Chris Lowery

Hometown: Evansville, Ind. High School: Harrison Position: Head Coach

Birthdate: 07/07/1972 Experience: 7 years Alma Mater: Southern Illinois (1995)

Saluki Basketball Head Coach Chris Lowery is energized by the attitude of his team heading into the 2011-12 season. With nine new players, the team dynamic has dramatically changed. The five freshmen appear to give SIU one of its best recruiting classes in school history. Lowery feels he has a young, hungry team that's eager to prove itself.

"I think we're going to be more athletic," said Lowery, who begins his eighth year as head coach. "I think we're going to make mistakes early, because we're going to be aggressive and attack. I want it to be that way. We've talked about no more free-ins, letting guys walk the ball up, get it to the wing, run their offense and do what they want."

From 2002 to 2007, the Salukis made a living off of gritty, blue collar basketball. The roster featured no NBA prospects, but the players out-worked and out-hustled opponents and found ways to win close games. Lowery thinks he's found those types of players once again in his nine-man recruiting class that features five freshmen, three transfers and a walk-on. The depth and quality of the freshman class, in particular, bodes well for the future of the program.

"One thing about this group of young kids is that they're working very hard," Lowery said. "These kids care about their mile times, their conditioning goals. They have embraced the boot-camp mentality. They hold each other accountable. We're really excited about this freshman class."

No MVC team made more NCAA Tournament appearances (6) or won as many NCAA Tournament games (5) last decade as SIU. Lowery admits that after three-straight seasons without a post-season bid, some fixing needs to take place.

While alluding to the team's defensive lapses last year, Lowery was equally troubled by the fact that, for the first time in his coaching tenure, no guard averaged double figures. The assist-to-turnover ratio was an anemic 0.8, and the team's 3-point shooting percentage was 32 percent.

"There's a bunch of things we can do to fix those problems," he said. "We want to get 20 points per game in transition. That's where you gain confidence as a shooter, by getting layups and easy baskets. Secondly, we have to get to the free throw line more. When you don't get to the line, you're relying on guys shooting shots who shouldn't shoot them. With the 3-point percentage, the right guys have to shoot them."

Lowery has fine-tuned his approach to coaching during his seven seasons as head coach at Southern. His experience as an assistant with USA Basketball, which claimed the Under-19 Gold medal in New Zealand in 2009, was especially applicable.

"I learned how to be an assistant again," Lowery said. "You get used to only thinking one way as a head coach, and I thought that it was eye-opening to be an assistant again."

Players tend to confide in assistants more readily than the head coach, Lowery found. The assistants often have a better pulse on what's happening internally with the team.

"As an assistant, you get to listen to the gripes and deal with the gripes of kids wanting to play more and asking, `why am I being taken out?'" Lowery said. "I think it will help me understand my players better -- thinking in terms of what they need from an assistant standpoint."

Long known as the school that produced Walt Frazier in the late 1960s, Southern Illinois began a renaissance of Saluki Basketball in the early 1990s. The 1992-93 team, which was led by a 20-year-old point guard named Chris Lowery, broke a 16-year NCAA Tournament drought in `93. In doing so, it set into motion a chain of events that has evolved into one of the nation's most accomplished college basketball programs in the last two decades.

Lowery was the catalyst for the 1993 and 1994 teams that reached the NCAA Tournament. A scrappy, hustling player, Lowery scored 1,225 career points and dished out 391 assists at SIU. The Salukis recorded an 86-37 mark during his four years, won two conference championships, advanced to two NCAA Tournaments and picked up a pair of NIT berths as well.

The Evansville, Ind., native returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach under Bruce Weber in 2002. That team advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, knocking off opponents such as Indiana, Texas Tech and Georgia.

Lowery spent three seasons serving under Weber, including one season with him at the University of Illinois. Lowery said working for Weber helped prepare him for the opportunity to become a head coach.

"I saw how Coach Weber implemented an entire program at Illinois, and I watched more than I spoke," he said.

On April 9, 2004, Lowery fulfilled a dream. He returned to his alma mater and was introduced as the 12th men's basketball head coach at Southern Illinois University in the history of the program.

In his first year at the helm of SIU, all Lowery did was win 27 games and become the youngest coach, at age 32, to ever win Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year honors. The Salukis won the MVC regular-season crown and beat Saint Mary's in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The program continued its steady ascent.

Lowery guided a team with no seniors to the 2006 NCAA Tournament and a Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship.

In 2006-07, the Salukis had the greatest season in school history. They won a school-record 29 games, advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament and finished the year with a No. 11 ranking -- the highest ever at SIU.

More than any season in school history, the 2006-07 season established an identity for Saluki Basketball. Commentators from across the country marveled at the tenacity with which the Salukis played defense.

"They play as good a defense, if not better defense, than just about anybody in the country," said analyst Jerry Tarkanian. "(Lowery's) defense was so similar to what we were playing at UNLV, that I really fell in love with it. His team just plays so hard and sound. I like his philosophies -- he believes in good, solid defense, starting with fundamentals and with intensity and playing hard."

Southern Illinois ranked third in the nation in points allowed per game with 56.2 in the Sweet 16 season.

"I've said for years that no school plays better fundamental, man-to-man defense than Southern Illinois," said college basketball analyst Seth Davis. "Lowery is very charismatic, very intense, and he's a great motivator. He is a product of a winning culture, and it's one of the best examples at the mid-major level of a school having a culture that allows you to win consistently."

Lowery said the key to Southern's defense is how it dictates what an opponent can and cannot do.

"The only thing that is going to stick out is our ability to guard and how tough our kids are," explained Lowery.

Lowery was born on July 7, 1972 in Evansville, Ind. and attended Harrison High School. He graduated from Southern Illinois University in 1995 with a bachelor's degree in physical education.

Lowery and his wife, Erika, have four children: Lexis (17), C.J. (11), Kahari (10) and Jazmyn (7). They reside in Carbondale.