Chris Lowery plans to spread the gospel of Saluki basketball overseas this summer.

The SIU men’s basketball head coach will join the University of Pittsburgh’s Jamie Dixon on the staff of the United States men’s under-19 team at the FIBA World Championships team starting July 2 in Auckland, New Zealand.

Lowery said he felt honored to have an opportunity to represent the United States and SIU in the same trip.

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‘ ‘I try to be a walking billboard for SIU wherever I go, and to have the opportunity to go overseas and see other kids from other countries, those are just great opportunities for me and this university,’ Lowery said. ‘I’m going to be wearing my (Saluki apparel) everywhere I go.’

ESPN’s Andy Katz reported Thursday that Dixon and Lowery were slated to be assistants on a staff headed by Davidson head coach Kevin McKillop. However, with McKillop out of the picture after withdrawing from the championships, Dixon will be the team’s head coach.

Lowery said his predecessor at SIU, current Purdue head coach Matt Painter, could be the team’s other assistant. The Saluki head coach could not confirm whether Painter will join the staff, but did say Team USA Basketball officials have targeted the former Saluki head coach as a potential candidate.

Regardless of whether the championships will reunite two of SIU men’s basketball’s most decorated coaches, Lowery said coaching some of America’s most talented youngsters overseas was an opportunity of a lifetime.

‘As a kid you grow up and you want to have a chance to represent your country. And when you have the ability to go with USA basketball anywhere, it’s just a great opportunity – an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,’ he said.

Lowery is no stranger to overseas trips. In 2003, he coached as part of a foreign basketball tour, which featured stops in Finland, Sweden and Latvia. Six years later, Lowery will be representing the red, white and blue – not to mention Saluki maroon.

The two-time Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year said he is sometimes stopped by people who recognize Saluki basketball while traveling. Lowery said people often bring up the team’s distinguished mascot, along with the Painter-Lowery-Bruce Weber coaching tree and former NBA star Walt Frazier. They also talk about the team’s style of play, specifically its relentless man-to-man defense.

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‘Those are things that we’re proud of because we know that people are seeing us as more than just a basketball team,’ Lowery said. ‘It becomes the program. It becomes the university.’

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