Pack's Lowe Positive on Saturday, Tougher on Sunday

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Pack's Lowe Positive on Saturday, Tougher on Sunday

Sidney Lowe offers some instruction to Javier Gonzalez just before the end of the game against the Tar Heels.

By J. Mike Blake

Jan 15, 2008

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POST VIEW

After Saturday's loss at North Carolina, N.C. State freshman J.J. Hickson told reporters that coach Sidney Lowe had "pointed more of the positive things that we did that the negative" at halftime of a 43-13 game.

Lowe said he was by no means happy with what was transpiring, just that he chose not to erupt when talking to a locker room of players who trailed by 30 points.

"I'm not going to say I was positive at halftime of that game," Lowe said Monday. "There wasn't a lot to be positive about. I wasn't in there yelling and screaming, I basically just talked about the things that we didn't do and didn't do well."

Lowe, who attempted to smooth things over after the stinging loss, is a stark contrast to many coaches.

His hesitation to chastise his team, at halftime or in the postgame press conference, comes after a week in which it became the norm for a coach of a successful college basketball team to rip into his players - after wins.

Kansas' Bill Self had already performed one tirade during a timeout that sparked a 15-2 run, and ended with a Jayhawks 90-60 victory when he got to the postgame press conference. There, he ripped junior forward Brandon Rush for not being aggressive
enough offensively.

The response?

"He was right," Rush said. "I did play unaggressive."

Rush scored a season-high 19 points in his next game, the Big 12 opener against Nebraska.

"That's going to be the last time he's going to say anything to me about being aggressive," Rush said.

Xavier coach Sean Miller also ripped into his team for being selfish on offense and lazy on defense in its 83-68 win over St. Bonaventure. His team held its next opponent, Fordham, to six minutes without a point and won 68-50.

"It's been tough, but our practices are tough," point guard Drew Lavender said. "It wasn't that much of a change. He just yelled at us more. We responded well."

Even Roy Williams, on the opposite end of the blow-out, found things like 49 second-half points that he could scrutinize and nitpick in the postgame press conference.

However, Lowe did hint on Monday that his players may found out just how upset he really was with how things went against Carolina.

After having taken the time to look at game film, he said his team went out and had “a good hard practice” on Sunday, and noted the “hustle game” as targeted area for improvement.

He said he was disappointed with a lack of ball rotation and forcing tough shots – and although it sounds as though his players were selfish with the basketball, he stopped short of using that word.
It would appear that Lowe prefers to be harsher in private forums, even as other coaches are getting results from messages made in public with the media.

The first known occurrence of this came at the end of last year, when the coach held his team in the locker room for nearly 30 minutes after losing the season finale 79-59 at Maryland.

Though he didn’t say much to the media that day, Justin Clark, a senior walk-on from last year’s squad remembers that day well.

“He was pretty [upset] at the whole team,” Clark, who played meaningful minutes on senior night and in the ACC Tournament run said. “He was disappointed because we played pretty well the first game and we didn’t see them as [that good].”

As a result, State reeled off momentous runs in the ACC and NIT Tournaments.

Picking when to blast a team, Lowe said, is determined by his own sentiment.

"I think it just depends on the situation sometimes and sometime the emotion is there and it comes out," Lowe said.

But Lowe continues to refrain from publicly letting his team have it, even after a beatdown like the one sustained at Carolina.

"I think I was more upset and mad [on Sunday]," Lowe said. "That was my opportunity to show them then. Now hopefully we'll come out and play better against Clemson."

Whether or not mincing his words in public and opening up in private can continue to get results like it did last year, we may find out after tonight’s road contest at Clemson.

Most Recent Comments

i gotta agree with goheels as much as it pains me to say, Herb was definitely run out, the "pay raise" Truth is referring to was just a bonus for him.

Roy Williams 14-1 against state, a common among state coaches vs CAROLINA. Coach low,how's your son doing,is he in JAIL yet!

the last two posts by pack fans are what true fans say. i commend you both. i havent had much experience with this in basketball obviously but i have had alot of experience with this in football, again, obviously. i felt bad for bunting because i know he luvvvvvvvvvs carolina and he did things the right way (such as getting rid of low life thug wanna be's)and i wanted him to get it done. but the reality was he just wasnt a good coach. i didnt feel as bad for doherty cause even though he was a loyal alumni he did some things behind the scenes that just arent "the carolina family" way and in the end it cost him. give lowe a chance, but if he cant get the job done in a couple of years he has to go...alumni or not. until then support your school wolfpackers...but goooooooooo heeeeeeeelz:)

Regardless of what happened at halftime the second half was still better. NCSU Scored 49 to UNC's 50 in the second half. I will back the pack regardless because I am a true fan and that includes Lowe.

I am an NCSU fan but I'm not a Lowe fan yet. I liked Herb just fine, his style and demeanor and hated to see him leave. My issue with Lowe is that his coaching record sucks (79 and 228, are you kidding me). Also, he was not in State's first 5 choices for a coach, so I believe it was more of a "mercy hire". That being said, I'm going to support him this year regardless of win/loss record. Being a true State fan I take what they give me and pull hard against the tarholes and dookies. GO PACK!!!

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