The fifth year of Sidney Lowe’s coaching career at N.C. State was supposed to be the year. It was supposed to be the year where State moved from the whipping boy of the other two Triangle teams to an equal among them. It was supposed to be the year where the talent level matched, maybe even exceeded, the level of expectations.
With the No. 5 recruiting class in the nation according scout.com coming in, combined with the senior leadership or point guard Javier Gonzalez and forward Tracy Smith, State had the talent to play in the ACC and fight for an NCAA Tournament bid.
But instead it was more of the same, finally ending Thursday night in the Greensboro Coliseum, as the Pack fell to Maryland 75-67. With the loss, Sidney Lowe wrapped up his fifth and most likely final year with a 15-16 (5-11 in ACC) record, with no chance for any post-season play.
“That was always my goal since I have been here to make it to the NCAA Tournament,” Smith said. “This was one of the years I think we could have made it.”
State once again dug itself a huge hole early on as the Terps jumped out to a 12-2 lead. From there, the team attempted to play catch-up but never succeeded in claiming the lead.
“We know coming into the game we can’t start slow like we did today again,” Gonzalez said. “It takes a lot of energy to get back into the game and keep it at that rate. We know we couldn’t do that and we still did it. But we kept fighting back and we did, we just didn’t make the right plays at the end.”
After the game, Lowe’s players were at a loss for words about how a team this talented ended up like it did.
“Of course not, we had a lot of talent and we should have been a lot better,” junior forward C.J. Williams said. “I don’t know what to say. We should have been a lot better.”
Lowe’s team struggled in the same areas his other N.C. State teams did. Lackluster defense, slow starts and long offensive droughts all characterized the 2011 men’s basketball team, leading to the disappointing season.
“I don’t know why,” Gonzalez said. “You will have to ask someone else. Everybody in this locker room plays hard every single game, came to practice and gave it 110 percent. It is just one of the things that sometimes doesn’t happen.”
But not all hope is lost in a locker room that has never had its ticket punched for the big dance, instead, there is optimism for next season.
“We definitely didn’t do as well as we should have,” freshman point guard Ryan Harrow said. “We can’t get down on ourselves; instead we just have to learn. We have a lot of talent here to go far, but we just didn’t use it how we were supposed to.”
Even Gonzalez, who never had a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament, has high hopes for the team next season, noting the experience the young players gained this season could prove to be invaluable over the next few years.
“This year we may have not been good, but these young guys got a lot of playing time and got a lot of experience,” Gonzalez said. “I have a strong belief that next year the will know what it takes to be successful in this league and will get it together next year and be a pretty good team.”
Even with the optimism of the players, Lowe seemed to be filled with regret at not being able to bring the program back to the level it was when he played over 20 years ago.
“It hurts me because I know what it is about down here and what it is like to win here and how the people will get behind you,” Lowe said. “It means a lot more to me.”
