6 rebounds a game and is out-rebounded by the opposing team on average by seven boards.
With the 49ers gearing up to face four power-conference schools in the next week in Oregon State, Wake Forest, Florida and Maryland they cannot afford to have only one half of solid defense. This type of competition calls for Charlotte to be on their A-game for a complete 40 minutes — if they can do this then they just might pull a few upsets in this next stretch.