Days after CBI championship, Charlotte 49ers lose top 2 players to transfer portal

The end of the Charlotte 49ers men’s basketball season lost a little bit of luster on Tuesday.

About a week after its thrilling win against Eastern Kentucky for the College Basketball Invitational crown — which marked the first postseason championship in program history — Charlotte saw its two leading scorers hit the transfer portal.

Aly Khalifa announced his decision around 10 a.m. Tuesday morning. Brice Williams entered the portal shortly thereafter, per Verbal Commits.

These departures are significant blows to a program that by late March had finally unlocked its potential and looked equipped to leap from Conference USA to the American Athletic Conference in the 2023 offseason.

The 2022-23 season marked the first 20-win season since Ron Sanchez took over the program in 2018.

Khalifa was perhaps the most valuable player on the team this past season. The 6-foot-11, 230-pound redshirt sophomore averaged 11.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game — proving his worth as a conventional back-to-the-basket big as well as a conductor of the team’s Princeton offense from the top of the key.

The native of Alexandria, Egypt, was also the Conference USA Freshman of the Year in 2021-22.

“I want to thank Coach Ron Sanchez and the entire Charlotte coaching staff and my brothers for always having my back and always supporting me since day one on my journey to the NCAA,” Khalifa wrote in a tweet on Tuesday. He added, “With that being said, I plan to enter the transfer portal. I am excited for what is to come and looking forward to exploring all opportunities that will help me develop my basketball career.”

Williams’ departure will be equally tough to swallow — perhaps even more difficult.

The silky smooth guard averaged a team-best 13.8 points and 5.3 rebounds a game. He only started 13 of the team’s 36 games, but he played starter minutes (27.1 a game) and could create offense by himself when he needed to.

He also is the son of the late Henry Williams, the all-time leading scorer in Charlotte men’s basketball history. As of Tuesday at 2:40 p.m., the tweet pinned to his profile remained his commitment post from November 2018. It showed two photos — one a graphic of himself wearing a black Charlotte uniform, the other a photo of his late father.