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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 2001)
SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com The Dane that reigns After two frustrating years, Chris Christoff ersen is finally makingan impact OnTap Who: Ore gon vs. UCLA When: Tonight at 7 p.m. Where: McArthur Court TV: Oregon Sports Net work =>riH ' .*mm juo By Jeff Smith Oregon Daily Emerald The elevator ride was quiet, but the fear was as loud as can be. In one corner stood a young, innocent freshman girl who shakily pressed the button for floor No. 7, the top floor of the University Inn, obeying the two mammoth hands that held up seven fin gers behind her. It was the fall of 1998, and the girl kept looking up at this 7-foot-2, stone faced figure as if wondering where he came from. And then, the two made eye contact, and the intimidating man spoke: “Boo!” The girl let out a frightened yelp, but before her knees could buckle, she was comforted by the larger-than-life man who allowed his hiding smile and en gaging personality to come out. The girl laughed, waited for the doors to open to her fifth floor, and said, “You scared me.” The playful first-year college, man from Roenne, Denmark, laughed back and replied, “Didn’t mean to. Have a good day.” Kind vs. confident There have always been two sides to Oregon junior center Chris Christof fersen. The only problem for him was that, until recently, he had not revealed the "si'de thhbrn’ade that fre’shmangirl shake in her boots back then. Instead, for the first two years of his college life, Christoffersen demonstrat ed that “teddy bear-like quality,” as his head coach, Ernie Kent put it. And in the fierce, competitive world of Pacif ic-10 Conference basketball, stuffed an imals don’t cut it. “He’s an extremely nice young man, and sometimes to a fault,” Kent said. So, there Christoffersen sat, on the bench, throughout much of his fresh man and sophomore campaigns. “One of my main problems was that I’ve never been down or really upset about not playing,” said Christoffersen, who will be a major factor in tonight’s 7 p.m. tilt with UCLA at McArthur Court. “’Cause I felt like I was accept ing my role and sitting on the bench, and I got in this comfort zone of just go ing through the motions and not really contributing to the team. “And then at the start of this season, it hit me. I’m a junior. This is embar rassing. I’ve been here for two years, and I need to do something to help out.” With that mentality set, all Christof fersen needed was a confidence boost, and he got just that during Oregon’s 88 65 road victory against Louisville on Dec. 30. Christoffersen’s stats that game were not earth-shattering: five points, seven rebounds and one blocked shot in 17 minutes of play. But during a seemingly normal mo ment in the first half, the Christoffersen that everyone had hoped to see finally emerged. “I went up aggressively and pulled down the rebound and then just stared this [Louisville] guy down,” Christof fersen said. “That was the turning point because I just gained so much confidence after that one play. “I said, ‘You know what, I can actual ly play with these guys.’” Christoffersen, or “Big Chris” as he’s commonly referred to, slowly began to Turn to Christoffersen, page 12A lijiiippi;!: Azle Malinao-Alvarez Emerald Junior Leif Williams has wrestled everywhere from 157 to 174 pounds so far in his career with the Oregon Ducks. Williams, Larkin filling UO’s holes ■Junior Leif Williams and freshman Luke Larwin put in extra effort for the Ducks to fill out a thin lineup By Robbie McCallum Oregon Daily Emerald They weigh close to 160 pounds, and each week they wrestle opponents up to 14 pounds heavier than them selves. Junior Leif Williams and freshman Luke Larwin have been underdogs for most of the season at 165 and 174 pounds, WRISTUNG respectively. Due to an injury to projected starter Matt Lee in the fall, Williams and Larwin have had to wrestle up a few weight classes all season. “It’s incredibly tough wrestling up a class,” Ore gon head coach Chuck Kearney said. “But they never complain, and they’re always ready to go out and compete. They’re good friends, and they en courage each other.” In a wrestle-off to decide who would wrestle in which class at the upcoming Pacific-10 Confer ence Championships, Larwin defeated Williams in two straight matches by scores of 8-2 and 7-3, re spectively. Larwin will compete at 165 pounds, where he Turn to Wrestling, page 9A Adam Amato Emerald Oregon 7-foot-2 junior center Chris Christoffersen is used to looking down on people in real life, but this season he has been doing more of it on the basketball court as well. Ducks set to‘D’ it up against Bruins offense ■The Ducks will look to send their seniors out in style in their last home games and make a run at the NIT By Peter Hockaday Oregon Daily Emerald This weekend, the Oregon men’s basketball team will try to win with the very weapon that de stroyed it in losses at UCLA and Southern Califor nia earlier this sea son. In cheerleader parlance, they’ll use D-D-D-De-fense. The Ducks (13-10 overall, 4-9 Pa cific-10 Conference) will take on the Bruins (17-6, 10-2) tonight and the Trojans (17-1, 7-5) Saturday at McArthur Court in two games that could be crucial to Oregon’s postsea son dreams. “These are going to be big games,” senior forward Bryan Bracey said. “We know we match up well with them, and if we play like we’re capa ble of, we can beat them.” Bracey and four other Ducks Julius Hicks, Flo Hartenstein, David Jackson and Kristian Kristensen — will play their final home games (un less Oregon hosts an NIT game.) Hicks could be the key to beating UCLA tonight. The center has led a defensive resurgence by the Ducks during the past three games. In that span, Oregon has held opponents to only 67.5 points per game, while Hicks has blocked 10 shots in that period. The Ducks say they need to keep up the defensive intensity if they want to defeat either of the Southern California schools. “We need to shut them down on defense,” Bracey said. When the Ducks and Bruins met in Los Angeles, it was UCLA’s full-court press that wore Oregon down in the second half. The Bruins were able to pull away, thanks in large part to the 16 Oregon turnovers that the press caused. Hicks was injured for that game, but center Chris Christoffersen had a career night, despite fouling out of the contest. “Big Chris” had 15 points and seven rebounds and out played UCLA center Dan Gadzuric all night. Since that game, Christof Turn to Men’s, page 8A
