Oregon daily emerald., January 17, 2001, Page 9, Image 9

Ducks take positives out of their two losses
■The Ducks reflect on their
two-game road trip, where
they lost both by more than
15 points
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Oregon men’s basketball
team was in good spirits Tuesday af
ternoon, trying to turn a disastrous
road trip into a positive lesson.
The Ducks (10-3 overall, 1-2 Pa
cific-10 Conference) are coming off
a two-game road swing through
the Bay Area, where they lost by a
combined 40
points to Califor
nia and No. 1
Stanford.
It was the first
time since the
1997-98 season
that Oregon has
failed to win at
least one of the two games in a
road series.
“We learned from that,” fresh
man point guard Luke Ridnour
said. “We just have to come out
and execute every time like [Stan
ford does]. I mean, they come out
and do everything right every time
down the floor, and if we can get to
that point then we’re going to be a
great team too.”
Each game in the Pac-10 is im
portant, and Oregon knows that in
order to keep up with the pace of
the league it can’t afford to slip on
its home court, where it faces the
Washington schools Thursday and
Saturday.
Head coach Ernie Kent attrib
uted his team’s road woes to a lack
of composure.
“We missed like 12 layups and
missed a lot of three-pointers
[against Cal] and just got rattled,”
Kent said. “And that rolled into
Stanford.”
Kent knows that he has a young
team this year that is not yet used
to all the challenges of the road.
“That was a tough road trip for
us,” Kent said. “The first thing is to
put it behind us. We’ve gotten that
trip out of the way and taken the
positives out of it.”
The main positive was the play
of the freshmen, particularly guard
James Davis, forward Luke Jackson
and center Jay Anderson.
Ridnour continually has been
impressed with Jackson, whose 22
total points last weekend made
Kent realize that he needed more
minutes.
“He works hard every day, and
when a guy works hard it’s hard not
to give him minutes,” Ridnour said.
Getting his health hack
In the first five minutes of the
Cal game, Oregon junior guard
Freddie Jones suffered a lower
back strain.
“I could never get back in
rhythm and it hindered me the
whole trip,” said Jones, who had
nine points against Cal and only
two against Stanford. “It was defi
nitely frustrating, but it gets better
every day. I’ve been going through
treatments and just trying to do
everything I can.
“But my back wasn’t an excuse
for my play. I just didn’t play well,
and hopefully I’ll get back on track.”
The Ducks face the Washington
Huskies Thursday night at 7 p.m.
at The Pit.
Wrestling
continued from page 8
surpass Don Brown for the
school record.
Sonnen also won his 96th match
of the year, good enough for eighth
on the career list. The All-Ameri
can is on pace to finish 10th on the
all-time winning percentage list.
Lee also vaulted into the top-10
career victories list. Lee is 91-31 at
Oregon and 17-7 this season.
Bellotti
continued from page 1
On Tuesday, though,
Youngstown State head coach Jim
Tressel was in Columbus, Ohio,
touring the campus, while reports
surfaced that Oakland Raiders head
coach John Gruden was the new
top candidate for the Buckeyes’ job.
Meanwhile, Bellotti mentioned
how the situation at Oregon is com
parable to that at tradition-filled
Ohio State.
“I felt the interest was genuine on
[Ohio State’s] part,” Bellotti said.
“But there is a uniqueness to our
program that I wanted to continue
to be involved in.”
Bellotti’s sudden visit to Colum
bus surprised many, as it came less
than two months after his decision
to take his name out of considera
tion for the Southern California
head coaching position.
“Yeah, I had no idea it was com
ing; by the time I heard about it he
was already in Ohio,” Oregon junior
quarterback Joey Harrington said.
"I’m happy, the same reaction I had
when he pulled out of USC. I know
he was making the decision for what
was best for him and his family. ”
Bellotti, 50, is a self-labeled
“family man,” who has mentioned
that staying in Eugene was impor
tant to him so he could be more a
part of his three children’s lives.
He said that he’s been offered “four
of five jobs” during his Oregon
tenure, but that this was the first
time that he’s taken his wife,
Colleen, and his children with him
on a campus visit.
Moos, however, mentioned how
close he is with Bellotti as a friend
and a co-worker and said he re
mained confident that he wouldn’t
have to hire a new coach.
“I honestly felt that this was
something that was a compliment
to him and what he had accom
plished,” Moos said. “If he wanted
to go take a look t it, he should so
he could have that behind him and
say, ‘Hey, I could have been the
coach at USC or Ohio State, but I’m
proud to be the coach at the Univer
sity of Oregon.’”
Bellotti has a 49-22 record in his
six years as head coach for the
Ducks, and has guided Oregon to
four straight bowl games. Oregon
finished the season ranked seventh
in the final Associated Press poll,
while Ohio State dropped out of
the poll after an 8-4 season and a
24-7 loss in the Outback Bowl.
“The U of O has become a desti
nation and not stepping stone,”
Moos said.
Raw Talent
The Oregon Daily Emerald is !ways looking
for young writers who want earn and grow
at a real newspaper.
For information on how to freelance for the Oregon Daily
Emerald call 346-5511.
Adam Amato Emerald
Oregon junior Freddie Jones was not 100 percent last weekend because of a back problem, but said that the injury is not serious.
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