|
|
| Sidney Lowe |
Head Coach
Sidney Lowe
|
Named the 18th head coach in NC State history in the spring of 2006 ... in his first three years at the helm of the Wolfpack program, Lowe has fashioned a 51-46 mark (.525) ... a year ago, NC State lost seven games by eight points or fewer en route to a 16-14 mark ... in his first season in Raleigh, Lowe’s Wolfpack won six of its last nine games, advanced to the quarterfinals of the NIT and finished 20-16 overall ... became only the fourth head coach in conference history to take his team to the ACC Tournament championship game in his first season as a league coach ... played all 40 minutes of the Wolfpack’s win over Houston in the 1983 NCAA championship game, scoring eight points and dishing out eight assists … a first-team All-ACC selection in 1983, Lowe is the league’s all-time leader in assists-to-turnover ratio (2.94-to-1) and is ninth in league annals in career assists (762) and assists per game (6.35) … the Wolfpack assist leader in all four of his seasons, Lowe led the ACC in assists and steals in 1981 and 1983 ... was drafted by the Chicago Bulls as the first pick of the second round of the 1983 NBA draft and was immediately traded to the Indiana Pacers … began his NBA coaching career in 1992, when he joined the Minnesota Timberwolves staff as an assistant coach … midway through the 1992-93 season, Lowe was named the head coach of the Timberwolves, compiling a 33-92 record in a season and a half … was named head coach of the Vancouver Grizzlies on June 1, 2000 … in his first season with the Grizzlies, he turned a struggling squad into a record-setting one, guiding the team to a franchise-best (at the time) record of 23-59.
|
|
Preseason Information
|
|
Pack Plaudits
Junior Forward
Tracy Smith
|
Coming off of the Wolfpack’s 11th winning season in 13 years, head coach Sidney Lowe looks to replace a trio of three-year starters from a team that finished 16-14 overall and 10th in the ACC with a 6-10 league mark ... despite returning a league-low 77 career starts, the Wolfpack does return seven players who had three or more starts in 2008-09 and eight who averaged 11 or more minutes per game ... a year ago, NC State was 7-5 in games decided by six points or fewer ... the Wolfpack shot 50 percent or better from the floor in 13 games in 2008-09 and finished third in the ACC and 25th nationally with a .475 field-goal percentage - the second-highest single-season accuracy mark in 18 years by the Pack ... missing from last year’s team are five players who totaled 268 career starts, 1,679 rebounds, 3,698 points ... heading the list of returnees is forward Tracy Smith, the team’s leading returning scorer (10.0) and rebounder (4.5) ... Smith tripled his scoring average from his freshman season from 3.3 ppg to 10.0 ppg, had two double-doubles and averaged 11.1 points and 5.3 rebounds in 16 regular-season ACC games ...
Junior Guard
Javier Gonzalez
|
Javier Gonzalez averaged 8.4 points, 3.2 assists and shot .531 from the floor against ACC competition in 2008-09 and has 31 career starts under his belt after his first two seasons at the point guard spot ... Dennis Horner improved his field-goal percentage from 38 to 45, doubled his scoring average (3.2 to 6.4) and had nine games with 10 or more points including in six of the last eight games where he averaged 9.9 points per outing ... Julius Mays started three games as a freshman, averaging 4.7 points, 1.9 assists and 15.1 minutes per game ... Farnold Degand averaged 4.7 points, 2.4 assists and 1.2 rebounds while starting 11 games as a junior a year ago ... Gonzalez, Mays and Degand combined to average 12.0 points and 5.7 assists from the point guard position last year ... C.J. Williams started eight games as a freshman in 2008-09, averaging 5.0 points and 1.2 rebounds and shooting .489 from the floor in ACC play.
|
|
