Sidney Lowe’s Plans To Slow Stephon Curry

08-09 Basketball Sidney Lowe53
Stephon Curry

Stephon Curry

Via Ken Tysiac of the Charlotte Observer’s ‘Observations From Above The Rim’ Blog, here is a glimpse into the defensive plans that State coach Sidney Lowe plans to employ tomorrow in Charlotte against Davidson:

  • No junk defenses. “I don’t think you change your defense. You just have to be more aware. You have to be solid. Mentally you can’t have a breakdown, because he can burn you.”
  • Keep a fresh defender on Curry: “I think you have to try to stay fresh, because he’s constantly moving to get open. No shot is a bad shot (for Curry), and when you’re playing against a guy like that you can’t afford to relax.”
  • Don’t Ignore teammates: “We can’t pay so much attention to Curry that we ignore the other guys. (Bryant) Barr can shoot the basketball. They have guys that can score the ball. They played against a team (Loyola, Md.) that doubled Curry the entire ballgame, and still (Davidson) won by. . .30 points.”

On the surface, this sounds like a sound plan, and one can see where Farnold Degand’s play will be critical: keeping Fells fresh and sharp, especially for the stretch run.  Lowe will also avoid making the blunder of Loyola-Maryland’s head coach Jimmy Pastos and doesn’t plan on playing a Triangle-And-Two against Curry the entire game.  LMD lost by 30 to the #24 Wildcats, so it’s obvious that playing 4-on-3 against the rest of the Davidson squad is a shortcut to getting routed.

08-09 Basketball Sidney Lowe

53 Responses to Sidney Lowe’s Plans To Slow Stephon Curry

  1. redfred2 12/05/2008 at 11:33 PM #

    Even in their earlier loss this season, they were hanging there, for awhile anyway, while Curry was having a horrendous shooting night. Speaking of Degand’s effectiveness against Curry, I just don’t see it. No way he can keep up. Either that, or should Lowe even ask to him to do much anyway? Or, if he does come in and play well against Curry, and right after an injury, maybe, just maybe he wasn’t really hurt afterall?

  2. primacyone 12/05/2008 at 11:34 PM #

    I don’t know. It is Jimmy V week. Tell the press no junk defenses and then show up with a masterful box and 1.

    If we could do it the way we used to do it, I’d love to see it. Just for old times sake.

  3. PoppaJohn 12/06/2008 at 7:06 AM #

    I am worried about this game, big time. I am afraid it will expose the team we fear is hiding under these wins against weak competition.

    I would love to see Sid’s “defensive plans” be the difference maker, because that would be a win for the coach, the guys would buy in to the system to an even greater degree and it would pay off during the season. But I am not seeing it. All Davidson has seen for a couple of years are defenses designed to stop Curry, and “oh yea, the other guys can play too.” Everything Sid said is old news.

    The thing we have going for us is, we are opposites in skills. They have guards, we have the big boys. And the big boys should have the edge in shooting percentage.

    If we can provide some level of slow ’em down defense on their guards, and BC & BM tear them up on the inside, then we have a chance.

    GO PACK!!!!!!!

  4. Alpha Wolf 12/06/2008 at 7:28 AM #

    I think Courtney Fells is the man who will draw the primary duty of defending Curry, with Degand giving him rest, Fred.

    Really, I think teams will need to take the same sort of mentality they did against Michael Jordan in his earlier days with the Chicago Bulls: let him get 50 or 60, but shut down the rest of the team, especially inside, and outscore them overall.

    We won’t stop Curry. We just need to slow him down and also to make sure that we get our points down at the other end.

  5. Rick 12/06/2008 at 8:03 AM #

    So Curry is averaging 29.2 even with the game he scored 0 points? Wow

    Tough game

  6. Dogbreath 12/06/2008 at 8:28 AM #

    Sidney Lowe hasn’t demonstrated the capacity for putting a quality defense on the floor in 2 years. I see nothing to suggest that will change today.

  7. highstick 12/06/2008 at 9:41 AM #

    I am “on the way to see the Wolfpack play”!! Go Pack!!

  8. LRM 12/06/2008 at 9:48 AM #

    This is a scary game but I like this type of game at this point in the season. We missed out on the Challenge and didn’t play in any early tournaments or “Classics.”

    Quite simply, this is the type of game that a good State team should be winning, and I think it’s a good measure of where we are: Davidson is far too good a team to sneak up on us or for us to not be prepared for.

    Now if we can just stop that pesky Curry…

  9. BJD95 12/06/2008 at 10:01 AM #

    I will be happy if we lose by less than 10. I expect that Davidson will beat the ever-lovin’ shit out of us.

  10. wufpup76 12/06/2008 at 10:10 AM #

    I think it’s a mistake if Farnold is guarding Curry after being out … Gonzo, Mays, and Degand should be guarding the #2 spot occupied by Burr

    Fells, Harris, and Thomas should rotate on Curry IMHO, with Williams and Ferguson guarding the #3 … Curry will still get his 25-30, but I think the game will be decided in other areas as I stated in the previous thread

    Harris was one of the main defenders we used on Curry in last season’s game in addition to Fells and we actually didn’t do too bad of a job on him (He still scored 25 or so, but I was at the game and came away impressed w/ everyone who tried to stick w/ him)

    I like the pic used above, where the Wisconsin player is probably talking junk to Curry … If I remember correctly, his name was Flowers and he was their shutdown defender and all you heard all week long from the talking head “experts” was how Wisconsin was going to blow Davidson out of the water, their little run was over, and Flowers’ length, size, and speed would hold Curry to under 10 points … Yeah, how’d that work out, asshats?

    Remember, these are the same type of people who miss on recruits like Curry all the time … Moral of the story? Don’t EVER put too much stock into what any scout or “expert” has to say on ANY player … This is why we should be thankful to have someone like Tom O’Brien around here, who won’t just automatically dismiss a potential recruit based solely on the recriut’s scouting report, height, etc … I’m sure plenty of that goes on, but I would trust Tom O’Brien to find the “diamonds in the rough” and be able to develop them far more than I would just about anybody else … At our school, anyways ..

  11. redfred2 12/06/2008 at 10:11 AM #

    Um, I think you guys are taking this Davidson team a little lightly, just because they happen to be “Davidson”. It would be nice if we did, but there is nothing out there that says we “SHOULD” win this game.

    Davidson will have Curry, as well as four other players who are willing to play equally as hard as Stephon Curry, but in supporting roles, and on both ends of the BB court, and at all times. Even if Sidney Lowe has devised a master plan, doesn’t he still need EXPRIENCED players who are WILLING to execute it by rebounding, blocking out, fighting for loose balls, and basically bettering Davidson’s intensity on BOTH ENDS OF THE COURT?

    Sorry, but unless lightning has struck and these guys have finally gotten the message somehow, I don’t see us playing the type of SMART, DETERMINED basketball that we’ll need today, or later on during the ACC regular season either.

  12. LRM 12/06/2008 at 10:17 AM #

    red,

    My point is simply that good teams win these types of games. It doesn’t mean Davidson is not a very good team, and losing to them doesn’t make us a bad team, but these are games that Lowe has to start winning if his program is improving.

  13. BJD95 12/06/2008 at 10:41 AM #

    No, the first step in improving is NOT losing to the bad teams on our schedule. So far, so good on that front.

  14. redfred2 12/06/2008 at 10:43 AM #

    I can’t help but think back to Andrew Brackman’s freshman season, he WAS a SCRAPPER on all fronts, right off the bat. Then, after a little time within “The System”, he seemed just as willing to sit back and wait for someone else to make something happen as any of the other four players that were on the court with him at any given time.

    That may, or may not, be the problem with some of these upper classmen right now, but I have NEVER, EVER seen interior players who ignore the most basic of interior responsibilities, who put up less resistance and do not block out, and who seem to think that rebounding is secondary to everything else that they are SUPPOSED to be doing on the BB court.

  15. redfred2 12/06/2008 at 10:46 AM #

    ^All it takes is one or two players who are not putting forth the neccessary effort on defense, or any effort whatsoever for that matter, and you can throw any coach’s well laid plans out the window. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve seen some players that really tried, but just couldn’t, and I’ve seen players that could, that didn’t even try.

    Like Chop corrected me on last night, it’s not all the players, but it’s not all Lowe either.

  16. Tau837 12/06/2008 at 11:04 AM #

    Is there anywhere to watch or listen to the game online? We don’t get it on t.v. in Virginia Beach.

  17. PackMagic83 12/06/2008 at 11:19 AM #

    One thing that I’ll be watching and something that I haven’t seen discussed is Brandon Costner’s shooting. I watched him shoot the 3 at the Winthrop game and he never left his feet. It looked like a set shot and a lot of the shots fell short.

    I don’t know whether he has completely recovered from last years’ injury, at least mentally and we need him to be a threat from the outside, along with Fells and Horner ( and especially Degand and Ferguson, who have the best 3-point shot percentages) to offside the 3’s that will be thrown up by Curry.

    We obviously need to get the ball inside to take advantage of our size, but if we aren’t making some 3’s the post is going to be very crowded.

  18. redfred2 12/06/2008 at 11:47 AM #

    I guess it’s good to have interior players/interchangable parts, who can shoot the three, but I’d rather see Costner score his three’s by fighting for inside position, rebounding and making put backs, scoring from the charity stripe, and also possibly taking the opponent’s big men out of the picture because of foul trouble.

    You give me interior players who can handle all of their responsibilities on the inside, a backcourt who can shoot from THEIR areas on the court and distribute the BB as well, and I’m fine.

    Sorry, I’m just old fashioned, I know it.

  19. xphoenix87 12/06/2008 at 1:11 PM #

    Did anybody else just see them list “Roger Wilson” as the ROY during halftime of the Davidson game? Seriously, the guy was ROY, first-team All-ACC, and was the league’s best player in the second half of the year. You can’t get his name right? And people wonder why we complain about the media.

  20. packalum44 12/06/2008 at 1:26 PM #

    Anybody watching? We look pathetic. I don’t see much different from last year. 16 turnovers with 14 minutes left. Most of which have been un-forced. Only reason we are in this game is our superior talent at all positions excerpt Curry. We could and should be up by 20 IMHO. We desperately need some athletic guards who can break down defenses off the dribble and create turnovers with superior quickness.

  21. LRM 12/06/2008 at 1:31 PM #

    Sloppy, sloppy game. Too many turnovers, lack of hustle on both ends, especially on the boards, and most discouraging, four guys standing around watching on defense.

  22. packpowerfan 12/06/2008 at 1:36 PM #

    Truthfully, if Davidson was more apt to convert our turnovers, this game could possibly be out of reach for us. If I were a coach, I would have already suffered an aneurysm watching my players function like this. I agree LRM, it’s just sloppy and completely ugly.

  23. redfred2 12/06/2008 at 1:48 PM #

    I can’t watch, but I’m listening. I’m getting from the radio announcers that State’s players just aren’t executing like they should be.

    Is that the case or not?

  24. mcpherson.nyc 12/06/2008 at 1:51 PM #

    anyone know of a link to stream the audio?

  25. packalum44 12/06/2008 at 1:51 PM #

    Sloppy is a euphemism for bad coaching. I’ve seen enough to safely opine that Lowe is not a good coach.

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