One shot after another, the basketball echoes off the backboard. It's one hour before the team's supposed to arrive for a scheduled lift -- but the 6-foot-9 freshman doesn't mind.

He's here on his own time.

"Joonas [Suotamo] is kind of sneaky-athletic when you look at him," Penn State assistant men's basketball coach Hilliary Scott said. "He seems so long and lanky, but you get him out on the court and he runs and goes and dunks rather easily."

The Finland native is 20 minutes into his shootaround, and already his shoulders are glowing from the exercise. He throws his arms into a rhythmic motion, timing his jumpshot with perfect precision -- pouring in so many mid-range field goals that the Oakland Raiders might give him a call.

But right now, the court's calling his name.

After spending one month on the sidelines with a stress reaction in the third metatarsal in his left foot, Suotamo is just grateful to be back -- practicing at the Bryce Jordan Center less than 24 hours after Thursday's draining matchup vs. Ohio State.

It's early afternoon, and you couldn't blame him if he wanted to catch a few more Zs. But Suotamo's not in the mood.

"It feels like after last night's game, I don't need no rest," he says in a clear Finnish accent. "A little extra shooting won't do much harm."

In four games, Suotamo hasn't seen much action -- but Scott said the coaching staff is trying to gradually involve the big man more and more. Suotamo didn't seem upset about his current situation, though.

"I just practice and let the coach do the decisions," he said. "I try not to worry about it -- it's not in my head today. Those who get to play deserve minutes."

Suotamo barely glances upward when he speaks; he talks in a soft tone and offers an optimistic reply to virtually every question.

That's why it's so surprising to see this 6-foot-9 blonde giant proceed to dive into a 15-second impression of Sean Connery in The Rock -- and it's even more surprising to hear how good he is. Heck, it's enough to make SNL's Darrell Hammond blush.

"I have talked English almost all my life, watching movies and imitating voices -- with my friends, you know, favorite movie lines," Suotamo said, later adding he started taking English courses in the third grade.

Between talking about movies, Suotamo is interrupted by members of the women's basketball team -- they'll need the gym soon. He's asked to wrap it up.

"OK," he nods, explaining it's no hassle -- he doesn't plan on stopping his shootaround, he'll just continue on to the BJC's South Gym.

But that's just the Finn rookie; he's no quitter -- and he says he's not ready to give up on his team, either. As a matter of fact, he said his teammates have been the favorite part of his Penn State experience.

"I'm not saying this because I have to say it, but I really mean it," he said. "They're funny guys.

"But that's what's best about basketball -- it's a team sport. You make friends."

Suotamo acknowledged it was tough in the beginning being the only Finn on the team. Sure, there were two other international players -- but at least the pair shared the same language since both Nikola Obradovic and Milos Bogetic were inhabitants of Serbia and Montenegro.

But no one else on the team was familiar with Suotamo's native tongue.

"They're different languages," he said. "It would be nice to have some Finnish guy on the team, but of course, I think that won't happen."

After winter break, though, Suotamo still didn't hesitate to call his team, "family" after spending Christmas with teammate Mike Walker and his relatives.

"We had a great time, we just hung out and worked out a little bit, too," Walker laughed. "And he also had a little battle with a snowman, he might have to tell that story."

Suotamo didn't want to go in great detail but recalled his "snowman battle" with a smile.

"Let's just say that I like building snowmens and destroying them," he said.

Like Suotamo adjusting to a new country, the Nittany Lions are still trying to adjust to their Big Ten opponents. And if Penn State can adjust as quickly and as well as Suotamo, maybe Penn State will start destroying some of the competition -- instead of snowmen.