A Night of Havoc (Recap of VCU v. Charlotte)

Some days don't go as you plan. I had made plans for quite some time for yesterday. Hofstra was playing at UNC Wilmington. I had media credentials waiting for me, plus I was going to see my friend Brian Mull, the terrific beat writer for the Wilmington Star as well as my friend Hofstra Head Coach Mo Cassara, who I haven't seen in a long time since I moved down to Columbia, South Carolina.

Wilmington, North Carolina is a three hour and fifteen minutes drive from Columbia, South Carolina. As I started driving on I-20 at 7:30 AM, my "Check Engine" light came on. Never a good thing. But perhaps it was something minor, perhaps a sign that it was time for an oil change (which I was due for). So I found the closest Jiffy Lube, which wasn't that close to the interstate.

The service manager at Jiffy Lube told me that the light indicated a temperature sensor issue, either a coolant issue or perhaps the water pump and that the light would stay on until I took it to a repair shop to have an engine diagnostic done. Turns out also my transmission fluid was badly needed to flushed out on my 126,000 mile 2001 Honda Accord. So I agreed to a quick oil change and the transmission fluid flush.

So I got back on the road around 8:45 AM. I still could make it to Wilmington on time. But it was still about three hours away. With my family still in New York until the house closes (which is soon), I couldn't risk having my car breakdown on the highway. Thus, I sadly turned back and drove to Midlands, Honda in Columbia. I got in touch with Brian and Coach Cassara to let them know I couldn't make it.

The Honda service manager quickly took the notes on the car and noted that there was also a recent recall for the passenger airbag. I had got that recall letter and knew it had to be fixed too. As I sat in the amazing waiting room with the HD 3D TV showing "The Dark Knight" while drinking hot chocolate, I briefly lamented the fact that I would not see Brian, Coach Cassara and what turned out to be Hofstra's first road win of the season, which was a terrific effort by the Pride.

However, I had known in the back of my head that Charlotte was hosting VCU at Halton Arena last night. I had brought my IPad to write my story for the Hofstra-UNC Wilmington game and Midlands Honda had free WiFI. Were tickets still available? As I went on the Charlotte 49ers ticket site, the answer was YES! Thus I got one ticket.

It turns out it was just a sensor issue. I got my car back shortly before noon and I drove home. There I watched the Hofstra-UNC Wilmington game online, where the Pride rallied from a ten point first half deficit to defeat the Seahawks 65-56. Then after quickly sweeping up the house floors and taking a nap, I made the now familiar drive up to the campus of Charlotte.

I got my ticket from will call and entered the Student Center, where Halton Arena is located. After my ticket was scanned in, an usher asked if I wanted a program. I said "Yes, thank you." In return, I got this gorgeous program. It looked like a yearbook/media guide to me. It's the nicest free program I have ever received at a college basketball game. Nice work Charlotte Athletic Department.

As I made my way to my seats, it was pretty evident that Ram Nation had made the trip in full force. There was a good number of fans in the gold and black colors of VCU. But they were minus Chris "Pav" Crowley, the ultimate VCU fan who I have become friends with over the past couple of years thanks to Twitter and the CAA community that the Rams were once part of until joining the A-10 this season. I have maintained ties to those knowledgable, fun VCU folks on Twitter. Pav couldn't make it last night. It was also Chris' birthday this week, so Happy Birthday Pav!

Entering the game, Charlotte had defended it's home court perfectly on the season, eleven straight wins. That included wins over good conference teams such as LaSalle,  a game that I saw in person, Xavier and U-Mass. Still one female fan sitting next to me asked her boyfriend "Is this the largest crowd of the season. Seems like it". Turns out it was the second largest crowd of the season, 8,794 in attendance. The previous home game vs. UMass had 9,100 in attendance.

This was going to be a battle between one of the top fifty teams in the country in effective field goal percentage defense, Charlotte, and the number one team in the country in defensive turnover percentage and steal percentage, VCU. I had seen Charlotte's guard length give LaSalle fits. But the 49ers were now without two of their best players. DeMario Mayfield, their best three point shooter, has been suspended from the team and J.T. Thompson is out for the season with a torn ACL.

The Charlotte pep band and student section were ready for Ram Nation. The band started with a very good version of Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk" and were solid all night. The student section did their part during the VCU team introduction by drowning out Ram nation with a loud chant of "FORTY - NINERS".

Charlotte scored the first basket on a Willie Clayton offensive rebound and putback. But VCU responded with an 8-0 spurt, which included forcing two 49er turnovers. Rob Brandenburg's jumper put the Rams up 8-2 barely with 16:55 left in the first half.

Barely three minutes into the game, Charlotte senior forward Chris Braswell was already incurring the wrath of the fans in my section, 217 Row K. Braswell had missed three jumpers and committed a turnover. When they saw Braswell camped out by the three point line, which he is warranted to do sometimes, one fan yelled "Braswell, don't shoot a three pointer, because you always miss them!" The fan knew what he was talking about as Braswell attempts nearly two three point attempts per game and is shooting 22.5 percent from beyond the arc on the season.

VCU extended their lead to ten, 18-8 on a Treveon Graham three pointer. Nine minutes into the game, the Rams had forced five turnovers and hit on more than half their shots. A Juvonte Reddic jumper with about eight and a half minutes left in the half kept VCU's lead at ten, 22-12.

But Charlotte ramped up their intensity on both sides of the ball and went on a 10-0 run over the next four plus minutes. The 49ers gave the Rams a little bit of their own medicine, forcing two turnovers in the span, which led to four Charlotte points. Terrance Williams' jumper tied the game at 22 with a little more than four minutes left in the half. The 49ers' fans were the loudest I had heard them in the three Charlotte games I had attended on the season. Shaka Smart was forced to call timeout as Halton Arena was rocking.

But off the timeout, Smart got the ball in the hands of Brandenburg who calmly buried a three pointer to put VCU up three, 25-22. The next play that ensued was the craziest play on the night. Chris Braswell had an open two on one break for an easy layup. But as he awkwardly dribbled toward the basket, he fumbled the ball, much to the displeasure of the fans by me. But fortunately for Braswell, Clayton was there and put in the layup to cut the Rams lead to one, 25-24.

VCU though would end the half outscoring Charlotte 9-4. With 00.1 seconds left in the half, Theus leaned into Charlotte's Pierria Henry on a jumper. The jumper was good and the foul was called on Henry. Theus would make the free throw and the Rams would go into halftime up 34-28.

After an entertaining halftime show by a local acrobatic fitness group (Astro Fitness I believe), the 49ers had an inauspicious start to the second half. They committed turnovers on each of their first two possessions. However Charlotte maintained their striking distance to VCU, still only down six, 41-35 with fifteen and a half minutes in the game.

But the turnovers kept coming for the 49ers. Their fourth and fifth turnovers on consecutive possessions led to Rams' baskets. After Henry committed a turnover, Reddic's layup put VCU up ten, 45-35 with fourteen minutes left in the game. A Brandenburg layup and two Reddic free throws extended the Rams lead to twelve, 49-37.

The 49ers chipped away at the lead with a 5-0 mini spurt over two plus minutes. A layup by Hentry made it 49-42 with 8:54 left. But Charlotte could have made the score much closer in that time frame had they not missed four free throws; two by Clayton, one by Darion Clark and one by Braswell, who was ingratiating himself with the fans more and more as the game progressed.

After Henry's layup cut the lead to seven, sensing a momentum shift, Smart again called timeout. And again off the timeout, it was Brandenburg who made the 49ers pay for their missed chances. He buried a three pointer and followed with a layup to extend the Rams lead back to twelve, 54-42 with seven a half minutes left.

Charlotte again responded with four straight points to cut the lead to eight again, 54-46. But for the third time in the game, Smart called timeout. And for the third time again, Brandenburg responded burying a three to put the Rams up eleven, 57-46 with six minutes left. A little bit later, Troy Daniels finally got into the act, hitting his first three pointer on the night to put the Rams up twelve, 62-48 with four and a half minutes left in the game.

It was at this time that the 49ers' fans had seen enough. They started leaving in droves. And even when Terrance Williams' ridiculously banked in a three pointer to make the score 66-57 with one minute left, the mass exodus from Halton Arena was well under way. The 49ers put in a meaningless last second basket to make the final VCU 68 Charlotte 61. Thus ended the 49ers undefeated streak at Halton this season.

With Graham in foul trouble for most of the game, Brandenburg and Reddic stepped up for the Rams. Brandenberg had twenty one points on seven of twelve shooting including three 3-pointers. Reddic added fourteen points on six of nine shooting and added three blocks and two steals. Graham still had twelve points for the Rams who shot nearly fifty two percent from the field against one of the better field goal defensive teams in the nation. VCU also scored twenty three points off seventeen Charlotte turnovers.

Charlotte had a good shooting night against VCU, shooting over fifty one percent themselves. But what killed the 49ers was a) The turnovers, b) Shooting one of seven from beyond the arc (Williams' lucky three was the only three pointer for Charlotte on the night), while VCU shot seven of eighteen from beyond the arc and c) an abysmal twelve of twenty two from the line. Willliams had thirteen points and Clayton added twelve. With Mayfield now gone for the rest of the season, Charlotte's other two leading scorers on the season, Braswell and Henry, combined for only sixteen points on five of nineteen shooting (the rest of Charlotte shot nineteen of twenty eight from the field.

With the win, VCU remains tied for first in the tight Atlantic-10 with Butler and Saint Louis at 7-2. With the loss, Charlotte dropped all the way to a seventh place with Temple and George Washington , two teams that have beaten them, at 5-4. The bright side for the 49ers is that UMass, LaSalle and Xavier are all tied for fourth at 6-3. Charlotte has already beaten all three of those teams.

Only two games separate the first place team from the ninth place team in the Atlantic-10. The Atlantic-10 is the perfect microcosm to the wild 2012-13 college basketball season. Perhaps it's not just a night of havoc, but a season of havoc.

That's VCU's type of season.

Doubleheader Saturday - Game 1 - 49ers Remain Undefeated (Recap of CMU v. Charlotte)

Charlotte has long had a successful men’s basketball program.  The 49ers made the Final Four with Cornbread Maxwell in 1977.  They were also briefly a part of the famed Metro Conference from 1991-1995. From 1992 to 2008, Charlotte made the NCAA Tournament nine times and the NIT four times.

But Charlotte has fallen on hard times recently. Since the 2006-07 season, the 49ers have had only two winning seasons and one postseason appearance, the 2008 NIT.  So when Charlotte knocked off Davidson on the Wildcats home court for their eighth consecutive win, I featured them in my Four on the Floor weekly segment series and made plans to travel up north to see them yesterday as they hosted Central Michigan.

It was a beautiful drive up to Charlotte yesterday as the temperature was around seventy degrees. Halton Arena is right on the campus of Charlotte. After you park in the parking garage, it is a short walk to the arena, which opened in 1996.  It seats 9100 and it is quite a pretty building.  Inside, there is a huge, spacious concourse where you can easily walk around with table and couch seating.  When you walk in from the concourse to the actual arena, you are surrounded by green everywhere.  It reminds me a lot of the Nutter Center on the campus of Wright State.

The last time I was at Halton Arena was the start of the 2006-07 season when they hosted Hofstra. Both teams had made the NIT the season before.  Hopes were high for Hofstra fans going into the season as they were the favorites to win the CAA.  But the 49ers used their size advantage to knock off the Pride 88-82.

As I noted in my weekly segment, Charlotte has won with defense.  Heading into the game vs. the Chippewas, the 49ers were twenty fourth in the country in two point field goal percentage defense.  And it was clearly early on why that was the case.  Charlotte swarms to the basketball, especially in the paint, with active hands and very good help defense.  

Central Michigan made their first shot attempt, but would then not score another basket until seven minutes later as they missed their next seven shots.  However, the Chippewas came out in a zone and forced the 49ers to shoot from the outside and Charlotte struggled as a result.  Thus the score was tied at 13-13 nine minutes into the game.

Charlotte would go on an 8-0 run led by senior Chris Braswell, who comes off the bench for the 49ers. The 6-9 senior forward would score four points in the spurt and showed some nifty passing skills with a couple of assists in the first half.   He is also very effective scoring in the paint, though he has a tendency to take open shots from the outside and is not a good outside shooter. Despite being Charlotte’s leading scorer, Braswell only averages about twenty four minutes per game.  But he gives them a much needed spark off the bench.

The 49ers were still up seven 27-20 with a little more than three minutes left.  But the Chippewas, realizing that they couldn’t score in the paint, went long range on the 49ers.   Chris Fowler assisted on two three pointers, the second by Blake Hibbitts and the game was tied at 27.   Charlotte scored the last four points to go up 31-27 at the half.

There were two major developments at halftime.  First, it was Mascot Day at Halton Arena, and that included a mascot basketball game as the halftime show.  Second, I found out that Matt Cayuela, writer for the Mid Majority and known to the Twitter world as Myrtle Beach Happy Hour was also at the game and we sat together for the second half.   Matt is also known as the man who called Tulane “The Iron Mike Sharpe of the Big East” after the Green Wave joined the conference for the 2013-14 season.

Speaking of a Green Wave, the tide started going the way of the 49ers in the second half.  Charlotte outscored Central Michigan 14-2 over a period of five minutes.  The 49ers finally started hitting their shots from beyond the arc, hitting four three pointers in the first nine minutes.  DeMario Mayfield’s second three pointer of the half put Charlotte up 51-38 with 11:15 left in the game.

During this time, there was a scrum for a loose ball and a melee ensued.  Whistles blew and after all was said and done, Charlotte starting sophomore guard Pierria Henry was tossed from the game.  Not to be outdone, Central Michigan Head Coach Keno Davis was given a technical foul and nearly got tossed from the game.

Central Michigan refused to go away and continued to make shots from long distance, similar to the large t-shirt Gatling gun used during a media timeout.  Over the next seven and a half minutes, the Chippewas hit four three pointers.   The last of which, a Hibbits three point shot, cut the 49ers lead to six, 64-58 with 3:40 left.

But Charlotte scored eight straight points, including two three pointers of their own to put the game out of reach.  A Braswell layup made the score 72-58.  Charlotte would eventually win 78-66.

Mayfield led Charlotte with fifteen points, while Denzel Ingram added thirteen points and Willie Clayton had ten points and nine rebounds.  Braswell had eight points and twelve rebounds.  The 49ers shot forty nine percent from the field and had twenty three assists and only nine turnovers.

Charlotte continued to show its two point field goal defensive prowess as Central Michigan shot better from beyond the arc, 10 of 27, than from two point range, 10 of 29.  Hibbits, Olivier Mbaigoto, Kyle Randall and John Simons combined to score fifty two points and hit all of the team’s ten three pointers.

The 5,263 in attendance got to see the team’s ninth straight win.  The 49ers have five more non conference games before they start A-10 play against LaSalle at Halton Arena on January 9.  If the 49ers can win at Miami and defeat Florida State in a neutral site game, they have a good chance entering conference play undefeated.  In the very competitive Atlantic Ten, every win is needed if you want to get back to the NCAA Tournament after a seven year drought.