Charlotte 49ers rediscover their winning ways, take down Rice, 69-64

The Charlotte 49ers got back on track Wednesday night on the back of Igor Milicic Jr.’s career-best 26-point performance.

Charlotte snapped its three-game slidein the final game at Halton Arena this season, beating Rice, 69-64.

Milicic made four 3-pointers in the game, tying the visiting Rice Owls’ team total from beyond the arc.

Charlotte needed nearly every one of Milicic’s points to thwart the Owls’ late-game rally. The win gives the 49ers 13 victories in Halton this season, keeping them (18-11, 12-5 AAC) as the No. 3 seed in the American Athletic Conference, which would result in a double-bye in the conference tournament, which starts next Wednesday in Fort Worth.

Charlotte had to have this victory. After suffering blowout losses to two of the league’s most talented teams, Memphis and No. 24 South Florida, the 49ers had to get back on track with one conference game left.

“It had been a tough three games, and we had been very frustrated. Everyone has gone through some tough patches, and we’re going through ours. We still are,” head coach Aaron Fearne told reporters after the game. “I told the guys before the game, ‘I like these situations.’ To be in an adverse situation — you’re challenged right now. Mentally, physically and emotionally. You’ve just got to fight through it, and tonight we did that. It wasn’t pretty, but we played hard enough and made the plays down the stretch.”

Coming into the penultimate game of conference play, rebounding has been a topic of conversation for the 49ers; they’ve been outrebounded in all five of their conference losses. Wednesday night was a much different story, to the tune of plus-10 in the rebounding margin and 14 offensive rebounds, which earned them 11 more field goal attempts than the visiting Owls.

Milicic talked about Charlotte’s response on the glass, keeping it brief.

“The coaches were on our a**** about it,” Milicic said.

“We have been very frustrated with (rebounding),” Fearne said. “It puts you behind. If we can’t create turnovers and can’t keep them off the glass, and they end up having 6-10 extra possessions that we have to defend, it puts you under tremendous pressure. You have to really go into games and battle. We talk about it, we drill it, and we just have to get it done or we don’t. Tonight was a much better effort, and we need to do the same thing on Saturday.”

Here are two things we learned from Charlotte’s bounce-back victory.

Three-headed monster

When Charlotte’s big three of Lu’Cye Patterson, Dishon Jackson and Milicic are all playing well, Charlotte can beat any team in the American. But if one, or two have rough nights, things can get dicey.

Wednesday night’s game saw a scoring explosion and double-double from Milicic, marking his 10th of the season. Milicic connected on seven of his 11 shots and drew five fouls, sinking a pair of clutch free throws and collecting a key defensive rebound to get Charlotte back in the win column.

For Jackson, the rematch with Rice was a get-right game for the sophomore big man. After taking a season-low of three shot attempts against South Florida last Saturday, Jackson returned to double figures posting 15 points and eight rebounds.

Physicality is Jackson’s game, and Charlotte needs the 6-foot-11 center’s paint presence and rim protection to advance in March.

“I think that’s just how I was raised to play, just going at guys no matter who you are, what your name is,” Jackson told the media last month. “I’m just going to go at you, and if you can stop me, great. But it’s probably not going to happen.”

Despite the solid night Jackson took just one shot in the second half.

It’s been a rough stretch for Patterson, Charlotte’s leading scorer at 14.5 points per game, who fouled out for the third time this season on Wednesday night. And for the second time in the past four games, Patterson picked up two quick fouls and was forced to the bench. He was sidelined for much of the contest, playing just 19 minutes and adding 2

points on 25% shooting. Patterson picked up his fifth foul with just over seven minutes to play, kick-starting the Owls’ comeback.

Fearne spoke about Charlotte needing Patterson — especially come tournament time.

“We need him. We struggled some tonight without his ability to go out there and put some points on the board, make plays and take pressure off of people. Sometimes you have those nights, and he had one of them tonight,” Fearne said. “He’s a pretty confident guy, and he’s a little frustrated with it. When you’re one of the team’s better players, other teams go at you and want to get you out of the game. There’s no magic formula, it’s just get back on the floor and get back to work.”

Folkes in the five

Charlotte’s early-conference eight-game win streak was sparked with the addition of Isiah Folkes to Fearne’s starting five, in favor of Jackson Threadgill. Folkes’ defensive prowess and spark-plug energy have made a stark impact, posting a 20-7 career record with the junior guard in the starting lineup.

“I know what I’ve got to do. I’ve been doing that my whole career. Being able to guard the best player and frustrate him from the jump is different than coming off the bench,” Folkes told the media in February.

But as the calendar flips to March, Folkes’ offensive skills — or lack thereof — has raised questions about Charlotte’s rotation heading into the conference tournament.

Folkes has attempted just seven 3-pointers on the season — and hasn’t connected from beyond the arc in 27 games. Opponents have caught on, sagging off the 6-foot-4 guard and shading Charlotte’s front court duo of Jackson and Milicic. Known as a lockdown defender, spark plug, and slasher, Folkes has attempted just 19 free throws on the season, connecting on just 37%.

With Jackson and Folkes on the court together, Charlotte is clogging the paint and shrinking the court with only three 3-point threats on the court – Patterson (35%), Milicic (37%) and Nik Graves (33%).

With tournament time just days away, and a rematch with East Carolina in Greenville looming, Fearne spoke about what he needs from Folkes with just two guaranteed games left.

“We need him to defend at an elite level. It’s difficult to defend the other team’s better players. He needs to rebound for us, and when he rebounds well for us, we generally get put in good positions to win,” Fearne said. “Offensively, he’s not a shooter. That’s what he is; that’s OK. He needs to move the ball, get guys shots, and run our team like he had to tonight.”