Oregon 97, UCLA 81
NICK MEDLEY/Emerald
°' e^°" Players lenk Broum and Kristian Christiansen get mobbed by a rush of fans from the student section after Thursdays upset of highly ranked I >(I -1
Oregon: Season-high 12
three-pointers for Ducks
M Continued from Page 11
points, seven had two or more
rebounds and eight had at least
two assists.
Brown led all scorers with 22
points, shooting seven for 12
from the field with five three
pointers. Curry had 17 points and
five rebounds. Rosemond, who
played only 14 minutes, scored
15 points, including three three
pointers.
In typical Bruin fashion, all
five starters played over 32 min
utes, with center Jeloni McCoy
the only player off the bench to
play more than a minute.
“I think we fatigued them a lit
tle bit coming down the stretch,
and wore their legs out, and then
it was just a matter of executing
our offense,’’Kent said.
The win improved the Ducks
to 9-10 overall and 4-6 in the Pac
10. The Bruins fall to 17-4 and 7-3
and drop to three games behind
conference-leading Arizona.
Both Oregon point guards had
a big game, with Mike McShane
doing well to start and Rosemond
picking up the pieces in the sec
ond half.
McShane ignited Oregon ear
ly, driving the length of the court
for an early layup, and hit a three
pointer to tie the game at seven.
Rosemond relieved McShane
midway through the first half and
scored five quick points. He also
energized the crowd by diving
three separate times for a loose
ball rolling down the court.
In the second half, Rosemond
again came off the bench to give
the Ducks a lift, scoring 10 points
in 10 minutes.
"What more can I tell you
about guys like Yasir and Mike?"
Kent asked. “Mike set the tone
early on. He was aggressive,
maybe too aggressive, but he set
the tone. Then Yasir came in and
hit bucket after bucket and made
big plays.”
Added Brown: “It takes
tremendous amounts of pressure
off us when [McShane and Rose
mond] play well. Everybody is
able to relax.”
Oregon showed it could to put
a team away once it had it on the
ropes. That has been something
the Ducks struggled with in the
first half of the Pac-10 season, in
cluding the loss against UCLA in
Los Angeles on Jan. 10 when the
Ducks were up by two in the
game’s final minute.
The pivotal point Thursday
night was Oregon’s big run to
end the game.
From the opening tip, the
game went back and forth with
neither team being up or down
by more than five points. And it
was more of the same in the sec
ond half.
“When the score was nip and
NICK MEDLEY/Emerald
Oregon guard Terik Brown
scored a game-high 22points
tuck along the way, I just felt like
we needed to get going and score
some points,” Kent said.
Part of the glory, Kent said,
has to go to an Oregon crowd
that was on its feet during the
games entirety.
“If it’s not the best home court
in America, then it's certainly in
the top two or three,” Kent said.
“The thing about Mac Court —
the mystery, the history — has
been made with games like
tonight. So when you have an
opportunity to be involved in a
game like this, it’s just a huge
feeling.”
Seniors: Madden a perfect
3 for 3 at home vs. Bruins
m Continued from Page 11
Neither finished as Oregon’s
leading scorer or rebounder, but
each bathed fully in the exhilara
tion that comes with again beating a
ranked UCLA team at home.
"I always like to beat them,” Cur
ry said. “But we’re D-I players. This
is a competitive game and we love
to compete against each other. They
bring us to their level, and we bring
them to our level.”
Madden also attempted to put
emotion aside and break the game
down strategically.
“They can go small and they can
go big, just like us,” he said. “So we
match up real well with their big
guys and their guards.”
But he was soon overcome by the
thrill of victory.
“This year is much better than last
year," said Madden, who last season
beat UCLA on a jumper with four
seconds left in overtime. “This year
was a team that nobody thought we
were capable of beating. And espe
cially when it’s your senior yearand
it’s your last time playing UCLA on
Mar: Court in front of all these fans.”
And Madden was quick to point
out that he actually sat out the loss
to UCLA two seasons ago, and is
now a perfect three for three at
home against the Bruins in his ca
reer.
Back on the LJCLA side, the Bruin
seniors were quick to try and put
what was obviously a disheartening
loss behind them.
“This is just another loss up in
Oregon,” Johnson said. "It's not the
end of the world. You would like to
get one up here, but it’s too late for
that. It's my last year.”
Henderson echoed those
thoughts.
“It definitely wasn’t just another
game,” he said, “especially for us as
seniors. We at least wanted to go out
with an even record against this
team, but we just didn’t achieve
that.”
Bailey lamented: “It’s over with
now. This is the last time we’ll play
them. They just had a good game."
This is a UCLA senior class that
has won the Pacific-10 Conference
Championship in each of its three
seasons, as well as a national cham
pionship when the players were
freshmen. All three tried to down
play the loss to what they obviously
believed to be a lesser team.
“It’s just disappointing as a play
er," Johnson said. “ I can take losing
to Arizona, Stanford, whatever, but
when we come liere and lose to
these guys it’s embarrassing. You
start lo wonder about yourself as a
basketball player.”
Fortunately for Johnson, Hender
son and Bailey, all three will proba
bly have large NBA contracts next
season to soothe the pain of losing
three of four to Oregon in Eugene.
But for three nights over four years
Oregon can say it had the better
team, the better fans and the thrill of
victory.
No rest for the weary; men get ready for Southern California
The Ducks will attempt to avenge
their four-point loss to USC in
Los Angeles earlier this season
By Rob Moseley
Sports Reporter
Three truths emerged from Oregon's 97
81 upset victory over No. 6 UCLA at
McArthur Court on Thursday.
Yes, this was the biggest win of the season
for tire Ducks so far.
Yes, this could be the spark Oregon needs
if it hopes to retain any notion of a postsea
son appearance.
And no, there is absolutely no time to cel
ebrate.
The Ducks host Southern California on
Saturday afternoon at 3:05 p.m., and the they
would be wise to not look past a team that
beat them in Los Angeles earlier this season
and will be looking to avenge an overtime
loss to Oregon State on Thursday.
“We have to beat USC,” Oregon’s Terik
Brown said. “We absolutely have to beat
them.”
Oregon travels to Washington next week
end, and Brown, a Mercer Island, Wash., na
tive, said the UCLA win could be just the
thing the Ducks need to start a winning
streak.
But they can't look past the Trojans.
USC (7-13 overal 1,3-7 Pacific-10 Con ference)
has lost four of five after the loss to the Beavers.
The Trojans have no definite leader, and
11 players are averaging at least 12 minutes
per game. Junior forward Adam Spanich
leads the team in scoring average with 14
points per game, but eight Trojans have lead
the team in scoring in a game this season.
Individually, 6-foot-6 freshman center
Shannon Swiliis is second in the Pac-10 in
blocked shots and 11th in rebounds. Gary
Johnson is fourth in steals.
The Trojans took a 63-59 heartbreaker
from the Ducks on Jan. 8 in Los Angeles.
Oregon led 30-23 at halftime. Smith had a
game-high 17 points in the losing cause.