Ducks aim to make strides in Portland
Junior forward Bryan Bracey has shown smooth moves and a soft touch in his first two regular
Jeffrey Stockton Emerald
-season games as a Duck.
■ The Ducks meet
Portland State tonight
with hopes of solving
early-season problems
By Tim Pyle
Oregon Daily Emerald
Forward A.D. Smith was
only talking to the media
when he said it, but the rest
of the Oregon men’s basket
ball team should consider
their senior co-captain’s
warning.
“I think Portland State’s a
better team than Portland,”
Smith said after the Ducks’
74-62 win over the Pilots on
Tuesday night, which was
anything but easy. “If we
play that poorly, we’re defi
nitely gonna have our hands
full Friday.”
Still in search of its first
complete performance of
the season, Oregon (2-0
overall) meets the Vikings
(4-1) at Portland’s Memorial
Coliseum tonight at 8:05
p.m.
“We just need to give a
better effort both offensively
and defensively,” said se
nior point guard Darius
Wright, who is averaging a
team-high 13.5 points in
30.5 minutes per game.
Portland State, a member
of the Big Sky Conference,
has beaten Simon Fraser,
Cal Poly and Pacific on the
road and Portland at home.
The Vikings' only loss was a
79-57 setback at the hands
of Arizona State in Tempe,
Ariz.
Senior forward Hasan
Artharee paces Portland
State in scoring with more
than 15 points per game.
The 6-foot-6, 235-pound
graduate of Portland’s Cen
tral Catholic High School
also averages better than
five rebounds.
Two other Viking starters
are also averaging double
figures, senior forward Ime
Udoka and senior guard
Derek Nesland.
Udoka, a 6-6, 215-pound
graduate of Portland’s Jeffer
son High, leads the team in
rebounding with almost
seven per outing in addition
to his 13 points per game.
Nesland, a 6-6, 180-pound
Vancouver, Wash., native,
scores nearly 12 points per
game.
Although the series dates
11 We just need to
give better effort both
offensively and defen
sively.
Darius Wright
point guard J 1
back to just 1996, Portland
State already has a history
of giving the higher-profile
Ducks trouble.
After Oregon won the
1996 meeting in Portland’s
Rose Garden, the Vikings
pulled an upset in
McArthur Court with a last
second three-pointer in
1997.
Last season, the Ducks got
some revenge with a 73-62
home win. Portland State
shot just 35 percent from
the field, and Oregon got 23
points from since-graduated
guard Terik Brown, 16
points from forward Alex
Scales and 11 points and 10
rebounds from Smith.
Much of the Ducks’ early
season struggles have
stemmed from poor ball
handling in the first half. In
the season-opening win at
Illinois-Chicago,
Oregon committed 17
first-half turnovers to trail
27-22 at the break. Tuesday,
the Ducks turned the ball
over 15 times in the first
half on their way to a 25-23
halftime deficit.
“The biggest thing for us
now is to play games,” head
coach Ernie Kent said.
Unbeaten UO unsatisfied
as it prepares for Buffs
■ In its last home game until Jan.
20, No. 13 Oregon hopes to stay
undefeated against Colorado on
Saturday at McArthur Court
By Mirjam Swanson
Oregon Daily Emerald
After withstanding a first-half scare
against Portland earlier this week, the No. 13
Oregon women’s basketball team remains
unbeaten as it heads into Saturday’s game
against Colorado (2-3 overall).
Off to their best start since going 5-0 in
1996, the Ducks (4-0) have won their first
four games by an average margin of more
than 18 points, including a 20-point blowout
ofthen-No. 21 Virginia Tech last Saturday.
Even so, Oregon is far from satisfied with
its play so far.
“We still haven’t really had a solid all
around game,” said junior forward Brianne
Meharry, who scored 16 points against the
Pilots. “Afterwards when we watch film,
we’re like, ‘Man, we were pretty bad.’ So we
want to come out and play really solid, and
we haven’t done that yet.”'
They’re next chance is against the Buffaloes,
who venture into McArthur Court after losing
to rival Colorado State on Wednesday, 73-67.
“Obviously, they had a great game against
Colorado State,” Oregon head coach Jody
Runge said.
Turn to Women. Page 12
Jeffrey Stockton Emerald
J
(i Colorado
is pretty young
right now, but
we can’t look
past them.
Brianne
IVIeharry
forward f 1
Guard Karen Piers was
the only non-starting
Duck to play well at Port
land on Tuesday night,
according to Oregon
head coach Jody Runge.