Young N.C. State team surprising its coach

North Carolina State University

Young N.C. State team surprising its coach

By Tim Hall

Dec 9, 2009

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A head basketball coach will always tell you he believes his team can win every time it steps onto the court. But a 6-1 start and a recent road win at Marquette with five freshmen? Maybe Sidney Lowe wasn't even expecting this.

The coach sat down for his weekly radio show on Tuesday, heard on 99.9 FM The Fan ESPN Radio, and said that his team is understanding how to execute and adjust on the fly.

"They do, and it's somewhat surprising because it's so early," Lowe said.

Junior Tracy Smith has been the consistent force for the Pack so far this year averaging a double-double (17.6 points, 10 rebounds per game) but Javier Gonzalez is who really caught the coach's eye after playing through pain at Marquette.

"What it tells your teammates is that 'you are important, you're important to me and I respect you, so I'm going to come out and play," Lowe said. "He wasn't coming out of that game. He didn't want to let his teammates down and they were counting on him."

Gonzalez left Saturday's game with a hamstring injury and then came back to finish the game with 15 points and seven assists. Lowe said that he did not practice on Tuesday.

But with the coach saying that Gonzalez "orchestrated and executed the offense to perfection" it appears that the point guard position may have a more definitive answer than the past two seasons.

Lowe enjoyed his team's win at Marquette so much that he and his staff edited a highlight tape of all of the positive things his players did.

"We titled it "How we won this game" and we showed them all of the things they did to win that ball game," Lowe said. "Just to remind them, this is how you play the game."

Most Recent Comments

RE: Young N.C. State team surprising its coach

actually my point was we dont shoot that bad from 3

RE: Young N.C. State team surprising its coach

Once the ACC season starts, they will be losing and dropping out like flies!!!!
- Posted by Kattails
Only time will tell. But you should be more concern about your heels finding someone to score from the outside. Plus your bigs dont have face up game either. So the ACC is going to be a very interesting season this yr because everybody is so young.
- Posted by conrad27713

i dont understand all this fascination or misconception with carolina not having outside shooters.

Duke - 161 3pt att... made 39%
Carolina - 116 3pt att.. made 37%
state - 107 3pt att... made 33%

maybe state needs to find someone???

our biggest problem besides turnovers is shooting 64% from the line.
- Posted by Rdi73162

You dont have to remind me about my wolfpack team nightmare shooting from the outside. But wasnt we predicted to finish dead last in the conference this seasoon ? While your has a team full of Mc Donalds all americans that was predicted to be # 1 or 2 at the worst. So all the talk is around your heels and not my wolfpack.

RE: Young N.C. State team surprising its coach

They are 6-1 playing a cupcake schedule....big deal.....let them play the same teams that UNC has played so far and they'd be 0-7 or MAYBE 1-6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Posted by Kattails

Yes, your heels do play a tougher non conference schedule than my wolfpack does at this time. But why would State want to play these rank teams when they dont even have a chance to win them ? And your heels havent done that well at all against the rank teams with a 2 & 2 record which easly could have been 1 & 3. Your heels has another one of these really tough game this weekend against Presbyterian !

RE: Young N.C. State team surprising its coach

Once the ACC season starts, they will be losing and dropping out like flies!!!!
- Posted by Kattails
Only time will tell. But you should be more concern about your heels finding someone to score from the outside. Plus your bigs dont have face up game either. So the ACC is going to be a very interesting season this yr because everybody is so young.
- Posted by conrad27713

i dont understand all this fascination or misconception with carolina not having outside shooters.

Duke - 161 3pt att... made 39%
Carolina - 116 3pt att.. made 37%
state - 107 3pt att... made 33%

maybe state needs to find someone???

our biggest problem besides turnovers is shooting 64% from the line.

RE: Young N.C. State team surprising its coach

Once the ACC season starts, they will be losing and dropping out like flies!!!!
- Posted by Kattails

Only time will tell. But you should be more concern about your heels finding someone to score from the outside. Plus your bigs dont have face up game either. So the ACC is going to be a very interesting season this yr because everybody is so young.

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North Carolina State University