Home opener leftovers
November 26th, 2007, 11:19 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Mark Heller
Two posts in one day. What a deal.
Some tidbits from ASU’s 30-point win against Cal Poly on Monday:
Sure, it’s Cal Poly, but considering what happened last year against Northern Arizona in the home opener, and it’s easy to see why, on this night, the game meant something to ASU, even if it’ll be long forgotten by next month.
Speaking of home opener, announced attendance: 6,151.
My head-on-a-swivel guesstimate: Nearly 5,000.
The 41 points allowed tied for the fifth-fewest surrendered since 1950.
Other signs that coach Herb Sendek is getting his point across: four players scored in double figures and 16 of the 23 field goals were assisted.
In one second-half possession, Eric Boateng had three offensive rebounds off his own point-blank misses, and he heard about it in the locker room afterward.
“Reminiscent of Moses Malone, he’d go up and make a couple then miss a couple, and his rebounding numbers would be terrific,” Sendek said. But Eric is so honest, he’s Honest Abe, he confided in us he wasn’t trying to do that.”
Boateng and Jeff Pendergraph shared the floor together for a few minutes of the second half. It’s the first time since the season-opener against Illinois the two were on the floor together. There were mixed results, although probably too few minutes to form any opinion.
Pendergraph was asked afterward about this work-in-progress.
“I don’t know man,” he said. “I can’t tell what Coach Sendek thinks. It’s hard to see inside his head. You can never tell what he’s thinking. One time he’ll be thinking something, the next time he’s popping out of nowhere and you’re like, ‘Who’s this guy? Where’s Herb?”
It left Pendergraph laughing and coughing at the same time.
Sendek’s retort: “We definitely have a team filled with personality. … “I have to have my hands up to because they know how to deliver a good rib shot themselves.”
