Some say being part of a team is just like being part of a family — especially if some of the players are actually family.
Stedman Lowry is a junior, and his brother Dylan Lowry is a redshirt freshman. Both are starters on the men’s basketball team.
Despite the age difference, the brother’s started playing basketball at the same time, although even this isn’t something they easily agree upon
“I started playing actual travel basketball in second grade, so age 7 or 8,” Dylan said. “We started about the same time.”
“I’ve been playing for 15 years, since about fourth grade,” Stedman said.
“So I’m more experienced,” his younger brother interjected.
“Well, no, you just said we started at the same time, so not really.”
“Oh, true.”
The brothers were home-schooled for three years, and would spend their days quickly finishing their schoolwork so they could shoot hoops at their mom’s tennis club.
“Basketball was pretty much all we did as kids,” Stedman said. “When I first started playing, I was not good; but the second Dylan picked up a ball, he was great. I had four points in a season at the beginning, and he had 30 in one game.”
Despite his knack for basketball, Dylan’s first athletic experience wasn’t as successful.
“I played soccer first, but I was terrible,” Dylan admitted. “Since my dad played basketball his whole life, it just clicked. It’s the most fun sport for me.”
Stedman quickly agreed.
The two brothers have been playing on the same team long before they were Chargers.
“People always ask us if it’s weird to play with my brother, but it’s not, really,” Stedman said. “We’ve kind of been playing together for almost 20 years. It’s fun. I can read his face. He knows when I won’t pass — which is most of the time.”
The two recall only one instance of playing on different teams against each other.
“At junior high camp one time,” Dylan said. “I was in sixth grade and he was in eighth. His team destroyed mine.”
Head men’s basketball coach John Tharp noted the Lowrys’ ability to work together.
“Stedman and Dylan both have incredibly high basketball IQs,” Tharp said. “They have their own playbook. No one else is sure what they’re doing, but those two are on the same page.”
The brotherly competition doesn’t end when the guys leave the gym. Stedman and Dylan compete against each other in just about every other area, from videogames to ping pong.
“We’re competitive in anything where there can be a winner, and especially a loser,” Stedman said. “It’s not even about winning — just not losing.”
When it comes to school, however, the brothers don’t plan on there being a loser.
“We’re in this one together for sure,” Stedman said.
They are both majoring in accounting, following the lead of their father, a certified public accountant.
The decision to become his older brother’s teammate once again was not a difficult choice for Dylan, especially with his big brother talking in his ear.
“I was here for a year or two, and really liked it,” Stedman said. “I encouraged him to go.”
“I was pretty sure I was going to end up here by the time I hit my junior year,” Dylan said. “I was here all the time, watching games and visiting, and I became friends with the guys on team, so it was an easy decision.”
Tharp described the Lowrys as great representatives of the basketball program.
“I got to know Dylan while he was in high school,” Tharp said. “I was really hoping he would pick Hillsdale.”
Tharp also praised the brotherly love the two have for each other, even if they don’t always show it.
“They get after each other,” Tharp said. “But they’re great kids and fun to be around.”
The two certainly know how to have a good laugh about a bad situation.
“I always joke about this,” Dylan said. “It was his junior year of high school, and my freshman year. He’s coming down, and I’m way ahead. It was an easy pass to me. It would be an easy lay-up. But he didn’t pass, and he fell and tore his ACL.”
Their competitive nature certainly comes out on the court. Stedman recalled an instance of brotherly competition in a practice at Hillsdale.
“He got mad at me and I just pushed him down,” Stedman said. “Everyone broke us up, and said, ‘Alright, back to practice.’ Within 10 seconds, we were back on the same team, like it never happened.”
“Hold no grudges,” his brother agreed.