The Charlotte 49ers (9-1) will stay on the road Wednesday to take on the Old Dominion Monarchs (7-4) in a renewed rivalry between two old Sunbelt Conference teams (7 p.m. 1660-AM, Matt Sweirad). At 9-1, Charlotte is off to it's best start under head coach Bobby Lutz and it's best start since the 1991-92 season. The Niners are riding a seven-game winning streak, four in a row on the road, and have gotten themselves into the national conversation.
Against Old Dominion, the 49ers will face one of their stiffest tests yet. The Monarchs are coming off an impressive 61-57 road victory over No. 11 Georgetown. The two teams were in the Sunbelt Conference from 1983-91 and have met on the hardwood 26 times. Last year, ODU shot 50 percent from behind the three-point arc on their way to a 69-68 win at Halton Arena.
Charlotte faces an Old Dominion team that is a perfect 5-0 at home and is coming off an impressive road victory at No. 11 Georgetown. The Monarchs are holding opponents under 55 points per game and just a 39 percent shooting percentage. By contrast, Charlotte is scoring 80.1 points and is shooting 45 percent. Two of ODU's losses came on the road against powerful A-10 players Dayton (58-50) and Richmond (67-60). Charlotte trails in the all-time series 12-14. Head coach Bobby Lutz is 1-1 in Norfolk, the Niners are just 4-8 all time.
The Niners were just 2-14 in "true" road games last season but are already an impressive 5-1 on the road in 2009-10. Charlotte is 5-0 in the month of December and is a perfect 9-0 in December over the last two years. Last season's 4-0 mark included wins against Mississippi State and Southern Illinois.
Old Dominion is led this season by senior forward Gerald Lee. A native of Finland, Lee is averaging 13.5 points per game and at 6-10 250 pounds, will be a tough task to handle. Also playing a prominent role for ODU will be combo guard Marsharee Neely. The junior guard is averaging 8.1 points per game and is one of the team's leading three-point shooters at just under 33 percent. A low-scoring team, Old Dominion is averaging just 66 points per game and is shooting just 32 percent from behind the arc.
Look for Charlotte to try and shut down Lee inside and control the game in the paint with Shamari Spears and standout freshman Chris Braswell. If the Niners can control the play inside and knock down a number of shots from behind the arc, they should be sitting at 10-1 for the Christmas holiday.
Charlotte returns home to Halton Arena to play Mercer next Tuesday night.
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