Sports
Shaky defense worries Ducks
By John Healy
Of th« Emerald
Oregon coach Jim Haney had
been wary of the slight tremors
that shook Oregon's defense
after the Ducks opened Pac-10
play at home in early January
against Stanford and California
But Haney wasn't prepared
for the full-fledged earthquake
that tumbled the Ducks to a pair
of losses in Los Angeles last
weekend
Now, with Haney frantically
attempting to shore up his
defense, which at one point was
ranked second in the nation, it
appears a Northwest version of
the San Andreas fault — in the
personage of the high-scoring
Washington State Cougars —
will ripple into Eugene tonight
“Washington State is un
defeated in the league and
playing well," says Haney. "It
will be important that we get
back on defense against them."
The Cougars trail only UCLA
— which lit up Pauley Pavilion's
scoreboard for 97 points
against Oregon — in scoring
offense, averaging 78.3 points
per game, and in the confer
ence standings with an 11-2
season record
Those numbers — and the
fact that the Cougars have an
eight-game winning streak —
have Haney worried
"It will be important that we
play well at both ends of the
floor this weekend." he says
"We have to execute the sys
tern."
The Ducks' "system" which
emphasizes man-to-man defen
sive pressure, has been porous
of late
"It’s been true of our club that
as we plug a hole in one spot,
we find a leak somewhere else,"
says Haney
After Oregon's 50 4 points per
game average had placed them
near the top of the charts, they
have ballooned to 58 2 after
giving up an average of 76 5
points in their first four Pac-10
games
Two Cougars that will be try
ing to pump more air into that
balloon are senior forwards Guy
Williams and Steve Harriel The
6-9 Williams, who transferred
from the University of San Fran
cisco after his sophomore year,
is averaging 19 5 points and 8 7
rebounds per game
The 6-6 Harriel, the Pac-10
player of the week last weekend,
is popping in 15 points and
pulling down 5 1 rebounds per
game
The other starter on the
Cougars front line will be either
6-8 Aaron Haskins or 6-8 Mike
Wurm, while Washington
State's backcourt will feature
6-6 Craig Ehlo (10 3 points per
game) and 6-3 Chris Winkler
Keith Morrison, who leads the
Cougars in assists with an aver
age of 4 4 per game, will spell
Ehlo and Winkler at guard
Haney will have only nine
players to call on tonight
Photo by Bob Baker
The Ducks' point guard. Paul
Bain, may miss this weekend's
action after tearing a ligament in
his thumb during practice The
lone senior on the team. Bam
will also be trying to extend his
free throw shooting mark which
now stands at 32 straight
because of the loss of 7-0 center
Ron Burns and starting point
guard Paul Bain Burns quit the
team earlier this week for per
sonal reasons and Bain tore
ligaments in the thumb of his
right hand during practice
Tuesday
Ducks will be seeing new faces
A new conference brings new
opponents to McArthur Court as
the Oregon women s basketball
team meets, for the first time,
the Fresno State Bulldogs.
Friday night at 7;30, and the
University of Pacific Tigers on
Saturday at 5 30 p m
The Bulldogs. 1-3 in league
play, lost all but five players from
an 8-17 team last year They've
been tabbed as a "darkhorse”
by some conference officials
But it the Bulldogs are strug
gling in conference play, they
do carry a 10-5 overall mark into
the Pit, including wins over
Hawaii. Stanford and Cal-lrvine
Fresno State will look inside to
Karen Cooke, a junior center
averaging 15 points a game
Mavs whip
Blazers
DALLAS (AP) — Jay Vincent
scored 20 of his 32 points in the
second half as Dallas whipped
visiting Portland 121-112 in a
National Basketball Association
game Thursday night
Mark Aguirre added 27 as the
Mavericks, now 17-22, won their
fourth in five games. Calvin Natt
led the Trail Blazers, who
dropped to 24-16, with a season
high 34 points
Portland pulled to within 2 at
107-105 with 3:54 to go, but the
Mavericks outscored the Trail
Blazers 14-7 over the remainder
of the game
Both teams played short
handed as Dallas' second lead
ing scorer, Rolando Blackman,
missed his fourth consecutive
game with a sprained ankle.
Before the mens' clash with
Washington State, the women
will match up against Pacific,
8-8 overall and 2-2 in NorPac
games. Pacific's roster includes
six players at 6' or taller and five
players averaging in double
figures
With nine players back from
last year's 15-16 team, the
Tigers seem to be at the right
stage to begin pouncing on un
suspecting opponents.
Coach Elwin Heiny says both
Pacific and Fresno started the
year strong and have slipped in
the past few weeks. "(Fresno is)
scrappy, they're a good per
centage team. UOP is big,
and they're aggressive. Size is
their big strength,'' Heiny says.
Before the feathers start fly
ing though, both Fresno and
Pacific will have to stop the in
side game of post Alison Lang.
But when Lang's been stopped,
forward Chris Metzger, lends
her red-hot hand
"She's played five tough
games in a row, Heiny says.
"She's playing like we all know
she can ” Heiny points also to
Mary Ann Stoican’s play last
weekend "Their position (on
the team) is becoming very
strong," he says.
Metzger has averaged nearly
17 points and 9 rebounds over
the last six games, and when
Metzger is scoring in double
figures, the Ducks are winning
at a 7-2 clip.
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