Ex-Hopkins Guard Ray Cowels Ready For Big Junior Season At Santa Clara

Ray Cowels, a former Hopkins standout, is looking to have a big junior season at Santa Clara. Cowels is making a rare trip home to play in the Howard Pulley Pro-Am Summer League and talked to Patch.com about his sophomore season, his upcoming year and top memories of his four-year career at Hopkins.

Cowels averaged 5.4 points per game this past season as he helped lead the Broncos to a 24-14 mark. They won the third annual CollegeInsider.com tournament over Iona 76-69 as Cowels scored 11 points. He scored in double figures in eight of 37 games, including 18 points versus Northern Colorado when he made four 3-pointers.


Cowels helped lead Hopkins to a 114-6 record in his four years with the Royals, winning a state title as a freshman and senior.

The 2008-09 team in his senior year has been called by some observers as the most talented team in Minnesota state history. That squad featured Royce White (Iowa State), Trent Lockett (Arizona State), Mike Broghammer (Notre Dame), Marvin Singleton (Northern Iowa), Moses Sundufu (St. Mary’s), Joe Coleman (Minnesota), Marcus Williams (North Dakota State for football), D. J. Peterson (LaSalle) and returning senior point guard Siyani Chambers

Hopkins Patch: Santa Clara improved from 11 wins to 24 last year. What are the expectations for the upcoming season?

Ray Cowels: There are a lot of expectations. We won the CIT Tournament last year. We ended on a good note. We lost some seniors, but we looked at that win at the end of the season as a building point. 

Hopkins Patch: Are you looking to be more to a leader with some of the losses that you had to graduation?

Ray Cowels: I think so. I am a junior next year, so I have to take more of a leadership role. I think that I am ready to do that. I have been kind of in the background a little bit my sophomore and freshman year. Things have turned around. I am trying to step up and be a leader out there.

Hopkins Patch: You didn’t play in the Howard Pulley Pro-Am Summer League last year, but you are playing this year. How often do you get a chance to get back home?  

Ray Cowels: It is tough to get back because it is so far away. This will be my longest time home, actually since I moved out to California, just because of the commute. I am trying to take advantage of it and get back with the old guys and hang out and get some good play in.  

Hopkins Patch: It is probably nice to play in the Howard Pulley Pro-Am Summer League, where you see guys you played with or against?

Ray Cowels: It is a real good experience and that is one of the reasons I cam back. I contact Rene (Pulley) to get into the league and see everybody and play. Get back to the roots. 

Hopkins Patch: What do you like about Santa Clara?

Ray Cowels: It is a great school. It’s California, what’s not to like. Up-and-coming program. We have a lot of good freshman coming in next year. We won the CIT tournament. Not a lot of teams can say that they won a championship at the end of the season and we are one of those teams that can do that.  

Hopkins Patch: Your assistant coach, James Ware, is a Hopkins guy. Has that helped with your adjustments to the team since you didn’t really know many of the players beforehand?

Ray Cowels: It definitely helps. It is always good to have a guy from Minnesota who knows what I am going through and who I can talk to on a more personal level other than just a player-coach thing. That is always good to do. 

Hopkins Patch: What types of things are you working on to improve yourself to get ready for a big junior year? 

Ray Cowels: I am working on my ballhandling and just try to sharpen everything that I have in my repertoire; my shooting, working on grabbing a few more rebounds, passing the ball as little bit. I am going to try to mix in a little bit of ballhandling in there, just in case if they need me at the point, if we get short on guys.

Hopkins Patch: What are you majoring in?

Ray Cowels: Business management. It is going pretty good. It is a tough school. Santa Clara is a very prestigious school, a Jesuit University and private. It has been a good experience for me. It is tough, but it will be good for me in the long run.   

Hopkins Patch: When you look back at your career at Hopkins, what stands out as some of the highlights?

Ray Cowels: Of course, the team and hanging out with the guys. Classes. The whole thing is a highlight. Once I got to college, I realized how much I missed high school, but it is for the better.

Hopkins Patch: When you look back at that team in 2009, you had eight Division I players and went 31-0?

Ray Cowels: It is definitely impressive. That is just what Hopkins does. All the guys come back and help the younger guys and make it a revolving thing.

Hopkins Patch: Hopkins won a third straight title in March. Did you get a chance to follow them?

Ray Cowels: I did a little bit. I was in contact with Coach Novak. When I heard the day after they had won it from Coach Ware, it was good to hear that.

Hopkins Patch: How long are you back in Minnesota?

Ray Cowels: I am back for a couple of weeks, then I’ll be in summer school. We are on the quarter system, so I have middle time in between when everyone else is in summer school, I am off.

Hopkins Patch: Is it tough being out there because you are not on national TV much for your family and friends to follow you and see you?

Ray Cowels: It is definitely tough. You always like to have that support system when you are playing and everybody watching you. It has definitely been hard being out there and being so far away. I’ve been able to overcome that and I kind of struggled with that my first two years, but as I have matured over the years, it hasn’t been as big of an issue as it used to be.