University of North Carolina NCAA News

Virginia Tech 71, Campbell 60: J.T. Thompson scored a season-high 17 points and Virginia Tech pulled away late for a victory against Campbell last night in Buies Creek.

Charlotte holds off Hofstra 80-72 Eds: APNewsNow. Charlotte 80, Hofstra 72. HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. Shamari Spears scored 26 points to lead Charlotte to an 80-72 victory over Hofstra on Tuesday night.

Shamari Spears scored a career-high 28 points to lead Charlotte in an 88-74 win over Yale on Monday.

Preview: This will be Minnesota's first tough test of the regular season after Sunday's 84-45 home-court rout of Lamar.

Despite some rocky moments because of foul trouble, Shamari Spears' much-anticipated debut for the Charlotte 49ers had a satisfying conclusion.

Nolan Smith scored a career-high 24 points in his return to Duke's lineup, and the ninth-ranked Blue Devils routed Charlotte 101-59 on Tuesday night in the second round of the NIT Season Tip-Off. Jon Scheyer added 20 points and Kyle Singler had 17 for the Blue Devils , who never trailed, hit 12 3-pointers and shot 52.9 percent.

Shamari Spears scored 16 of his 23 points in the second half and Charlotte beat Elon 75-61 on Monday night in the first round of the NIT Season Tip-Off. Rashad Coleman added 11 points and Dijuan Harris had 10 for the 49ers .

Charlotte forward An'Juan Wilderness will miss two to four weeks with a strained left calf, while freshman guard Gokhan Sirin will serve a one-game suspension in Friday's season opener.

Shamarr Bowden scored 21 points and Charlotte's coach Bobby Lutz won his 200th career game in a 86-70 victory over North Carolina-Asheville in the teams' season opener Friday night.

Charlotte starting power forward Shamari Spears has been suspended for the season opener for breaking team rules.

Final record: 21-9 Entering his 12th year as 49ers head coach, Bobby Lutz and the 49ers are looking to rebound off what was possibly the worst season of Lutz's career.

After a down season and only 11 victories, Coach Bobby Lutz will have a lot of new faces at UNC Charlotte.

They didn't know each other growing up in Cameroon. They became high school teammates in Little Rock, and teamed up for a Class 3A Arkansas championship.

Same old feeling about men's basketball in the Pacific West Conference. The consensus during yesterday's media day was that it's going to be another tough season ... starting at the top, where defending champion Brigham Young-Hawaii was the unanimous choice to repeat.

SCOUTING THE NEWCOMERS: Several newcomers could provide instant impact, starting in the frontcourt with Boston College transfer Shamari Spears, who averaged 9.6 points and 6.1 rebounds at Boston College .

Former Angelina College basketball All-American Lamont Mack has signed a contract to play professionally in Greece for AEK Athens, recognized as one of the elite teams in European basketball.

We continue our 1-347 countdown. Today, it's teams ranked 101st through 150th. We'll rank teams in groups of 50 until we get to the teams in the top 50, which will get full-fledged breakdowns.

Former Charlotte 49er standout forward Lamont Mack has signed with AEK Athens in Greece.

Fans of UNC Charlotte athletics, rejoice. The football team is coming soon after a 60-plus year wait, and, better yet, the non-conference schedule has finally been released on Charlotte49ers.com after months of anticipation.

THE GOOD NEWS: Nearly everyone returns in 2008-09, including injured sophomores An'Juan Wilderness and Charles Dewhurst.