sports
Dwindling Ducks seek first conference win
By JODY MURRAY
Of th« Emerald
It's like standing at a shooting gallery
and watching the little metal ducks get
blasted off the revolving wheel
At the start of the men’s basketball
season, Oregon had 12 players on the
wheel. Then Ray Whiting redshirted for
personal reasons.
Pow.
Then Gary Gatewood broke his wrist
and Jerome Williams broke his shoulder.
Pow Pow.
And now Barry Walker, Oregon's
speedy guard, is out for the next two
games because of academic problems
during fall term
That last gunshot leaves Oregon
coach Jim Haney with only eight players
for Saturday’s game against the Stanford
Cardinals in McArthur Court at 8:05 p m.
Oregon has nowhere to go but up in
Pac-10 competition after losses on the
road to Arizona and Arizona State. The
Sun Devils nuked the Ducks 104-64 for
Oregon’s worst loss since 1968, when
UCLA beat them twice by 41-point mar
gins.
The setbacks dropped the Ducks to
7-4 overall and 0-2 in the conference.
"We didn’t play well in Arizona," Han
ey said, "not as well as we are capable I
feel we ll get back into our playing form
against Stanford."
Haney expects the Ducks to be emo
tionally prepared for the Cards, who were
the only Pac-10 team to compile a losing
pre-conference record and are expected
to be the Pac-10 doormats.
Last year at home against the Cards,
the Ducks were up by as much as 13
points in the second half but lost 60-59.
"That’s certainly reason enough for
incentive to go out and perform." .
Mike Clark continues to pace the
Ducks in both scoring (15.1) and
rebounding (9.5). With the loss of Wil
liams for the season, Clark is needed at
the forward position. But despite his 6-9
stature, he has held his own at center.
In the meantime, 7-0 sophomore Ron
Burns has been anything but
intimidating. He played 25 minutes
against Arizona State but didn’t get a
single rebound.
Clark is followed in the scoring column
by forward John Grieg (11.5) and fresh
man point guard Fred Cofield (11.4).
Overall, Oregon’s shooting percentage
has risen to 499, led by freshman for
ward David Brantley’s .563. The Ducks
three freshmen (John Cheatham is the
third) have a combined shooting per
centage of .528.
Stanford is led by forward Brian
Welch, who has averaged 16.2 points a
game. Stanford is also having its prob
lems at the center position, where 6-10
sophomore Dave Nussbaum is averaging
only 1.7 points and 1.6 rebounds a game.
Walker will miss two games
And then there were eight.
Because of academic reasons,
Oregon junior guard Barry Walker has
been benched by coach Jim Haney
for Saturday’s game against Stanford
and Monday's contest versus Califor
nia.
"When (Haney) told me yesterday, it
was kind of a letdown,” Walker said.
“But I’ll still be the old Barry, cheering
'em on in practice."
The Ducks had already lost three of
the original 12 players available when
the season began
Walker, who is petitioning the
University’s Academic Board, said “I
was studying harder than I ever have, I
just didn’t do as good as I was sup
posed to in finals.”
The board will access his petition
early next week. Walker said. He ad
ded that Haney told him he has a
"50-50 chance” to have his petition
accepted.
In the meantime, he said, he has
registered for 16 hours this term
Haney said Thursday he might con
sider holding a second tryout to bol
ster the number of players on his
Barry Walker
diminishing team, but “we’d spend
more time teaching them fundamen
tals in practice and they wouldn't help
us in the games ”
Women caqers come home for two aames
The eighth-ranked Oregon
women's basketball team,
nipped Monday night by
Arizona State, return to
McArthur Court Saturday night
against Boise State at 5:45 p.m.
The game will be the first
league contest for both squads.
Oregon enters league action
with a 9-5 pre-league record.
Boise State is 3-6.
“We shouldn’t have any
problems with Boise State if we
play our game,” said Duck
coach Elwin Heiny.
On Sunday, the Ducks take
on Louisiana State University at
4 p.m. The Ducks and LSU have
met once already this season, at
the Queens Classic. It was the
Ducks' first game of the season
and they breezed to a 83-57 win
over the Tigers from Baton
Rouge. But Heiny is worried
about LSU.
“LSU will be a tough one for
us,” he said. “They have two of
the top guards in the nation in
jzmu.
Food Service
Joyce Walker (20.4 points a
game) and Jackie White (13.6
points a game). They will be one
of the best teams we ll play at
home this year.”
Boise State and the Ducks
have tangled three times before.
In 1978, Oregon bowed to the
Broncos, 69-65. The Ducks
have won the last two meetings
— 93-70 in 1979 and 84-55 in
1980.
“We’re really glad to be play
ing at home after that trip," said
assistant coach Bev Bland.
Women gymnasts face PSU
Oregon’s women flying Ducks
gymnastics team returns to ac
tion after the winter break when
they host Portland State
University Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
in Gerlinger Annex.
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Page 8
“The team is really looking
good in practice,” said Oregon
coach Henriette Heiny. The
Ducks finished last season
ranked 11th nationally.
"We want to see smooth and
conditioned routines in this
meet. We’ll also be trying new
tricks here and there.”
Those tricks will be performed
by junior Sara Gustafson, fresh
man Maureen Nolan and Holly
Holms and either Jeanette
i
Stewart or Chris Krueger, both
sophomores.
Junior Dawn Haberland, who
has alternated with Gustafson
as the team’s top all-arounder
the past two years, will miss the
meet with a shoulder injury.
Heiny expects her back in the
lineup by midseason.
Portland State is coached by
George Harris, who was once
an Oregon assistant coach
under Heiny.
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Friday, January 9,1981