Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Chris Lowery responds to Southern Indiana tragedy
01/15/2010 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 15, 2010
By Jacy DeRocher
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Saluki men's basketball head coach Chris Lowery fielded questions from the media before Friday's practice. SIU plays at Evansville at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Lowery discussed the tragic death of Southern Indiana player Jeron Lewis. USI is coached by former Saluki assistant Rodney Watson. Tomorrow's USI game versus Quincy, in which Saluki fans were offered half-price admission, has been postponed.
Would you talk about your reaction to the death of Jeron Lewis and whether you have talked to Rodney (Watson)?
"It was obviously a tough night last night. I heard about it before I talked to him, because it was breaking news back home. People were calling me, so I just called (Rodney) to make sure if it was true or not, and he was in a very tough state of mind at that point. They had already known that he passed less than 45 minutes after it had happened. It's a tough situation as a head coach, because you're almost like parents to these kids. They are like your sons, and for that to happen, it was very tough. I tried to do as much as I could from far away. The pastor from my church went and met those guys at the bus when they got there, so they had some counseling when they got back from Kentucky Wesleyan. It was just tough for him, and he is in a tough state of mind right now."
You are always talking about your basketball team is family. Does it make you kind of look at the guys on the team a different way today?
"It makes them look at us in a different way. We have been preaching this stuff all year about so many things that go on outside the court. There's life situations that we talk about every day. Hopefully, now they'll know the value of one life. You have to value life, because you only get one."
Had you met Mr. Lewis before?
"We knew his name in recruiting. In junior college, we saw him play, so we knew who he was. He was a good kid. It was a situation where something bad happened to someone that was a very good kid."
Will you see Coach Watson when you go to Evansville?
"We had planned on it, so hopefully. Their game is cancelled. A big part of our fan base was going to see both. I'm sure I will see him sometime in the next day or two."
In the last couple weeks, you have been talking about focus and getting defensive stops and playing better defense in the second half. Is that something you felt like you did a better job of?
"I think we did a better job in the Creighton game. Our focus was pretty much there for the majority of the game, outside of the inc ident where a player got ejected. Stuff like that takes your focus away, and when that happened, they got away from us. Those are the types of things we have to eliminate. We are still very young. There were times we had three sophomores and two freshmen on the floor in a hostile situation, and we did a good job. We just have to continue to maintain the level of focus that we know they can get to 24/7."
What did you say to Nick after the game?
"It was private. We don't condone any type of behavior that is detrimental to us winning the game."
Did you look at the film after the incident?
"Yeah, we watched it, and he deserved to be ejected."
Have you decided if you're going to hold him out tomorrow night?
"He is suspended tomorrow. He's not playing tomorrow."
Is he going to make the trip with you?
"Yeah, he is going to make the trip."
Gene Teague stepped up and played well for you at Creighton.
"He's getting better. We knew that if he kept getting his weight down, he would get better. He catches everything. He has proved that he can catch. He hasn't proven that he can stay on the floor, because of fatigue, and there is fouling. As he slowly progresses and gets better, so will we."
Have you seen his confidence really take off?
"From the standpoint that he's feeling much more comfortable, and the guys are feeling more comfortable. They want him to have the ball, because he's a really good passer, also. I think that gets kind of lost in the shuffle, but he can score and he can pass out of the post."
How confidant are you that he can get that kind of positioning against Evansville?
"He can get that kind of positioning against anyone in our league. The only exception would be the big kid at Northern Iowa, because he is like him but bigger. We just have to focus more on getting him the ball, and we did that at Creighton, and we have to continue to do that."
All three of your big guys did a good job at Creighton.
"Yeah, Carlton (Fay), (Anthony) Booker and Gene -- when they play that way, it's a three-headed monster. We started off Carlton on the block, and he got four quick points down low, and we did a really good job of really establishing, hey -- we're going to play down here, and we did."
Can you talk a little bit about Evansville? I know they've been banged up with a lot of injuries. Some of their key guys are questionable whether they are going to play on Saturday.
"Right, they are very young, and the injury bug has hit them. The schedule hasn't been kind, where they've had to go on long road trips then come back and play. Marty (Simmons) is a good coach. He'll have them ready to play. Obviously, it's homecoming for me, and it's a distraction at times, but it's about the players, and it's about us getting prepared to go there and play.
It's another game with two teams really struggling for a victory, how important is it for you guys to take the victory?
"We have to play with same level of focus and intensity that we played with in the Creighton game. There's no reason for us not to. There's no excuses. There is no reason for us not to play hard, and we tell our guys all the time it doesn't take talent to play hard. That's the focus side of it. When they are not focused, they don't play hard. But when you play hard, your focus seems to magically get better."
How's Tony (Freeman) doing?
"I haven't heard yet, but we are going to see if he practices without the mask today."
Is that mask really a distraction for him?
"He thinks it does. If he thinks it does, it does. He said he's not going to play with it, and he told us to call his mom, so we called his mom, and she said, well, whatever he wants."
It's something we have to ask as journalists, but your name came up with the De Paul thing. Is that something that's flattering any time your name comes up with something like that?
"It's a distraction right now. I mean, obviously, it's flattering, but you don't know if it's true or not, and you have to be very careful when you deal with that, because it affects my people here, my players here, and it affects their parents. We have other stuff creeping into their minds that we don't need at this point. I'm the head coach here at Southern Illinois, and that's what its about with these kids. That's why they came here. We would like to think (they came to) Southern Illinois for the university, but it's a package deal, and that's the way college sports are now. They go for the coach, and they go for they school. That's a big part of where athletics has taken off to. It was different when I was in school. You came because of the school and the reputation of the school, and now, it's not that way, and it's unfortunate. You want your kids in a state of mind where they feel that you're going to coach them and not that you're going to leave them. When that stuff surfaces, it's a negative image of me, and I haven't even created it. So we have to re-state where I am, who I am, and what I mean to them on a daily basis."
Is that something that you have addressed already with them?
"Individually, because you know they would rather ask as individuals as opposed to bringing it up and creating a team problem."
