Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Chris Lowery press conference transcript
12/08/2009 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 8, 2009
By Cameron Krones
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Saluki men's basketball head coach Chris Lowery answered questions from the media before Tuesday's practice. SIU plays at SEMO at 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday. The game will be streamed live for free at www.KFVS12.com
Q: Do you feel like you are healing up, and do you expect Tony (Freeman) to be back Wednesday?
A: Yeah, I expect Tony to be back. He practiced yesterday, so we expect him back ,and John Freeman practiced yesterday, so we are looking forward to having everybody back and being able to go full strength.
Q: Do you feel like the game on Saturday was a case of you beating yourself?
A: Definitely, I think that we did a lot of things that defeated us. We took bad shots, played too much one-on-one basketball, and we didn't guard again down the stretch. Plus, you have a guy like Tony Freeman, who can make a bunch of shots, out of the lineup, and you replace him with a freshman in his fifth college game, there is going to be a difference especially on the road. The good thing about it, though, is you have another opportunity. Injuries and nagging stuff is part of college sports, so we made no issues about it.
Q: The second-half issues on the road, what are you going to do to fix it?
A: We changed the lineup by putting Carlton Fay and John Freeman in the staring lineup, and those things will help us. If John was healthy, he would probably be starting anyway with how well he has done since he has been here. Carlton has earned the right to start. He had some issues earlier, where we suspended him, and those issues are over, so now he deserves the right to start.
Q: Shooting comes and goes -- do you believe that shooting will come back?
A: Shooting, is not our issue, it is defending. We knew that they were going to grind us out and slow it down and really try to work both sides of the floor, which is what we should have done to them, but we panicked way too much on the road. Kevin Dillard just felt like he had to do too much and he did too much in the second half. That's what led to us really getting down.
Q: Emotional ups and downs -- is that just a factor of having a bunch of young guys trying to learn to play with the emotions?
A: Yeah, and it's like Rick Majerus said, they lost three on the road and to get home again is new life. We had some adversity, and we didn't handle it well, but it was good to see on tape and show them the things that they needed to do, and that is where you grow and learn as a team.
Q: Can you talk a little about SEMO? This is a team that only won three games last year, and this year already they have three wins?
A: They have already played nine games. Our game will be their 10th and our sixth. They are much better. Our thing is that we have to go there and play how we play and not worry about missed shots. We just have to guard better.
Q: Any surprises out of SEMO? They have a new coach and it seems that some days they come to play and others they don't?
A: We expect it to be a tough game, because they are at home, and there are no easy wins in college basketball, especially on the road. So us going there, we cannot go there with the mindset that we can just show up. I think that we have shown that we can't do that. Our kids have to continue to grow, and we need that leadership of Tony Freeman, and it was missing when we played St. Louis.
Q: SEMO kind of facing the same thing, lot of freshmen and underclassmen, does it help things out at all?
A: It doesn't matter. Coaching is coaching, and it doesn't matter what class they are, you just have to get them to execute and to impose your will on the other team, and that is something that we are continuously learning how to do.
Q: They have played five games in the past nine days. Is that something that you are going to exploit there defensively, just tiring them out moreso than normal?
A: We need to be more solid. When we make adjustments in the game, we need to be able to execute them. Even though we work on stuff one way, when we have to make adjustments, we have to be able to do them, and that is a sign of an older, mature team. We are not making any excuses ,because our guys have to get better in some things. Talent is not an issue, and we know that, so it is on us to get them to do the right things.
Q: What are some of the things that you are doing to improve the percentage of made shots down low?
A: We had a ton of shots around the rim in St. Louis. You just have to finish them, because there is nothing you can do. We work at it ,and we didn't finish them and that was really the first game where our bigs struggled. Saint Louis only plays two big guys, and we didn't do a good enough job of finishing plays off, and now I think that our big guys will be hungry to finish plays.
Q: Are they making it a little bit tougher than what it needs to be in terms of finishing their shots?
A: No, they just missed them. If you watch the Saint Louis game, we missed layups and shots, and there is nothing special about anything why we missed them. We just missed them, and that happens sometimes, but now we have another opportunity, and we have to take advantage of it.
Q: You talked about changing the lineup a bit, those guys that were starting are now coming off the bench. Do you think your bench will still be effective?
A: We just felt that we had to put our best five to start a game and half, because we have struggled to both start games and halves in those two positions, and we feel that if we have those guys in right away, then it will help us.
Q: Do you think that your perimeter shooting could help you out inside a bit?
A: I mean we got looks, because there were no double teams. They were one-on-one straight up iso on the block, so we just missed layups, as well as 10 and 15 footers. They respected our shooters, because they were on them, so it's not the shooting. We just need to finish those plays off on the block.
Q: Do you expect SEMO to double you down low?
A: They haven't been doubling other people. I expect that we will be seeing zone, but we can't worry about what they are going to do. We have to do what we are going to do and do it well on the road.
