Q&A with N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe

N.C. State basketball coach Sidney Lowe, excerpted from Friday’s news conference:

Q: What did you see that was positive (in a 72-67 loss to Davidson on Dec. 6), and then talk about what did you see that you didn’t like?
I thought we did a lot of positive things in that ballgame. I thought the energy we came out with from the start was excellent. We executed. We got shots that we wanted. I thought we played well. I thought we played a good ballgame. We were up one with 2:38 to go against the No. 22-ranked team in the country with a 3-point shot to go up four. And we missed that shot.. . .The thing that I didn’t like, obviously, was the defensive rebounding. That I didn’t like we gave them too many opportunities.

Q: How has Farnold (Degand) gone through the week. Has the time off given him a little bit of time to regroup?
It’s not going to all come back (at once), and that’s the frustrating thing for him, is to try to tone down a little in terms of his aggressiveness and things he can do. Things he can do normally when he’s healthy, he can’t do right now. But he still is quick enough and can handle the ball well enough that if he takes his time and is patient with it, it will come.

Q: What do you need to practice about the (defensive) rebounding? Is it sending more guys to the boards?
It was just a matter of blocking out. This was the first game we really got hurt as bad as we did. We’ve been doing a pretty good job of it and we just have to continue to concentrate on it.

Q: As you watched the various guys you put on Stephen Curry, did any of them stand out that you might have found someone to guard other (top) perimeter players in the future?
I thought a couple guys. Trevor (Ferguson), obviously Trevor for me stands out. Because of, one, his knowledge and understanding the game plan, how to guard guys. He might have made one mistake guarding Curry. And he allowed him to do something we didn’t want him to do. I won’t say what it was. Other than that, Trevor chased him hard, and he tried to deny him at times.

– Ken Tysiac