Charlotte 49ers men’s and women’s basketball set for new seasons: ‘There’s no ceiling’

It might have been a cool night in Charlotte on Thursday, but it’s still the warmest place Jeremiah Oden has lived.

Oden, a Charlotte 49ers men’s basketball graduate transfer from Chicago who previously played at DePaul and Wyoming, was lightly recruited by the the Niners out of high school. He could always sense the vision that Charlotte had for its program, and then he really felt like he clicked with the players and coaching staff.

“I’ve been on a lot of good teams, but the chemistry here is great ,” Oden said at the Niners’ preseason tipoff event on Thursday evening. “We like each other, and the ball moves well. Everybody’s buying into what Coach (Aaron Fearne) and all the coaches are trying to tell us.

“What excites me most is being able to be a part of a really strong team culture. That’s the most fun part about playing basketball, to me. It’s a team sport. Just that feeling of grinding out a tough win with a group of guys you love.”

Oden is among six new transfers for Charlotte, which lost starters Igor Miličić (Tennessee), Lu’Cye Patterson (Minnesota) and Dishon Jackson (Iowa State) to the portal.

The Niners brought in big man Aleks Szymczyk , a 6-foot-10 Polish-born forward, who grew up in Frankfurt, Germany, and spent the past two seasons at the University of Florida . He played in 14 games as a true freshman for the Gators in 2022-23 before a preseason foot injury kept him sidelined for all last season.

They also added graduate student Giancarlo Rosado , who was a key piece in Florida Atlantic’s run to the Final Four in 2023; Nika Metskhvarishvili (Louisiana-Monroe); Jaehshon Thomas (Florida Southwestern State); and Kylan Blackman (Coastal Carolina).

Most of the Charlotte players arrived to campus in May, about two weeks before they’d been scheduled to begin for the summer. The team has bonded well, often playing video games together and getting to know each other on and off the court.

“This team can make it as far as we want,” said Rosado, who scored 15 points in the Owls’ NCAA Tournament win over Memphis in 2023. “There’s no ceiling for this team. This team is new. We have a lot of experienced guys who have been to the tournament before, won championships, and our ceiling is wherever we determine it.”

Charlotte women have experience in Tomekia Reed’s first year

Coach Tomekia Reed feels she has a strong group in her first season at the helm of Charlotte women’s basketball.

The Niners brought in 10 new transfers, including Alexis Andrews , a former all-rookie guard in the Coastal Athletic Association after starting in all 61 games over two seasons at the College of Charleston. Her 3-point shooting percentage improved by nearly six percentage points from her freshman to sophomore seasons, jumping to 35.3%.

Graduate student Kay Kay Green joins the Niners following four seasons at Texas A&M, where she totaled 30 starts as a member of the Aggies. Senior forward Aanaya Harris , a top-ranked player in Nebraska coming out of high school, was a key scorer for the past three seasons at Xavier University.

The team took a two-week trip to Europe in August, which included three competitive games against particularly tough opponents. Reed said that experience has made it feel like the team has already been through one part of a season, with a particularly tighter bond and strong chemistry under a new head coach.

“Our identity will eventually be defensive,” Reed said. “We will really wrap our minds and our energy around being a great defensive team. A team that’s up-tempo, extremely strategic offensively — and just high energy. We want teams to be really shocked when they play us, in our speed, toughness and the way we execute.

“I was just thinking the other day: ‘This is a very good first-year team.’ We got really good players who were highly-recruited in the transfer portal. Players who were leading scorers at their previous schools. I’m really excited because we have a lot of experience, and right now we’re just trying to put that experience together.”

Three home games on national TV for Charlotte men

Charlotte men’s basketball will have 10 games air nationally this season across the ESPN family of networks.

The bulk of the Niners’ games will stream on ESPN+ this season, which culminates with the American Athletic Conference tournament from March 12-16. Those games will be broadcast on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU from Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

A trio of the nationally-televised men’s basketball games will be inside Halton Arena:

▪ Charlotte is set to host Memphis on Jan. 19, which could air on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. That decision, along with the tip time that Sunday, will be announced at a later date.

▪ The Niners will welcome Wichita State for another conference game on Feb. 4. The matchup is set for 7 p.m. that Tuesday evening and will air on either ESPN2 or ESPNU.

▪ Charlotte’s home game against East Carolina on Feb. 15 is set for ESPNU. Tip-off of the in-state conference rivalry is slated for 4 p.m. that Saturday afternoon.

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