Russ Pennell halted men's basketball practice Monday afternoon to stress the importance of ASU's second game of the season against Portland State.
The fourth-year assistant coach stopped a drill dead in its tracks and went on a brief tirade about how the Vikings had already won a game on the road this season and are more than capable of winning another when they face the Sun Devils (1-0) tonight at Wells Fargo Arena. Pennell's words couldn't possibly ring louder in the ears of his players.
"You can't come and just play sloppy at the Division I level. There's been a lot of upsets already," ASU junior forward Shawn Redhage said. "We definitely have to come better prepared and play a full 40 minutes."
Portland State (1-0) snapped a 10-game road losing streak Saturday with a 60-53 win at Boise State. The Vikings shot just 41.9 percent (18-of-43) from the field, but overcame a five-point halftime deficit on the strength of 23 points from senior forward Anthony Lackey.
Head coach Joel Sobotka is looking to take Portland State's program out of the basement in only its sixth year in existence. The Vikings failed to make their conference tournament last year after finishing eighth in the Big Sky with a 9-18 overall record. Portland State was picked to finish in the exact same position in the preseason coaches and media polls.
"I don't know if there's been a championship awarded in October, so I don't get caught up in those polls," said Sobotka, who enters his fourth year at the helm. "We're not worried about where we're picked. It's where we finish."
With three returning starters on its active roster, Portland State is a much-improved team from a year ago. The Vikings are once again relying heavily on Lackey, an explosive swingman that led the team last season with an average of 14.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.
Today's trip to Tempe is a homecoming for Sobotka, who was born and raised in Scottsdale. Sobotka worked as a student assistant with the Sun Devils for three years, while earning a bachelor of science degree in management at ASU. He also spent the 1995-96 season working as an assistant during head coach Bill Frieder's last year with the Sun Devils.
"It was a little eerie sitting on the visitors bench. I had never seen it from there before," said Sobotka, who coached at Wells Fargo Arena for the first time in 1999. "As my Dad says, this is the only game I don't cheer for ASU. I spent a lot of time there and have a lot of pride in the program."
The Sun Devils are 3-0 all-time against the Vikings, with their last victory coming in the 1999 season opener. Evans' Ole Miss team also beat Portland State 56-54 in its 1996 season opener.
Reach Brian Gomez at bsundevil@aol.com.
