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
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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