Lowe announces Degand out with an injury

North Carolina State men's basketball coach Sidney Lowe gave his version of the injury report Friday, announcing that redshirt junior point guard Farnold Degand is out 1-2 weeks due to tendinitis in his knee, stemming from last year's surgery.

Lowe also said sophomore point guard Javier Gonzalez is healthy and ready to start in Degand's place after playing through his own knee injury in the season opener against New Orleans on Nov. 15. Also, freshman shooting guard C.J. Williams will be in the starting lineup, after hurting his wrist against the Privateers.

Lowe also discussed Saturday's game against High Point at Reynolds Coliseum, and how he'll alter the Wolfpack's pregame schedule a little bit for the big NC State at North Carolina football game that starts at noon Saturday.

Click below to listen to Lowe's press conference:

Sidney Lowe audio press conference (13:22)

Here is a transcript of Lowe's press conference:

What is the latest with Farnold Degand's injury situation?

"Currently, we are expecting him to be out a couple of weeks. I would say that is the maximum. I am hoping that maybe in a week he'll be back, but being on the conservative side, [the] doctor said two weeks.'

Is it tendonitis in his knee?

"Yes, but I think it is something as a result of the surgery. Either the way he is running on it or something. I think it is something that he has had before actually. It's never been this severe. I think apparently, it is something to do with that knee sugery."

How is Farnold handling the latest setback?

"He's OK. He has been doing well. It obviously is a difficult thing for him because he sat out one year and then got hurt the next year. Now, he has another injury here. It's frustrating for him. He understands that it is important that he is healthy, that is No. 1. He is doing his therapy and is coming to the practices and is watching all of the new things that we are doing. He's in good spirits."

Is it tough for Farnold to not favor his knee, and in turn possibly hurt something else?

"It is very tough. You are trying to protect, in his case, that knee, so you putting more pressure on somewhere else, whether it is the other leg, other knee, other thigh, whatever it might be. It's common I think for guys to do that."

What responsibilities fall on Javier Gonzalez and Julius Mays now?

"Yeah, it's fortunately or unfortunately, Javi's been in this situation before. I think he certainly is more prepared for it this time. Julius, obviously as a freshman, his numbers will go up in regards to playing time. I think he's going to do a nice solid job for us."

What did you see from Javi against New Orleans that you liked?

"The way he ran the team, the way he ran the show. He got guys into our sets and pushed the ball down the floor. He was active on the defensive end, especially in the second half. He got after it pretty good. I'd like for him to be a little more aggressive offensively. He is such an unselfish player that he's coming off wide open for a shot and he's a little hesitant to take it. He's a pretty good shooter. I thought he played a nice solid game against New Orleans. And he did it while he was hurt, the last few minutes, the last four minutes of the ball game. He was actually hurt and fought through it."

Is he OK now?

"He's OK now. Yes, he's OK. He wears that bandage, brace on his knee, but he's OK."

Is it the left knee that he wears his sleeve on it?

"Yes, the same knee."

What encouraged you about Brandon Costner's assertiveness against New Orleans?

"Just that he brought it out again. It's there, we know it's there and we've seen it before. He recognizes the situation and the game itself. He knew that we needed, he and Ben [McCauley] and Courtney [Fells] needed to step up in some areas. He did that. That is what those guys have been talking about and what they've been talking about is being the leaders, those three guys. When it is on the line, they need to come through. That is what is encouraging to see him take the initiative and the leadership. More than anything, just coming out of the locker room and telling all the other players and communicating with the other players 'We need to pick it up.' And they did it."

What was it like to have a full week in-between games like a football coach?

"We tried to continue to do some of the things that we've been doing in terms of defensively what we are looking to do and changing defenses and working on some things. And offensively, running. We played a lot in practice. I think that is important for us to do, not just to reiterate what we are trying to do in terms of pushing the ball, but also for conditioning. If you want to play that way, you have to practice that way. We played a lot. Then a lot of individual work, working on things, talking about situations. Our bigs being trapped and passing out of traps, things of that nature. We went at it pretty good."

Did you get as much out of the transition game as you wanted vs. New Orleans?

"Not as much as we would like to. We would like to get a few more going there. I give them some credit that they got back on defense. They were smaller and a little quicker, or quick. They got back. The fact that we are looking to do it, and our guys are getting it and pushing it and looking ahead and trying to run. We have to continue to do that. We have to continue to work on it and stay with it. The last few practices that is exactly what we concentrated on, getting out and running."

Any changes to the starting line up other than Javi Gonzalez for Farnold Degand?

"No, no."

Do you have a policy for scheduling in-state teams?

"I mean it just depends, depends. Obviously when you play an in-state team, I would say there's a lot at stake there because you know you are going to get some teams, and they are going to bring some fans into your building. You are probably going to have a few people in this area that attended that school.

"I don't have a set number or gameplan in terms of how many schools we want to play in-state. It just depends on the situation."

How did you schedule this game with High Point?

"Not that we play teams because guys have relationships, but that conversation, the conversation came from that, so we put it on the schedule."

So their coach had a relationship with one of your assistants?

"I think one of their assistants and our assistants."

And through that casual conversation the game got scheduled?

"Because we talked about playing schools in the state. They were interested in doing it."

Were you not originally scheduled to go to the Rainbow Classic in Hawaii this year?

"We had talked about going there, yes we had talked about it at one point, but we weren't really penciled in to go, no."

You would have said yes if invited?

"I'm not sure, I'm not sure. I'm not sure about that."

C.J. Williams is fine?

"Yes, C.J.'s fine."

Any thoughts on having a bigger game in Reynolds or a set amount of games in Reynolds?

"There's been no conversation about trying to get a set number of games in there. I think the time of the games certainly would dictate that. The teams that we play might dictate that. There's a lot that goes into that. I'm not the only one, I don't make that decision on my own. There's a lot that has to be talked about and thought about, just makes sure that it makes sense for everyone."

Do you want to play an ACC game in there?

"I'm going to stay away from the question, okay, yeah I'll just stay away from that question. It's a difficult thing and sometimes a sensitive issue. Yeah, I'll stay away from that (laughs)."

It's not a simple decision.

"Sure, absolutely, there is a big picture."

Talk about High Point.

"They're strong in their guard player. They have a very good, very good player in Adrian Harris. He can score the ball, really plays well. Another guard, Singleton, very good player. They're strong in their guards, not that their bigs aren't solid, but most of their scoring comes from those guards.

"They really can put the ball on the hole, they can put it on the floor, they can shoot it. They can pass it. They're solid players. Harris is a junior, so he's got some experience with him, and he's been around for a while. We're going to have our work cut out for us there. Again it's another challenge, another challenge for our guards to be able to defend these guys.

"They are going to run the ball up and down the floor, going to push it, get easy baskets on us."

You going to watch the football game Saturday?

"Of course."

Wonder who you are cheering for.

"Of course, State of course."

You going to be able to watch it with the game a few hours later?

"You do have your routine, you have your routine, but that would impossible for me not to watch that game."

You going to shoot around earlier?

"Not because of that, but we're going to shoot around early, and get back and let the guys get back and catch some of the game and rest. They still need to rest. We're going to ask that they don't watch the entire game. If they want to fall asleep, fall asleep. Don't yell too much, don't jump up and down. Don't get some kind of crazy injury because we won or something you jump up and down."