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Best Bet
NCAA: Iowa State at Kansas
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SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
Laura Smit Emerald
Oregon’s Freddie Jones (20) tries to get past Donnell Knight (2) and Alton Mason Sunday.
Massacre at Mac Court
■ A year after the “Miracle
at Mac Court,” Arizona
State blows out Oregon by
27 points
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
Toward the end of Sunday’s
Oregon-Arizona State men’s
basketball matchup, McArthur
Court was rocking hard, bring
ing back memories of last sea
son’s last-second Ducks victo
ry against the Sun Devils.
This year, though, the fans
were only cheering because
they wanted the Ducks to keep
Arizona State under 100 points.
The Sun Devils (10-10 over
all, 2-7 Pacific-10 Conference)
obliterated the Ducks (12-7, 3
6), 99-72, in a game Oregon
head coach Ernie Kent called
“the worst loss I’ve ever been as
sociated with.”
The defeat was the worst for
the Ducks at Mac Court since a
92-60 loss at the hands of Ari
zona in 1993. The blowout
came three days after Oregon
upset No. 7 Arizona, 79-67, on
the same floor.
“We were shut down,” Kent
said. “Mentally and physical
ty”
The Ducks started the game
by missing five of their first six
shots, and committed two
turnovers in the first four min
utes of action. Sloppy play on
both ends of the floor kept the
game close until Arizona State
started to pull away with 10
minutes left in the first half.
With 9:30 on the clock,
ASU’s Kyle Dodd hit a three
pointer to put the Sun Devils
up 22-18. That shot started a
six-minute stretch when Ari
zona State hit seven straight
shots, while Oregon went 5
for-12. The Sun Devils carried
that momentum into halftime,
along with a 48-38 lead.
“At halftime, we discussed
picking up our intensity,” Ore
gon forward Luke Jackson said.
But the Ducks weren’t able
to match the Sun Devils’ hot
shooting in the second half, as
ASU came out of the break just
as hot as it went into it. The
Sun Devils opened the second
frame with a 21-4 run over four
minutes, and the blowout was
sealed.
Arizona State’s Awvee
Storey, who led all scorers
with 23 points and grabbed 12
rebounds, said the Sun Devils
wanted to avenge last year’s
“Miracle at Mac Court.”
“Last year hurt a lot,” Storey
said. “We had that in the back
of our heads today.”
Oregon’s defense, which
held Arizona to 35 percent
shooting Thursday night, al
lowed ASU nearly twice that
on Sunday. The Sun Devils hit
62 percent of their shots, well
above their season average of
44 percent.
“Defensively, we were just
flat-out horrible,” Kent said.
“We had no energy, no tough
ness.”
The Ducks’ lack of defense
Turn to Men’s, page 10
It’s time to decide which sort of team Oregon will be
^;HAKUNA
* ^ MATATA
JEFF SMITH
So, what did you do on your Sunday
afternoon?
My only hope was that you didn’t
have to suffer through one of the
most ghastly basketball games that my two
little eyes have ever witnessed.
Seriously, it was pitiful.
Only two days after dominating the sev
enth-ranked team in the nation in magnifi
cent fashion, the Oregon men’s basketball
team stumbled, bumbled and crumbled
into mediocrity in a 99-72 defeat to the 2-7
Arizona State Sun Devils.
For those 8,863 people in attendance at
McArthur Court, you deserve an apology
— and don’t worry, you got one.
“I first want to apologize to these fans
here because this team should never come
out and play with that type of effort,” Ore
gon head coach Ernie Kent said. “There is
no excuse for the way we played. We just
flat-out shut down ... shut down mentally,
shut down physically.”
Not even ‘Mama could have predicted
there’d be days like this.
Arizona State shot a blistering 61.9 per
cent from the field and held Oregon to just
38.5 percent, including an abysmal 4-for
22 showing from beyond the arc. The
Ducks were out-rebounded 40-27 and out
hustled in many key situations.
Oregon (12-7 overall, 3-6 Pacific-10 Con
ference) was only down by 10 at halftime,
but Arizona State scored 21 of the first 25
points in the second half to put the Ducks
away.
Oregon’s lethargic play had many Ducks
fans scratching their head in disbelief as if
thinking, “Is this the same team that just
knocked off Arizona?”
And that’s what made this game so frus
trating to watch. Everyone in the building
Sunday knew what type of team Oregon
can be. We all saw the talent, the poise and
the determination in Thursday’s 79-67 vic
tory against No. 7 Arizona — a game that
now seems like forever ago.
After that win, the players admitted that
their upset heroics wouldn’t mean a thing
if they didn’t get the job done against the
Sun Devils.
Well, they didn’t. And now a team that
appeared on the verge of making some
noise in the Pac-10, must look themselves
in the mirror and decide which team they
will be: Thursday’s version or Sunday’s?
“You gotta just throw it away,” junior
guard Freddie Jones said. “We’ve been
through this a few times this year. It’s not
the first time we’ve dealt with a loss like
this. We all have to be as one and let it hit
us and bounce back from it.”
It’s tough for returning Oregon players
such as Jones, who experienced last season’s
trip tire NCAA Tournament, to deal with de
feats like Sunday’s. But it’s time to forget
about the Big Dance for now. It’s still not .
completely out of the picture, but an invita
tion to the NIT is still well within reach.
Turn to Smith, page 12
Duck wrestlers fall short of beating Arizona State
■The Oregon wrestling team
loses its fourth straight match by
less than five points
By Robbie McCallum
Oregon Daily Emerald
Robbed.
The word comes to mind when one
thinks of tragic Oregon sports moments
such as the men’s basketball team’s
overtime loss to Washington on Jan. 18,
or the football team’s last-second loss
to UCLA in 1999.
Now the Oregon wrestling team has
a tragedy of its own.
After leading No. 15 ranked Arizona
State for seven matches, Oregon could
have clinched the upset with a win at
157 pounds. Junior Eugene Harris,
ranked No. 19 in the nation, knew he
would need at least a decision against
No. 13 Rocky Smart to push the Ore
gon lead to nine points and secure a
win.
Smart and Harris exchanged take
downs and escapes throughout regula
tion for a 4-4 deadlock. In overtime,
where a takedown results in a win,
Smart gained position over Harris out
of bounds with one second remaining.
Harris responded with a “side
whizzer,” a move that prevents control
by grabbing onto the opponents’ hips.
But after a deliberation between offi
cials, Smart was awarded the take
down and the win.
“It was a tough call,” head coach
Chuck Kearney said. “You’d like to see
in a situation like that to allow the
wrestlers determine it rather than the
refs.”
“When they made the call I was sur
prised,” Harris said. “I’ve been in that
position before in matches and I’ve
scored out of that position.”
Arizona State went on to win the fi
nal match by pin to earn the comeback
victory.
“We want this match to be a motiva
tor for us,” Kearney said. “Our main
goal for the season is to win the Pac-10
Championship and we're right where
we want to be.”
The Ducks fell victim to slowdown
tactics in the five matches won by Ari
zona State.
The Sun Devils “do not wrestle with
an aggressive style,” Kearney said. “If
you allow the opponent to control the
tempo, they are getting what they
want. We don’t believe in [a slowdown
style] but we have to be ready for it.”
Arizona State’s No. 15 David Dou
glas needed only one takedown against
sophomore Brian Watson to earn a win
after two and a half rounds of virtually
no action.
Senior Doug Lee earned a hard
fought 8-5 win against a complacent
R.D. Pursell at 184 pounds in his last
regular season match at McArthur
Court.
“I was pushing it,” Lee said. “I got
much more tired than he did. I don’t
think I could have scored much more
on him.”
Sophomore Tony Overstake earned
one of his biggest wins of the season at
141 pounds. The sophomore came into
Turn to Wrestling, page 9 ....
Azle Malinao-Alvarez Emerald
Despite sophomore Tony Overstake’s 11-5 decision over Arizona State’s
Dana Holland at 14T pounds, the Ducks stHllosethematch. .- •