Costner mentally absent
Mar 2, 2009
This is a tough situation for N.C. State. Right when things were starting to turn for this team, the leading scorer takes an emotional hit.
Brandon Costner's grandfather passed away a little more than a week ago. He missed practice on Saturday to attend the funeral and didn't return to Raleigh until Sunday, the day of last night's Maryland game.
It's fair to say that it's weighed on his mind on the basketball court this past week. In last Saturday's win over Virginia he didn't score a point for the first time this season. Yesterday against Maryland he was only 2-7 for six points. Sidney Lowe sat him for the start of the second half, saying it looked like he wasn't into it.
"I just don't know if he's been in it mentally since his grandfather passed," said Lowe. "But we certainly need him to play well."
Senior Ben McCauley saw the same thing in his teammate after Sunday's loss to Maryland.
"When he's not there mentally it's just a blow to our team," McCauely said. "Unfortunately he had a loss in his family recently and I don't know if his mind just wasn't there tonight, but I'm not blaming it on him."
Sophomore Tracy Smith (19 points, 9 rebounds) felt the effects of not having Costner at his best as well. I got a chance to talk to him after the game and I asked him what this team needs to do (without mentioning Costner) to regroup for the final two games.
"I think we just got to keep our head in the game," Smith said. "I understand Brandon is going through some family problems but he's got to keep his head in the game, and try to fight and just keep fighting until the end."
Now I am not about to hammer a college kid for having a couple of rough games after losing a family member. He could have been very close to his grandfather I can totally understand how hard it must be.
But one thing I learned from being in that locker room last night is that his coach and his teammates need him to come around sooner rather than later. Lowe has said all year long certain teams need certain players to play well to win. Coster is definitely one of those guys for N.C. State.
