Basketball ready for second exhibition game
■The men’s basketball team
faces a greater challenge
in playing Athletes in Action
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
The game seems to have little im
portance, but don’t tell that to head
coach Ernie Kent.
The Oregon men’s basketball
team takes on Athletes in Action
tonight at 7 p.m. at McArthur Court
in its second —
and final — exhi
bition game be
fore its regular
season opener
against Mississip
pi Valley State
Friday.
Under Kent’s
baby steps ’ pro
gram, the exhibition has just as
much weight as a third-round
NCAA Tournament game.
“Each game will get a little
tougher for us,” Kent said. “Hope
fully that will make us a little bet
ter as we prepare for each game.”
Nobody on the team is overlook
ing Athletes in Action.
.“It’s going to be a real test,” fresh
man guard James Davis said. “It
was good to get those jitters out
[against the Basketball Travelers
last Monday] and get ready to play
some real teams.”
The Athletes in Action team,
which is comprised of former col
lege players, should provide more
of a challenge than the Ducks’ last
opponent, a traveling team from the
Ukraine. Athletes in Action in
cludes former Notre Dame guard
Ryan Hoover, former Washington
player Phil Zevenbergen and play
ers that have experience in the Con
tinental Basketball Association and
the National Basketball Associa
tion. AIA defeated Oregon State,
55-53, Monday night in Corvallis.
“They have a team that can really
shoot the ball and an inside game
that’s really effective,” Kent said
about Athletes in Action. “They’re
a team that’s very much like ours.
They love to get up and down the
floor, they Iovq to shoot the three
point ball and they’re a smart bas
ketball team.”
The game should differ from
Oregon's 102-59 win last Monday.
The Ducks dominated the Basket
ball Travelers in a performance
Kent was proud of.
“This team is farther along than I
thought they would be,” Kent said.
The coach pointed to the team’s
chemistry, along with the play of
freshmen Davis, Luke Ridnour and
Luke Jackson, as being bright spots
for his team.
But Kent thinks his team could
improve in many areas, especially
on defense.
a If we can get out and
run, and spread the floor,
we're a pretty effective
basketball team.
Ernie Kent
Oregon head coach
“We want to improve on those
areas that we were weak on in the
first game,” Kent said. “That was
defensive intensity, blocking out
and rebounding the ball. If we can
I
do that, it triggers our transition
game. If we can get out and run,
and spread the floor, we’re a pretty
effective basketball team.”
Tonight’s game is the Ducks’ last
before they host Mississippi Valley
State in the season opener Friday,
which is the first game to count to
ward Oregon’s overall record. The
Ducks will not start Pacific-10 Con
ference play until next January.
But even if it doesn’t count in
their record, the Ducks will use
tonigh to gear up for Friday.
Kent summed up the difference
between his team’s two exhibition
games perfectly.
“That first game was a good con
fidence game for these young guys
to see how the system works,” Kent
said. “Well, here’s a game that will
be a good test for us to understand
how hard you need to play each
possession, not only physically but
mentally as well.”
The Ducks will be in “Action”
tonight at Mac Court.
Catharine Kendall Emerald
Oregon junior guard Freddie Jones drives against the team from the Ukraine in the first
exhibition game Nov. 6. Tonight’s game will be the team’s final tune-up for the season.
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