Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Chris Lowery press conference transcript
11/12/2009 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 12, 2009
By Adam Longueville
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Saluki men's basketball head coach Chris Lowery fielded questions from the media as the team prepares for Saturday's season opener versus UT-Martin.
What are you hoping to improve upon the most for the season opener?
Obviously, rebounding. A lot of it has to do with Carlton Fay, too. Adding Carlton will help our positioning. Him knowing where to be is the biggest issue for us. We played two fives a lot, with Nick (Evans) and Eugene (Teague) in. We never want to play those two guys at the same time. A lot of that had to do with our rebounding.
Anthony Booker had a great end of the season last year. Do you look for him to carry that into this season?
He hasn't played well. Some of it is not having Carlton with him, and some of it is him not playing hard enough. That's up to him. The one thing about it is that we've shown that other guys can do his job, so he's going to have to step his play up and get better. He will, because of watching film and seeing what he needs to do better.
With Carlton coming back, how do you think that will affect each end of the floor?
Well, shooting the basketball, it will have a tremendous impact. He's another weapon offensively. We're just glad he's back, and the players are glad he's back. Plus, he's the best charge-taker in our league. He's always in the right position to take charges, so that component has been missing, too, in our defense.
How big is it to have Kendal Brown-Surles out there, when he can pick anyone and take anyone the full length of the court?
Well, everybody picks up the full length, but he's the one that has shown that he can take the ball away. He's a change of pace. He's extremely fast and everything that we said we wanted to get as a back-up for Kevin, we think we've got in him. He's going to shoot the basketball better, even though he really hasn't taken that many shots that weren't lay-ups. His thing is staying out of foul trouble and really running the basketball whenever Kevin isn't in. He's shown that he can play with Kevin and Tony Freeman in, so that was something that we didn't know that he could do.
Do you expect to continue to play the same amount of players as you have in the exhibition season?
We're not going to play 12. We're probably going to play 10. It all depends on how they play, how hard they play. But I think we have good depth, and I think we're going to be able to really play longer without our starters in. That's the good news for this team, is we're going to play extended minutes with some of our guys off the bench.
How much does your depth help pressure defense?
We haven't been able to play pressure defense for the last two years because of our depth, and we haven't had guys that have been able to do it. Now, we feel that guys that we have in our program can really defend and really transfer what we teach them into the game.
What have you seen initially from Nate Mitchell in the early going?
Nate is a terrific kid. He's a guy that played with Eric Griffin, same hometown, so he told me about him. Plus, Southeastern Illinois does a terrific job of developing kids under the radar. The thing about them is that they are always going to play hard, all are going to be well disciplined and have been well-coached when they get here.
Is there anything that you like about him the most?
We needed a tough, hard-nosed walk-on, and he's an engineering major, so he's a person that we don't have to worry about off the court, which makes it even better.
Have you had a chance to look at UT-Martin?
We had a chance, but it's hard to tell, because they played a D-III team and scored a lot of points. They had a lot of lay-ups and a lot of steals, but hopefully we just learn their personnel and what they can do. Plus, the other team played zone against them the whole game, so it wasn't really a good look at them, but we'll know personnel.
Their point guard was pretty effective last year with Lester Hudson beside him. Now that Hudson is gone, do you expect him to be as effective with this group?
Lester Hudson averaged 27, so you just give it to him. A lot of their points were just him getting the ball and going, not off assists. Very similar to Jamar Smith going to get the ball and making plays. Their thing is that they gave him the ball, got out of the way, and let him make plays for them.
Do you feel confident about the team's ability to step up and make free throws?
The one thing about it is that we've had a lot of guys shooting them. We've never had that many guys shooting free throws in the past, so it shows that we do have aggressive guys, but we made them when we needed to. That's a terrible thing to say, and that's not what we want to say, but we want to get better at them without a doubt.
With a lot of home games in the non-conference season, do you view that as an advantage heading into the regular season?
It allows for a lot of practice time, and our guys to get acclimated to this place. Last year, we were gone so much, it really hurt us, because we were practicing in different places. When you travel so much, you have to include travel dates and days off, so we never got to practice, get better, or learn all the small things about our defense and our system.
Will Jordan Myers be redshirting?
Myers will be redshirting. Sometimes, you say you want to do things, and we say we want to play a 10-man rotation, but you never know what will happen with rotations down the line. We may play 11 or maybe foul trouble will switch things up, but Jordan will definitely be redshirting.
You've mentioned that Kendal Brown-Surles is family to you. Is it any different having a family member on the team?
It's probably tougher on him because he's got to take it from the other players. But we don't show any favoritism. Everything he's done, he's earned. He's played extremely hard. He has charisma, he's sharp, the guys like him, so we haven't had to do anything really to show that he's my family or we're going to coach him differently. He's done everything himself.
This is one of the bigger teams you've had, does it make any difference in your game preparation?
With Carlton back, we're not going to have to play Eugene and Nick together. We just can't do that because of getting back on defense, and it showed. When we played them together against USI, number 34 got loose and kept us running by taking the post away. Gene couldn't get back or Nick get back so we're not going to play those guys together unless we really, really have to. But John Freeman can play the four, he's shown that. When we moved him there, their fours didn't get touches or were aggressive or got any offensive rebounds. He's a utility guy, does a lot of different things, and we hope he'll keep doing them.
With all the guards that you have, is it important to get the big guys enough touches during the game?
I think we've shown that. We've given them the ball quite a bit. We got upset with Kevin because he wasn't really shooting the ball in the first half, because he kept feeding the guys in the post, because they were open. It's good when your players recognize that you need to establish the post, and getting the other posts into foul trouble to really open up for our guards, and that's what we're trying to accomplish.
