The Monmouth Hawks and Charlotte 49ers meet Tuesday in college basketball action at the Dale F. Halton Arena. The Monmouth Hawks won 12 games last year and enter another year under coach King Rice. The Charlotte 49ers won 9 games last year and enter the fourth year under coach Ron Sanchez.
The Monmouth Hawks say goodbye to their top-two scorers from last season and three of their last four scorers overall. The Monmouth Hawks have a lot of production to replace, but they have a lot of upperclassmen, so there’s experience they can lean on early. George Papas returns after averaging 12.4 points and 3.3 rebounds, while Marcus McClary averaged 7 points and 1.5 assists. Myles Ruth dished 2 assists per game last season, and Nikkei Rutty averaged 5.1 rebounds.
The Charlotte 49ers return more than enough production to where they can compete in the C-USA, including their top player. Charlotte also gets transfers from Clemson (Clyde Trapp), Syracuse (Robert Braswell) and Ohio State (Must Jallow). The Charlotte 49ers should make a run in the C-USA this season. Jahmir Young returns after averaging 18 points and 4.9 rebounds, while Brice Williams averaged 9.7 points and 1 assist. Jackson Threadgill played in 20.7 minutes per game last season, and Jared Garcia averaged 2.6 rebounds.
The Hawks are 0-5 ATS in their last 5 road games and 0-6 ATS in their last 6 games overall. The 49ers are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games as a favorite and 2-8 ATS in their last 10 games overall. The under is 4-0 in Hawks last 4 overall. The ver is 7-3 in 49ers last 10 overall.
The Monmouth Hawks have a lot of key players to replace from last season, and it may take some time to adjust. The Charlotte 49ers not only return their top players from a year ago, but they get a trio of quality transfers who greatly improve the roster. Charlotte could very well be the team to beat in the C-USA. I’ll lay the reasonable chalk.