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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 1976)
*\ The Flea: “One loss and we’re gone. ’’ Photo by John Johns Greg Graham's passing has helptd Oregon on more than one occasion. This reserve plays steady By JEFF NIELSON Of the Emerald Greg Graham describes himself as a worrier. The physical part of practice is usually from 2:30 to 7:30 each afternoon.' said the junior re serve guard. After that, there s the mental part of it. The practices are very intense, and after getting through with training table you just want to go home and relax.” Ah, but the life of a college basketball player leaves little room for relaxation, especially when you re fighting for a playoff spot in the Pacific-8 After home weekend games with Stanford and California, the Ducks will wing south to start on the second half of conference play. It’s enough to make anyone worry — but to Graham, it's just another challenge. "We can't afford to lose another one said The Flea," as Graham is popularly known to his teammates. “Three teams have one loss, and we have to play each of them again We re working harder because if we lose, we re gone This determination to try harder is a mark of Don Gregory Graham When he came out to Oregon for the first time as a green recruit in 1973, Graham was impressed with the University. So impressed, in fact, that he decided to choose Oregon over a school closer to home. "I really liked the players and coaches when I visited," said Graham. "I felt I had a chance to play big-time basketball here The Flea started with an uphill climb to get that playing time. In the summer between his senior year at Louisville, Ohio and his freshman year here, he was involved in a car accident that slowed his progress. Although he wasn't able to practice for a couple of months, Graham fought back and was on schedule by the time games started in the fall. “I lost playing time, and was a little out of action for awhile, but I came out of it with no after-effects so far," Graham said In his third season under Oregon coach Dick Harter, Graham has developed into a player that Harter calls "very improved." "Greg has done a super job in the last three games,” said the Duck coach. "He's a very intel Iigent player who has improved a lot on defense. That's helped both him and the team/' Graham has shown he can be very effective when called on. When Ronnie Lee came out with an injury at home against Oregon State. Graham went in and kept momentum going with his on target passes and solid play. On defense. Harter praises his stronger play and good effort.” When he gets a chance to prove his ability, which is not often, Graham has proved deadly from the free-throw line. In the last two seasons, he is a perfect 24-24, 14 last year and 10 this season. Opposing players don t foul The Flea. Number eleven would just as soon be known as a specialist. I think my role is to come in and execute the offense — get things going — and guard the smal ler, quicker guys when need be," said Graham. "Passing and dribbling are my better skills — I think I'm put in for special situations." Unfortunately, Graham has not always been around to help the team. When the NCAA im posed a 10-man traveling limit earlier this season, Graham missed a couple games, including the Hawaii trip. It was a slap in the face when the ruling body later changed the squad size back to 12. "The NCAA is all concerned about saving money — but when they moved the games to Thursday, they didn't think about extra money for hotels and food," said Graham with a smile. We need 12 guys on the road. It put the coaches on the spot, trying to decide who was to travel with the team.” Right now, Graham has bigger thoughts on his mind—the Ducks' battle to stay in the Pac-8 race. One thing that has helped Oregon in that struggle is a change in offensive tactics. "Slowing down the offense helped the fresh men," said Graham. "We were running wild for awhile. Now the defense has a chance to set up better, take it easier." "The mental attitude of the teams in the confer ence are important. The teams are so close to gether now, nobody can afford to lose — including us. It’s more of a race than in previous years." You can bet The Flea will be right in the thick of it. / Fishin’ for a win in the tough Pac-8 By BOB WELCH Of the Emerald The Pacific-8's weekly press re lease said it best: “It's time to fish or cut bait for Pac-8 basketball teams...” And Oregon isn’t high on the idea of reeling in its line. Dick Har ter has called the next four games with Stanford and Cal the Ducks' most important of the season. Like everyone else, he knows one loss and the Kamikaze Kids will be all but locked in the second division. ‘They’re all tough from now on,” said Harter. Even Stanford? you ask. Even Stanford. The Cardinals, Oregon s oppo nent tonight at McArthur Court, are only 1-4 in the Pac-8 and 7-11 overall, but have beaten Southern Cal by 11 in Los Angeles (Oregon, in comparison, beat the Trojans by five at home). And remember, Stanford won against Hawaii in The Islands. ‘ They’re playing very well,” said Harter. “That win over Hawaii proves they can beat anybody in the country.” Rebounding is the Cards’ forte. They outrebounded UCLA 54-26 in a close loss to the Bruins and lead the Pac-8 in the boards de partment. Stanford, on the average, out rebounds its opponents by seven each game. “We ll really have to concen trate on our blocking out," said Harter. While Stanford doesn t have a single outstanding scorer, the Cards do boast three scorers in the Pac-8 s top 18, something only Oregon and Washington can match. Ed Schweitzer, a 6-8V2 senior, anchors the Cards. He averages 14.6 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. He's a class forward,” said Harter, and has always played well against us." The Cards' other forward, 6-6 junior George Schader, is averag ing 14.6 per game and junior guard Mike Bratz is hitting at a 12.8 clip. Stanford’s two other emerald sports starters will be 6-11 center Tim Patterson and either Jay Carter, a 6-4 sophomore, or Wolfe Perry, a freshman who hit four points in the final nine seconds to beat Hawaii, at the other guard. The Cards are the only Pac-8 team with a worse field goal per centage than Oregon's (46.4 to 46.1). Still, Harter insists the Cards are no pushover. ‘They’re not the kind of team that gets easily rattled," said Har ter. SporffoTio R-bali squad loses Oregon s racquetball team suffered its first loss of the sea son Tuesday night by losing to Portland State, 16-2. Women beat WSU The women's basketball squad won a home game Tuesday night over Washing ton State. 47-44. High scorer for the Ducks was Karen Banks, with 12. J.V. time changed A change in times has been announced for Saturday afternoon's game with Cal ifornia. The doors to Mac Court will be opened at 12:45. and the JV game will start at 1:15. Strobel keys comeback By GREG STILES Of the Emerald Oregon completed a two meet sweep over visiting Portland State University Wednesday night at McArthur Court, defeating the Vi kings 26-15. The win marks the first time in 22 years that the Ducks have beaten PSU twice in one season. As in the first meet, the turning point came in the 177-pound bout. Tim Strobel, who drew the Vi kings' Kurt Bledsoe on a disputed take-down in the first meeting, whipped Dennis Jossi 6-1 to pull the Ducks within 15-14 heading into the final two matches of the evening. Bob Bragg pinned Portland States Brent Price at the 4:12 mark of the 190 match giving the Webfoois a 20-15 lead. Heavyweight Breg Gibson cap ped off the victory with a last sec ond pin over Mike Wagner. Gib son was ahead 10-3 at the time. Oregon Coach Ron Finley, who missed several recent matches due to a minor illness, was at me meet but was forced to watch from the second row by doctor's orders. "This was probably one of the better matches as a team all sea son," said Finley. "Every guy had a good performance, even when we put a 118-pounder (Norm Knight) in at 126.” Randy Robinson pulled the first upset for the Ducks, when he drew with PSU's heavily favored Lorenzo Jones, 1 -1. Finley had praise for both Robinson and Strobel. "Randy did a great job against Lorenzo Jones," said the coach. "Strobel did a very good job . .. Jossi’s not a bad one at all. I think Tim is getting more confidence.” 118—Hart. O. d. Kassebaum. PSU. 6-2. 126—Kleiman. PSU. d Knight. O. 16-6 134—Shoji. O. d, Johnson. PSU. 4-2. 142—Robinson. O. drew. Jones PSU. 1-1. 150—Daniels. PSU. d. Holloembaek, O. 6-5. 158—Kramer. O. d. Williams. PSU, 11-5. 167—Graham. PSU. p. Besaw, O. 7 27. 177—Strobel. O. d. Joss. PSU, 6-1 190—Bragg. O. p. Pnce. PSU. 412 Heavyweight—Gibson, O, p. Wagner, 7 59 Team—Oregon 26. Portland State 15 7 Take a break read the ODE
