# 2022–23 Charlotte 49ers men's basketball team

The 2022–23 Charlotte 49ers men's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina at Charlotte during the 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was led by fifth-year head coach Ron Sanchez, and played their home games at Dale F. Halton Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina as members of Conference USA. They finished the season 18–13, 9–11 in C-USA play to finish in fifth place, and lost to Middle Tennessee in the first round of the C-USA tournament. Despite this, the 49ers received an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational, marking their first participation in the CBI and their first invite to a postseason tournament since 2013. In the CBI, Charlotte defeated Western Carolina, Milwaukee, and Radford to reach the championship game, where they defeated Eastern Kentucky to win their first-ever postseason tournament.
This season marked the team's last as members of Conference USA before joining the American Athletic Conference on July 1, 2023.

## Previous season

The 49ers finished the 2021–22 season with a record of 17–14, 10–8 in C-USA play to finish in fourth place in East Division. They lost in the second round of the C-USA tournament to Rice. The team did not play in a post-season tournament.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| Clyde Trapp Jr. | 0 | G | 6'4" | 200 | GS Senior | Eastover, SC | Graduated |
| Jahmir Young | 1 | G | 6'1" | 185 | Junior | Upper Marlboro, MD | Transferred to Maryland |
| Austin Butler | 2 | G | 6'5" | 210 | GS Senior | Latrobe, PA | Graduated |
| Marvin Cannon | 5 | G | 6'5" | 170 | RS Senior | Richmond, VA | Graduated |
| Perry Francois | 10 | F | 6'8" | 240 | GS Senior | North Miami, FL | Graduated |
| Jared Garcia | 25 | F | 6'8" | 240 | Sophomore | Houston, TX | Transferred to Salt Lake CC |
| Luka Vasic | 35 | G | 6'8" | 205 | RS Senior | Pirot, Serbia | Graduate transferred to Texas A&M–Commerce |
| Eli Bennett | 44 | G | 6'2" | 160 | Freshman | Charlottesville, VA | Walk-on; left the team for personal reasons |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous |
| Montre Gipson | 1 | G | 5'11" | 200 | GS Senior | DeSoto, TX | Tarleton State |
| Josh Aldrich | 22 | G/F | 6'8" | 224 | GS Senior | Wilmington, NC | USC Upstate |
| Igor Miličić Jr. | 24 | G/F | 6'10" | 224 | Sophomore | Rovinj, Croatia | Virginia |
| Lu'Cye Patterson | 25 | G | 6'1" | 209 | Junior | Minneapolis, MN | Missouri State |

### 2022 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Nik Graves PG | Greensboro, NC | Greensboro Day School | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 170 lb (77 kg) | Oct 15, 2021 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ||||||
| Rich Rolf PF | Centreville, OH | Centreville High School | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 195 lb (88 kg) | Aug 23, 2022 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2022 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 7, 2022* 6:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Coppin State | W 82–59 | 1–0 | Dale F. Halton Arena (2,638) Charlotte, NC |
| November 14, 2022* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Maryland Eastern Shore | W 80–47 | 2–0 | Dale F. Halton Arena (2,929) Charlotte, NC |
| November 17, 2022* 7:00 p.m., ESPNews | | vs. Boise State Myrtle Beach Invitational Quarterfinals | W 54–42 | 3–0 | HTC Center (1,123) Myrtle Beach, SC |
| November 18, 2022* 7:00 p.m., ESPNU | | vs. Tulsa Myrtle Beach Invitational Semifinals | W 68–65 | 4–0 | HTC Center (1,306) Myrtle Beach, SC |
| November 20, 2022* 1:00p.m., ESPN2 | | vs. UMass Myrtle Beach Invitational Championship | L 54–60 | 4–1 | HTC Center (1,349) Myrtle Beach, SC |
| November 23, 2022* 12:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Detroit Mercy | L 49–70 | 4–2 | Calihan Hall (1,707) Detroit, MI |
| November 26, 2022* 4:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Presbyterian | W 69–42 | 5–2 | Dale F. Halton Arena (2,104) Charlotte, NC |
| November 29, 2022* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Davidson | W 68–66 $^{OT}$ | 6–2 | John M. Belk Arena (3,238) Davidson, NC |
| December 2, 2022* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Appalachian State | W 71–62 | 7–2 | Dale F. Halton Arena (5,148) Charlotte, NC |
| December 10, 2022* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Detroit Mercy | W 82–80 $^{OT}$ | 8–2 | Dale F. Halton Arena (2,704) Charlotte, NC |
| December 17, 2022* 4:00 p.m., FloSports | | at Monmouth | W 80–46 | 9–2 | OceanFirst Bank Center (1,470) West Long Branch, NJ |
| Conference USA regular season ||||||
| December 22, 2022 7:30 p.m., ESPN+ | | at UAB | L 68–76 | 9–3 (0–1) | Bartow Arena (3,323) Birmingham, AL |
| December 29, 2022 6:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Middle Tennessee | W 82–67 | 10–3 (1–1) | Dale F. Halton Arena (2,480) Charlotte, NC |
| December 31, 2022 2:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Louisiana Tech | W 68–66 | 11–3 (2–1) | Dale F. Halton Arena (2,372) Charlotte, NC |
| January 5, 2023 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at FIU | L 60–62 | 11–4 (2–2) | Ocean Bank Convocation Center (819) Miami, FL |
| January 7, 2023 2:00 p.m., CUSA.tv | | at Florida Atlantic | L 67–71 | 11–5 (2–3) | Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena (1,816) Boca Raton, FL |
| January 14, 2023 2:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | UTSA | W 72–54 | 12–5 (3–3) | Dale F. Halton Arena (3,189) Charlotte, NC |
| January 16, 2023 4:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | UTEP | L 58–60 | 12–6 (3–4) | Dale F. Halton Arena (3,045) Charlotte, NC |
| January 19, 2023 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Middle Tennessee | L 58–62 | 12–7 (3–5) | Murphy Center (3,304) Murfreesboro, TN |
| January 21, 2023 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Western Kentucky | W 75–71 | 13–7 (4–5) | E. A. Diddle Arena (4,793) Bowling Green, KY |
| January 26, 2023 8:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Rice | L 63–65 | 13–8 (4–6) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,665) Houston, TX |
| February 2, 2023 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | FIU | L 54–57 | 13–9 (4–7) | Dale F. Halton Arena (3,073) Charlotte, NC |
| February 4, 2023 4:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | No. 19 Florida Atlantic | L 52–67 | 13–10 (4–8) | Dale F. Halton Arena (4,037) Charlotte, NC |
| February 9, 2023 9:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at UTEP | W 62–53 | 14–10 (5–8) | Don Haskins Center (3,768) El Paso, TX |
| February 11, 2023 9:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at North Texas | L 43–67 | 14–11 (5–9) | The Super Pit (4,123) Denton, TX |
| February 16, 2023 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Western Kentucky | W 68–64 $^{OT}$ | 15–11 (6–9) | Dale F. Halton Arena (2,674) Charlotte, NC |
| February 18, 2023 3:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Louisiana Tech | W 74–67 | 16–11 (7–9) | Thomas Assembly Center (2,326) Ruston, LA |
| February 23, 2023 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | North Texas | W 55–49 | 17–11 (8–9) | Dale F. Halton Arena (3,015) Charlotte, NC |
| February 25, 2023 4:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Rice | W 70–54 | 18–11 (9–9) | Dale F. Halton Arena (2,837) Charlotte, NC |
| March 2, 2023 8:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at UTSA | L 73–78 | 18–12 (9–10) | Convocation Center (1,249) San Antonio, TX |
| March 4, 2023 1:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | UAB | L 91–93 $^{2OT}$ | 18–13 (9–11) | Dale F. Halton Arena (2,534) Charlotte, NC |
| Conference USA tournament ||||||
| March 9, 2023 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | (5) | vs. (4) Middle Tennessee Quarterfinals | L 65–66 | 18–14 | Ford Center at The Star (1,773) Frisco, TX |
| CBI ||||||
| March 18, 2023 7:30 p.m., FloHoops | (3) | vs. (14) Western Carolina First round | W 65–56 | 19–14 | Ocean Center (876) Daytona Beach, FL |
| March 20, 2023 6:30 p.m., FloHoops | (3) | vs. (11) Milwaukee Quarterfinals | W 76–65 | 20–14 | Ocean Center (764) Daytona Beach, FL |
| March 21, 2023 9:30 p.m., ESPN2 | (3) | vs. (10) Radford Semifinals | W 63–56 | 21–14 | Ocean Center (962) Daytona Beach, FL |
| March 22, 2023 5:00 p.m., ESPN2 | (3) | vs. (8) Eastern Kentucky Championship | W 71–68 | 22–14 | Ocean Center (771) Daytona Beach, FL |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern. ||||||
Source