You know that deep inside, it will be special for N.C. State’s first-year head coach Sidney Lowe when he takes the long walk up the stairs and into a jam-packed, riotous Reynolds Coliseum.

Lowe and assistants Monte Towe, Quintin Jackson and Justin Gainey all played in the famous old barn. Each has his own memories, and that walk from the dressing room up those steep stairs into the bedlam that is Reynolds Coliseum will stir emotions in each.

Once more, a men’s basketball game that means something will be played at the William Neal Reynolds Coliseum. It will be State vs. Marist in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament.

Sidney Lowe, who played his entire State career at Reynolds, is excited for his players. This won’t be one of those regular-season legend games played before a few thousand. This will be a Reynolds Coliseum that should rock like the days of old.

“It’s going to be sold out, it’s going to be loud,” says Lowe. “I don’t think our players have ever experienced anything like they’ll experience on Friday.”

While Lowe appreciates the Wolfpack’s current home at the RBC Center, he also knows from first-hand experience that the Coliseum is a home-court advantage like no other.

“These are N.C. State fans at their finest, at their best in Reynolds, and it’s just a different atmosphere.”

And I would expect those fans will be more than happy to pay tribute to an N.C. State team that has captured their fancy. It’s the Wolfpack team that in four days in Tampa turned their season around and rode that momentum into Philadelphia on Tuesday, beating Drexel in the NIT’s first round despite playing for a fifth time in six days.

“I’m proud of our guys and what they’ve done,” a relaxed Lowe said on Thursday. “I feel good about what they’ve done, and they’re still not finished.”

Yes, in just a week’s time, N.C. State has gone from a tired basketball team that seemed ready to have an unfulfilled season end, to a team that now feels it can play with anybody and has a spring in its step despite the heavy workload.

“The confidence level is very high,” Lowe believes. “I think they feel they’re always in the ball game. We don’t panic when we’re down. It’s great when you have a group of guys who always think they’re gonna win, that always thinks they’re gonna come back.”

Lowe laughingly says he hopes the two days’ rest his team has enjoyed won’t take away their momentum. He also says that Marist, which won at Oklahoma State on Tuesday, will not roll over. He says the Red Foxes are patient, take time off the clock and can shoot the basketball. State will have to be patient and focused on both ends of the court.

Now, a question that many want answered: Will Lowe bring out the now famous Red Coat for Marist? He says he doesn’t know, he laughingly calls it a game-time decision. But he knows the Coat has taken on a life of its own.

“It’s our fans and their love of N.C. State red and they like to see their coach in red, a lot feel that way.”

Excitement has built steadily over a State program that now seems to have fans more excited over a second-round NIT game than last season’s fifth straight appearance in the NCAA tournament. You can credit Lowe’s charisma for that plus a team that instead of just quitting listened to the wizard in that red coat and found their heart.

I personally can’t see a Marist team come into a raucous, historic Reynolds Coliseum on Friday and beat a confident Wolfpack team on a roll. But State can’t get too confident. That’s when a Red Fox may bite. As we like to say, they play the game for a reason.

It will be like old times, though, even if it is just the NIT. A sold-out crowd at a building that symbolized the start of what we know as ACC basketball.

Those who go to Friday’s game will look around the old building and imagine, the greats of the past, the Shavliks, the Pucillos, the Burlesons, the Thompsons and yes, the Sidney Lowes. The Wolfpack’s great past will meet the future in an old familiar place. It’ll seem like old times.

I think State fans really believe this late-season run looks like a bridge to a bright future.

Who would have thought that in just a little over a week’s time, a real buzz would return to N.C. State basketball?