Charlotte Players to Watch

The Deacs are coming off a nice road win over Richmond this weekend and have moved to 6-2 overall. Up next, Mark Price and the Charlotte 49ers come to Winston-Salem in what should be a high scoring game (both teams average 81.4 ppg). Here are a couple of guys for the Niners you’ll want to keep an eye on:

Jon Davis | Soph. Guard | #3

Davis is off to an incredible start this season. He leads the 49ers in scoring and is among the top 50 scorers in the nation with 20.8 points per game. He also helps get his teammates involved, leading the team in assists with 3.4 per game. Davis is a quick guard that excels at getting into the lane where he has the ability to finish strong with either hand. He is shooting 52% from the field on the season, which is likely a result of his ability to get to the rim and get easy buckets.

In attacking the paint, he is also getting to the free throw line, where he shoots 82%, 5.6 times per game. Always looking to attack, Davis likes to push the ball on missed shots and turnovers in order to get up the court and get easy shots for himself and his teammates. The Deacs will need to make sure they are getting back on defense quickly to prevent giving Charlotte easy points.

Outside of his ability to attack and score at the rim, Davis is shooting 54% from the 3-point line this season. While just 30% of his shots come from beyond the arc, he is definitely a guy the Deacs will not want to leave open from the outside.

With his ability to get by his man and get into the paint, Wake Forest will need John Collins to play help defense without fouling. The last couple of games Collins has gotten quick fouls in both halves, forcing him to sit for a substantial amount of minutes. Charlotte doesn’t have much size on their team this year(players with significant minutes this season are 6-7 or shorter), so Collins staying in the game as much as possible will give the Deacs a significant advantage.

Andrien White | Soph. Guard | #2

White is second on the team in scoring behind Davis at 13.8 points per game. He plays the role of a 3 and D guy for the Niners, leading the team in 3-pointers attempted (59), 3-pointers made (25), and steals (14) this season. He is shooting 42% from beyond the arc so far this season and gets up an impressive 7.4 3-point attempts a game. Mark Price does a great job setting up plays for White that use off ball screens to get him open from deep.

Wake Forest will need to communicate effectively on how they are going to play the off ball screens so that the Niners don’t end up with wide open shots from beyond the arc. On the other side of the ball, White does a great job of getting his hands into the passing lane and breaking up passes. This leads to steals that result in fast break opportunities for the Niners. He is averaging 1.8 steals per game this season.

If Wake Forest can limit their turnovers and Collins can stay out of foul trouble, the Deacs should have a pretty good chance at picking up the win against Charlotte on Tuesday.

What are you expecting from Wake Forest in this match up?