North Carolina State University Athletics
Heading to Toronto: Sidney Lowe Q&A
8/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The NC State men's basketball team has begun preparations for a Labor Day weekend trip to Toronto, where they will play two exhibition games against Canadian universities.
The Pack faces York University on Aug. 30 and the University of Guelph on Aug. 31.
Sidney Lowe and his team are allowed 10 practices before the trip, under NCAA rules, which allow such international trips once every four years. Those practice sessions began on Tuesday.
Lowe sat down to talk about his expectations for the trip with GoPack.com managing editor Tim Peeler.
GoPack.com: How did this trip come about?
Lowe: It was something we talked about as a staff. Coach [Monte] Towe mentioned that he knew someone who ran these kinds of events. I thought it would be something nice for us to be involved with, especially for this year. We made contact and they thought it was a good idea.
GoPack.com: Why Toronto?
Lowe: That’s where this person was based and the NCAA requirement is that you have to go out of the country. It should be an easy trip. It’s international, but not too far.
GoPack.com: What are the specific goals you have for the two games and, maybe more importantly, the 10 practices, you get for this trip?
Lowe: First of all, it’s important for us to get together right away and practice. It allows our guys to get out and play together in a structured, practice environment, getting the new guys involved early. That’s important because I think they will be a major part of our team this year. It is going to give us an opportunity to see if we can do some other things, especially on defense. Offensively, we may not experiment as much. I just want to see if we can play smart, execute some simple plays and get out and run. I want to see if our guys can just read what the defense is giving them.
GoPack.com: Without revealing any secrets about the season, what kind of things do you want to change?
Lowe: We still have the core of the guys we have had for a couple of years. We can’t all of a sudden be a full-court, trap, pressing defense for 40 minutes. Your personnel still dictates what you are doing. But with the addition of the two freshmen, I think it is going to allow us to do a few more things, like moving people around. We won’t make any drastic changes in what we do, but we will change and add a few things.
GoPack.com: Farnold Degand and Johnny Thomas, who were injured last year, are going on the trip, but will not participate in the two games. How is their health?
Lowe: First of all, both are doing really well. Farnold is ready to go. Johnny is getting there. We feel that it is best that we wait on them. There is no rush to get them out on the court right now. They have had this long to rest and rehab. To have them play in these games might be a risk and wouldn’t be smart on our part. They wouldn’t normally be starting until the middle of October anyway, so it’s not like they are getting a late start on anything. We want to wait and be sure.
GoPack.com: Can this be a benefit for your younger guards, like sophomore Javi Gonzalez and freshman Julius Mays?
Lowe: Absolutely, this could be a blessing. The young guys will get more time running our point guard and learning our system, at least the few things we will put in. The most important thing will just be getting to play against another level of player and playing with the other guys in a game setting. That’s especially big for Julius.
GoPack.com: What do you expect from Mays?
Lowe: Julius is a steady type of player. He is not overly quick or fast, but he is smart and he can shoot the basketball. He doesn’t turn it over a lot knock on wood. I think he will do a good job for us. He has a high basketball IQ. He knows how to play the game and he is a classy, classy young man.
GoPack.com: What about C.J. Williams, the freshman wing player?
Lowe: He is a talented young man who can handle the ball, pass the ball and go get rebounds. He too has a high basketball IQ. He is also a young man who you can put on the floor and just say Go play.’ Julius is the same way. They are going to pass and cut or pass and set screens. They know how to play the game.
GoPack.com: Is just going out and playing instead of auditioning for travel team coaches, college coaches or pro scouts becoming kind of a lost art?
Lowe: I think so, because the game is so individualized. It’s all about the kid, showing how much he can shake this guy down, or cross him over, and all that. As opposed to learning the small parts of the game and playing in a team concept. There are people of influence who always tell the kids that they have to do this or that. While coaches look at those talents, we also like the kids who just know how to play. The ones who are overly talented, you might not have very long anyway. We are always trying to find those four-year guys who are going to help you win games because they are good players, but they also know how to play the game.
GoPack.com: You have a very experienced team coming back this year, with two seniors [Courtney Fells and Ben McCauley], a fourth-year junior [Brandon Costner], and some other guys with a lot of experience [juniors Dennis Horner and Trevor Ferguson]. How will that help?
Lowe: It should help us a great deal. We do have several guys who have the experience of playing a lot of minutes. Now it’s a matter of leading and guiding those young guys and setting a good example and doing what you are supposed to do. We are not really a young team. We have some young players and some guys who haven’t played a lot of minutes, but we also have some guys who have been through the battles.
GoPack.com: Courtney seems excited about playing more of a wing forward position, as opposed to shooting guard.
Lowe: That is something that we are going to look at doing, especially on this trip. It certainly should give us an advantage, because of his quickness in that position. He will sometimes be playing against some taller guys. He is very active on the boards from that position. He can crash the boards, especially on offense. That will free him up, as opposed to being in the backcourt trying to defend against the fast break. I think it will be great for our team and for Courtney.
GoPack.com: It also allows you to do some other things with your backcourt players and to maybe get Trevor Ferguson, who proved to be one of your more consistent players, out on the court a little more.
Lowe: Trevor definitely played well down the stretch last year. This is a great opportunity for him to step in and perform and continue doing what he was doing. That definitely opens up more time and other possibilities.
GoPack.com: Do you have other things planned, or is it going to be all basketball?
Lowe: It’s pretty much just basketball. We will do some team bonding things, if we can. There are some guys who have never been to Toronto before. Right now, the important thing is to get the experience, to see where we are as a team, allow the team to play and to bond. This trip is going to do a number of things for our team. Because we have two young men who are going to come in and probably play for us, it is important for them to get that experience. It is also important for those seniors and juniors to find out more about their new teammates. We are going to find out about each other at an early stage. As coaches, it will give us a chance to what adjustments we need to make. It will give us a chance to evaluate at an early stage so that when we get in there in October, we will have a pretty good handle on who we are.
GoPack.com: Season tickets are on sale now what do fans have to look forward to with this team?
Lowe: Fans are going to see a team that they can be proud of. They are going to see a team that is going to play hard. They are going to play together. They will be a team fans will enjoy watching play. I really hope Johnny Thomas is going to be ready to go from day one, because fans are going to love him. His talent is playing hard, all the time. Fans will love that. I think the main thing, no matter what the outcome, fans will be able to walk away from the arena and say They gave it all they had.’
GoPack.com: You are playing a couple of exhibition games in Reynolds Coliseum and one regular-season game. Why do you think that is important for your guys?
Lowe: No. 1, I want our young guys and our veterans to experience playing there, so they can see and feel our Wolfpack family. I’m not saying we don’t feel that at the RBC Center. But Reynolds is just different. I want them to understand the love, the support and the loyalty that our fans have for NC State. We wanted to do as much as we could, to give our fans, especially our students, the chance to walk over to Reynolds, get there early and chant and get excited. Do it the way they did it when I played here. That building has a lot of history in it and I think our guys should experience that.
GoPack: Any final thoughts?
Lowe: I just want fans to know that our guys are working hard. They are determined to bounce back. I think it will be fun for our fans to see these guys.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
