Thursday
Best Bet
NBA: Portland at Indiana
5 p.m., TNT
SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
Adam Amato Emerald
Oregon junior forward Ndidi Unaka is the most athletic player on the Ducks’ roster.
HER AIRNESS
■After two years on the bench, junior
forward Ndidi Unaka has become a solid
role player for the Ducks
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
Everyone should be so lucky as to have a team
mate like Jenny Mowe, especially, on this given
week, if you’re Ndidi Unaka.
“Want some dirt on Ndidi?” Mowe asks, inter
rupting an interview session with the junior for
ward. “She’s scared of scary movies. She’s one of
those that screams. Not like ‘Oh,’ but ‘AHHHHH!’
high pitched, breaking-all-the-windows-in-my
house screams. And dogs, animals ... completely
scared of them. There was a toy poodle in this
guy’s shirt, and she’s walking down the stairs, she
comes out, looks at it: ‘AHHHH!’ and climbs over
five of us to get away from it.”
“She’s making all of this up,” Unaka replies
with a giggle.
“Her fastest 40 time when we were at Autzen
Stadium,” Mowe begins another story. “She’s
lined up, and over at like Ducks’ Village or some
thin’ this big dog starts barking, and we’re like,
‘Ndidi run, it’s a DOG!’ Fastest 40 time ever.”
“She’s lying.”
“I am not, you know it’s true.”
“Whatever, Jenny. Pathological liar.”
“Yeah, just a little dirt.”
Think of that new Nike advertising campaign,
the one with the repetitive, “Boing. Boing. Boing.”
Well, that’s Unaka, bouncin’ around the court,
grabbing rebounds and blocking shots.
One can imagine Unaka’s 6-foot, frail frame,
composed of what seems to be 90-percent legs,
jumping out of Mac Court. Her team-best 27-inch
— 27! — vertical leap is enough to propel her out
stretched arms six inches above the rim. She says
she’s never tried to dunk, though.
“Noooo, I can’t,” she said with a big grin. “I can
touch the rim, but I can’t dunk. I’ve actually never
tried because I can’t palm the ball.”
Although her dunking abilities have yet to come
along, Unaka does provide the Ducks with a solid
set of fresh legs off the bench.
“I love it when she gets down, and then all of a
sudden skies over everybody,” Mowe said. “I
think she’s come a long way since her freshman
year.”
In her first two years with the Oregon women’s
basketball team, Unaka took a total of 28 shots in
26 games, averaging five-and-a-half minutes per
game.
This year, Unaka has been one of the main con
tributors off the bench, playing in 14 of the Ducks’
15 games, averaging nearly 12 minutes each game.
And the results are staggering. With almost
twice the number of field goal attempts already
this season compared to the last two years, Unaka
is hitting .571 from the floor — third best on the
team.
To top it all off, the junior forward from Harbor
City, Calif., recorded career-highs in points (15)
and minutes (25) against Washington State last
weekend.
Regardless of what she’s accomplished, Unaka
remains humble and puts the team before personal
merits.
“I think I played OK, but I would’ve rather had
the win than the career high,” Unaka said of the
game against the Cougars, which the Ducks lost
67-64. “My minutes should increase, and hopeful
ly I’ll play well and we can win this time. I think
everyone on the bench needs to step it up.”
“She had an awesome opportunity on Satur
day,” senior forward Lindsey Dion said. “For those
that got to see the game, I really thought they got
to see what Ndidi is capable of.”
With starting forward Angelina Wolvert out for
at least another week with a knee injury, Unaka
will have advanced roles this weekend against her
home schools, Southern California and UCLA.
“This is just a good chance for me to get some
experience,” Unaka said. “And when Ange comes
back, if we happen to get in foul trouble or some
thing, hopefully the coaches will feel more confi
dent in putting me in there.”
Overall this year, Unaka is averaging 5.6 points
per game and 1.6 rebounds.
“I’m just so proud of Ndidi,” head coach Jody
Runge said. “She’s worked so hard to have this op
portunity presented to her and she took full ad
vantage of it. Quite frankly, she and (senior Bri
anne Meharry] kept us in that game during the
stretch run. I think she played with a lot of heart.
Turn to Unaka, page 10A
Ducks hope to overcome obstacles, Trojans
■The men hope to get back in the
Pac-10 race with a win against the
talented Trojans
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
In a season full of pivotal contests, no two
games might mean more to the Oregon
men’s basketball season than the two it will
play in Los Angeles this
weekend.
Should the Ducks beat
Southern California and
UCLA, they would be re
energized at 4-3 in the
Pacific-10 Conference.
One loss to either team
wouldn’t devastate Ore
gon, but if the Ducks drop both, they would
take a 2-5 league mark into a four-game
homestand with the Arizona and Bay Area
schools.
And you better believe the players (11-4
overall, 2-3 Pac-10) realize this.
“This is a really big weekend for us,” Ore
gon junior guard Freddie Jones said. “For us
to be where we want to be and where we
feel we should be, we have to come out
with some victories on the road.”
First things first, and that’s the No. 22
Trojans (13-4, 3-2) tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the
L. A. Sports Arena.
Typically before a game, Oregon head
coach Ernie Kent will speak of one or two
opposing players that the Ducks should try
to key in on. At the end of Tuesday’s prac
tice, however, Kent spoke of the Trojans’ en
tire starting unit.
“They’ve got four guys averaging in dou
ble figures,” Kent said. “They’ve got so
many weapons on the floor that it becomes
more of a one-on-one battle at every posi
tion.”
The top one-on-one duel will be between
the Pac-lO’s two leading scorers in Oregon
forward Bryan Bracey (19.3 points per
game) and USC forward Sam Clancy (19.0).
“With Clancy, his mismatch is his power
and shooting,” Kent said. “Clancy is such a
warrior. He’s a very difficult matchup.”
And then there’s junior guard Brandon
Granville.
“He’s a really good shooter and does a
good job controlling the game and then
breaks it down when he has to,” Kent said.
What problems do USC big men Brian
Scalabrine and David Bluthenthal pose?
“Their size and shooting,” Kent said.
And last, but not least, is the return of
high-flying senior guard Jeff Trepagnier,
who is playing himself back into shape af
ter missing 13 games this season because of
a combination foot injury and an NCAA
suspension.
“[With] Trepagnier, [it’s] his athleticism,
Turn to Men’s, page 9A
■ Forward Lindsey Dion will return
to the Ducks lineup today against
Southern Cal
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
Under normal circumstances, the Oregon
women’s basketball team would probably
be thinking about revenge
heading into today’s 7
p.m. McArthur Court
matchup against Southern
California.
After all, USC was the
only Pacific-10 Confer
ence squad to sweep the
Ducks last season. In both
games, Southern Califor
nia won the battle of individual matchups.
The Trojans nearly knocked Oregon out of
the running for the Pac-10 title.
So, assuming everyday circumstances, it
seems that a little revenge would be in or
der.
But the Ducks’ situation isn’t normal.
Senior forward Angelina Wolvert, still the
Ducks’ leading scorer despite missing al
most two full games, won’t play this week
due to the medial collateral ligament sprain
sustained last Thursday against Washing
ton.
Which means that one of Oregon’s other
forwards — either freshman Cathrine
Kraayeveld, junior Ndidi Unaka or junior
Alyssa Fredrick — must step up in a reserve
roll if the Ducks (11-4 overall, 4-1 Pac-10)
are to topple the visiting Trojans (6-9,1-4).
“I think they’re more concerned about the
adversity that we’re facing, and taking on
bigger roles individually than they are about
who’s coming up next,” Oregon head coach
Jody Runge said.
The Ducks’ starting lineup will get a boost
by the return of forward Lindsey Dion, who
sprained her ankle minutes after Wolvert’s
injury against Washington. Dion didn’t play
in either of Oregon’s losses to the Trojans
last season due to injuries.
“They’re a good basketball team, they’re
very athletic. I’ll go in there and be aggres
sive and see if I can mix it up a little bit,”
Dion said. “Who knows if I would have
made a difference last season. Hopefully I
can make a difference this season, whether
it’s on defense or offense.”
Southern Cal used its athleticism to beat
the Ducks last season. Runge said she ex
pects her team to face an equally athletic
USC team today at The Pit.
“They’re a tremendous challenge,” Runge
said. “Athletically, they are so dangerous,
they can do so many things when they’re
on. We have to be conscientious to not let
them get started from the three-point line
and be able to stay in front of the dribble
Turn to Women’s, page 9A