Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Chris Lowery press conference transcript
11/16/2009 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 16, 2009
By Tyler Wooten
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Q: "Aundrey Wright is an assistant at Indianapolis -- do you know much about their team?"
"Stan Gouard is one of my good friends--the head coach. He was at (John A.) Logan when I played at Southern, and Aundrey Wright is there, too. We know they're going to play hard--they won at Valparaiso in their first exhibition game, so that tells you how good they are, Valpo goes to Carolina and loses by 11. We know they're going to be ready to play us, and we're looking forward to the challenge."
Q: "After looking at the game tape, what are your thoughts and insights on what you guys are doing really well and what you need to get better at?"
"When we waste too many dribbles, it leads to turnovers. We're doing a really good job of playing hard without fouling--that's something we couldn't do the last few years. Right now, it seems that we're guarding the ball very well without putting a lot of hands on people. Some of the guys have to get better when they check-in their first rotation for subs. We talk all the time about valuing the time you get, and some of them weren't ready to go that first rotation."
Q: "The inside game--specifically Anthony Booker and Nick Evans--they seemed to get it going in the second half. How do you guys get that inside game working earlier in the game?"
"We have to throw it to them. We didn't throw the ball inside at all in the first half. Carlton (Fay) got going a little bit, but not like he did in the second half. He had three baskets inside the paint when he came in the first time in the second half. He has to get going a lot earlier. We just have to throw him the ball, and we did a very poor job of that in the first half."
Q: "Speaking of Carlton coming in as the sixth guy--is that a role you would like to continue to see him in rather than a starter?"
"He was in foul trouble a lot as a starter, so hopefully, if we keep him as a sixth man, we can keep him out of foul trouble and allow him to come into the game at a different comfort level."
Q: "How important is it to develop chemistry this time of year?"
"We developed chemistry over the summer. That's why we have them come in during the summertime, to develop that chemistry and kinship with each other."
Q: "What immediate improvements did you see from Kevin (Dillard) as a leader?"
"He's older. He threw one off the backboard--where as a freshman he would have went and got his points. That's telling you that he understands that it's not about him, that it's about us. He was really just trying to get (Anthony) Booker going in some kind of way. He did a good job of just running the club. I don't know if he's had a turnover yet in three games. After leading the league in turnovers last year, I think he now understands what we want from him."
Q: "Could you tell the difference in him playing 25 minutes as opposed to 34?"
"He's bigger now, so he can play 34 minutes. Last year, he had the burden of playing 34 minutes and being our best player and scorer, and that's the difference from last year. We now know he can play those minutes and help us win, but we hope we don't need him, with the bench we have."
Q: "As far as getting the ball inside, how do you feel about how much your post players are making themselves available?"
"To start the game, we did a very poor job. Once they went zone, we took the shots we needed to take. When you get 27 from your starting guards in the first half, that means we're hitting shots. To start the second half, we went right inside to Booker, and we wanted to establish that right away."
Q: "How do you think your defense was on Saturday?"
"We guarded, but we gave up way too many offensive rebounds. From the 10-minute mark down in the second half, they were getting three or four shots a possession, but during that period they only went 1-for-9. It's good that we defended them, but it's bad that they got that many offensive rebounds."
Q: "What are you going to be looking out for against Indianapolis?"
"We don't want to have a mental letdown. We have to be revved up and ready to play, and that's something we haven't shown. Hopefully, ours guys will come ready to play, no matter who the opponent is."
Q: "The zone shook you guys up a bit last year..."
"It shook us up a lot last year. We had a majority of new guys always on the floor. Now, we have older guys. Carlton is a threat, this is his third year, Justin's (Bocot) second year, and Nick's (Evans) third year. Now, these guys are playing a lot more, and they understand where we want to go with the zone. If you watch some of our guys, they know where to be now. A lot of times last year, they didn't always know where to be, even late in the season. We took it and didn't complain. We knew that we had some good young players, and now we're starting to see some progression with them, and we have to make sure they keep doing it."
Q: "Ninety-one points on Saturday--that's not a number you guys are going to score every game, but the offensive firepower is there. Is there a certain `magic number' that you feel that you need to be at as a club every week?"
"Our `magic number' is on the defensive end. We feel that if we guard the way that we guard, that we can score enough points to win. That's fine to play like that at home, but we know we can't always shoot like that on the road, especially against good opponents. We're going to really try to get to the low 50s to hold people."
Q: "With the university struggling financially, have you had to make any changes in your recruiting?"
"We're smart enough to understand what we need to do. We only have one for 2010. Our recruiting is really at a standstill. We only have one senior. Who's going to want to come right now, especially if we continue to blossom? We don't want to go get a guy just to say we have him on our roster."
Q: "Are you able to send people out?"
"Yeah, we can go recruiting."
Q: "They haven't placed any restrictions your travel or anything like that?"
"No. We're being frugal, we're being smart. We're only doing stuff where we can drive right now, just to make sure we're not in a situation where we're spending a whole lot of money recruiting, because we don't have to. Everything we're doing right now is within a drive."
Q: "Coach, how impressed were you with the play of your bench, them scoring 44 points?"
"Some of them can score, and we know some of them are athletes, and we know some of them are good role players. They have terrific chemistry right now, whether all five of them are starting at the same time, or if they're mixed in with some starters. They understand when to go and when to pull back. These guys have really just come in and played hard."
Q: "Do you expect to be able to go four or five deep?"
"We want to play ten. If we can do that, then we have a chance to compete, especially on the road. We'll see if we can play those guys that many minutes on the road."
Q: "Would you like to see some more points from Evans, or are you okay with him rebounding and playing defense?"
"Nick has done a tremendous job defensively. People have to guard him, then they have to guard Booker, and then they have to guard Eugene, and then Carlton--that's four different guys. So if you look at our production from our inside guys period, it's fine. It's not always going to be Carlton, it's going to be Nick or Eugene sometimes. Point production from them as a whole is more important."
