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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 2001)
Monday Best Bet NCAA Basketball: Utah vs. UNLV 9 p.m., ESPN2 SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com Oregon runs out of gas against surging Bears Chrystal McConnell Emerald California’s Sean Lampley jams home two of his game-high 17 points over Oregon freshman Luke Jackson in the Bears’ nine-point win. UO men continue downward trend ■The Ducks try to find answers after losing another frustrating Pac-10game By Peter Hockaday Oregon Daily Emerald A mysterious pattern has emerged for the Oregon men’s basketball team. No matter the foe, the Ducks seem to play to their opponent’s level; the dis turbing part of this trend is that most of the time Oregon plays just poorly enough to lose. The most recent case in point was Saturday’s 65-56 loss to California at McArthur Court. If the Ducks could have scored anywhere near their sea son average of 80 points, they would have beaten Cal. But Oregon managed only 56 and shot just 37.5 percent from the field. Last Thursday against Stanford, the Ducks did the same thing, only in re verse. Oregon hung with Stanford most of the game, matching the Cardi nal’s inside threats with some big men of its own, and neutralizing Stanford’s outside shooters. But down the stretch, the Ducks lost steam and allowed the Cardinal to pull away and win 69-62. Turn to Slump, page 8 ■The Ducks’ slump continues as they close out their four game homestand with their third loss in that span By Jeff Smith Oregon Daily Emerald Ernie Kent saw it in his players’ eyes. The Oregon head coach could tell that his team was just a step behind all game Saturday. He could see that the tank was leaning toward empty. And because of this, he wasn’t at all amazed to see his Ducks lose to Califor nia, 65-56, in front of a disappointed, sold-out crowd of 9,087 at McArthur Court. The Ducks’ 56 points marked their lowest point total of the season. “I looked into the eyes of guys that wanted to get it done, and I saw a very fatigued team out there,” Kent said. “We just lacked the energy.” The loss was yet another setback to an Oregon team that has now dropped sev en of its last nine games. The Ducks’ 3-8 Pacific-10 Conference record (12-9 over all) has them in a three-way tie for sixth place, and only one game ahead of cellar dwellers Washington State and Oregon State. California (17-6, 8-3), meanwhile, is only two games behind front-runner Stanford and is brimming with confi dence after winning 16 of its past 19 games. The Bears, who are most likely headed to the NCAA Tournament, did n’t play their best overall game but pulled away when they had to toward the end. “It was not a pretty game, but the ob ject is not to look good, but to play well and scrap with good defense,” Cal head coach Ben Braun said. Kent compared California with his Oregon team that won 22 games last sea son and earned an invitation to the Big Dance, a feat that this year’s Ducks lose sight of with each defeat. “They’re a good team that knows to grind out a basketball game, like where we were last year,” Kent said. The most difficult part of this loss for the Ducks was that it was a winnable game. The teams were evenly matched for most of the contest, and Oregon took a 49-47 lead with 8:36 remaining when forward Bryan Bracey knocked home two of his team-high 13 points. But then Cal’s A.J. Diggs converted a Turn to Men’s, page 10 «/ looked into the eyes of guys that wanted to get it done, and I saw a very fatigued team out there. We just lacked the energy. Ernie Kent Oregon head coach Duck women sink to new lows in setback at California ■Oregon loses its fourth straight because it can’t hold onto a 12 point lead By Adam Jude Oregon Daily Emerald The good news is that Oregon, the worst rebounding team in the Pacific-10 Conference, finally won the battle of boards Saturday. The bad news is the Ducks (12-9 overall, 5 6Pac-10) lost 68-57 at California despite leading by a dozen in the second half. The loss is Oregon’s fourth straight, its longest skid in five years, and its first loss to Cal under head coach Jody Runge. Oregon is below the .500 mark this late in conference play for the first time in Runge’s eight-year tenure as a Duck. “It was a very disappointing effort,” Runge told KUGN. “We kept letting them drive, getting fouled and missing offensive rebounds. We’re not weather ing the storm.” With their fourth consecutive win, the Bears (10-11, 6-5) move one-game ahead of the Ducks in the fifth spot of the conference standings. Out of the locker room, the Ducks quickly pushed a seven-point halftime lead to 12 on a Kourtney Shreve three pointer at the 18:18 mark. But the Bears used a full-court press to force 23 Ore gon turnovers, and took advantage of a 35 percent shooting performance by the Ducks to go on a 14-2 run to pull ahead of48-47 with 7:07 remaining. The Bears would not look back, scoring 32 of the game’s 42 final points. Runge showed little optimism after the loss, placing much of the team’s lack of chemistry on the core group of seniors. “This group of seniors had its share of success as sophomores and juniors, but they’re getting their licks now,” Runge said. “We’ll have to see if this team has the heart to make it happen. “I’m sick and tried of them crying in the locker room but not making it hap pen on the court.” Oregon’s starting guards, Shreve and junior Jamie Craighead, combined to make just two of 20 shots, and had more combined turnovers than points—nine turnovers, seven points. Comparatively, Cal’s back-court combo, Courtney John son and Kenya Corley, tallied 39 points with nine turnovers. Oregon was also just 4-for-20 from three-point land. Turn to Women, page 10 Laura Smit Emerald Forward Brianne Meharry recorded a double-double against Ca!.
