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Angounou finally ready to roar (05.12.2004)
By Craig Morgan, Tribune
Serge Angounou’s full name is Salomon Angounou Serge.
But his ASU teammates just may start calling him Simba.
Whenever the Cameroon native grabs a rebound, he clenches the basketball with both hands and lets out a low growl that roommate Ike Diogu describes as a hiss.
"I’ve been hearing it since freshman year," Diogu said.
Angounou said he is playing the part of lion king.
"It’s not to scare people around me," he said. "It just happens naturally."
Regardless, it seemed to have an effect on Temple’s much bigger front line Tuesday. The 6-foot-8 Angounou hauled down 14 boards to go along with 13 points in the Sun Devils’ 65-62 win in Philadelphia.
At one point, while the teams were lined up for free throws, Owls 6-11 forward Wayne Marshall turned to Angounou.
"He asked ‘what was that noise you made?’ " Angounou said. "I was like, ‘I don’t even know, man.’ "
If Angounou continues to roar like he has in the team’s past two games (13 ppg, 8.9 rpg), lightly regarded Arizona State could make some noise of its own this season.
"If he can continue to do that for us — and he can — that would take a lot of pressure off of Ike," said ASU coach Rob Evans, whose club faces Cal State Northridge today at Wells Fargo Arena. "Ike will have an even better year and our team will have a better year."
Evans has been waiting for Angounou’s impact for two seasons. When the Sun Devils recruited him, Evans envisioned a dominant front line that would confound opponent’s efforts to double team and control the defensive glass.
"Ike might not admit it, but Serge was our best player at that time," Evans said. "I felt when they both came in together (in 2002) that within the course of three or four games Serge would have been a starter for us on the team that went to the NCAA Tournament. He would have made us a lot stronger club."
Instead, Angounou went down with a knee injury in an exhibition game and Evans was left with a sense of what-if.
"When he went down I had a sinking feeling," Evans said. "I knew the process."
The process involved
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missing all of that 2002-03 season and playing the second half of last season at about 50 percent.
"That first year, I was a little bit down because I wanted to help the team right now," Angounou said.
But in the long run, Angounou said, "basically, yeah, it kind of made me tougher."
Angounou still isn’t the physical, scoring, rebounding and defensive lock-down specialist that Evans recruited from Rio Grande High in Albuquerque, where Angounou was named Gatorade New Mexico Player of the Year.
"Before he got injured he was a real good shot blocker," Diogu said. "He doesn’t jump as high as he used to."
But two years of recuperating and watching have increased his appetite for, and his understanding of the game.
Just as important, his knee strength has returned along with most of its flexibility.
"I feel more comfortable," he said. "There’s times when I do stuff that I can’t believe. It’s not hurting me at all.
"I just have to have faith, because whenever I do believe, like the last game, I just say let’s just go and play, I don’t care — just jump and believe."
With Diogu prodding him to grab at least 10 rebounds a game — and with Evans prodding him to have confidence in the midrange jumper from the elbow that was so effective at Temple, the Sun Devils hope Angounou is on the verge of a breakthrough.
"You’ve probably seen about 80 percent of what Serge can do," Evans said. "If he ever gets back to 100 percent you’re going to see a special player."
Cal State Northridge at Arizona State
When: 12:30 p.m. today
Where: Wells Fargo Arena
TV: None
Radio: ESPN (860 AM)
Records: ASU 4-1, Northridge 1-4
The skinny: ASU is 3-0 lifetime against Northridge with all the games taking place in Tempe. The Matadors’ only win this season came against Jackson State, and they lost by 18 to Vanderbilt, a team ASU beat 87-68. Former Paradise Valley High School forward Calvin Chitwood (11.6 ppg) and Phoenix North guard Davin White (6.4 ppg) both are on the roster. ASU alumnus Joel Sobotka is an assistant coach.
Contact Craig Morgan by email, or phone (480) 898-6540
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