Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamjude@dailyemerald.com
Assistant Sports Editor:
Jeff Smith
jeffsmith@dailyemerald.com
Wednesday, November 7,2001
Best Bet
NBA: Washington at Boston,
5 p.m., TNT
Ducks end 15-match losing streak in Portland
With a 3-1
over the Pilots
in Portland,
the Oregon
volleyball
team wins its
first match in
two months
By Hank Hager
Oregon Daily Emerald
And the streak is over.
With a 3-1 win (31-33> 30-27, 30-24, 30-26) over the
Portland Pilots (6-16 overall, 2-9 West Coast Confer
ence), the Oregon volleyball team finally got out of the
rut that led them into a 15-match losing streak. With
their first win since Sept. 8, when they defeated Boise
State, the Ducks improve to 9-16 overall.
“We flat out dominated the net with blocking and
that was huge,” head coach Carl Ferreira said. “We
scored a lot ot points and minimized our errors and
showed growth and maturity. We’re coaching to play
our best volleyball in November, so I’m
happy about this win.”
The win means nothing in Pacific-10
Conference play, though, as the Ducks
remain 0-13.
But this is a monumental step for the
Oregon women. After suffering
through a two-month-long drought, the season was
looking bleak and disastrous. Although they are still
winless in conference play, the win brings a new vigor
to the team.
“We were pretty confident we were going to walk
away with a win,” senior Monique Tobbagi said. “To
ward the end of game one we picked up our level and
by game four everything was just clicking.”
Junior Lindsay Closs had a career-high 10 blocks Tues
day to pace Oregon, while Tobbagi also came in strong
for the Ducks, stopping the Pilots with six blocks.
Turn to Volleyball, page 6
Oregon center Brian Helquist (below)
battles for a rebound in the Ducks’
* 97-45 victory Tuesday over the
Basketball Travelers from Brisbane,
Australia. The Brisbane head coach
(right) wasn’t too pleased about
his team’s performance.
Thomas Patterson Emerald
Oregon buries Brisbane early,
never looks back in opening rout
■The Oregon men’s
basketball team took care
of business with a 52-point
exhibition win Tuesday night
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
“Aaaaaah.”
That was the reaction of the
Brisbane Capitals’ head coach af
ter one of his players hobbled a
pass midway through the first
half of Tuesday
night’s game
against Oregon
at McArthur
Court.
The Ducks
were screaming
— with happi
ness — as they
toppled the Capitals 97-45 in the
season’s first exhibition game.
Oregon did almost everything
right in the opener, and Ducks
head coach Ernie Kent was
pleased with his team’s perform
ance.
“Overall, I was comfortable
and confident in our perform
ance,” Kent said. “It should have
been a lopsided score. I would
have been worried if it wasn’t. ”
Oregon broke open the game
early, with a 20-2 run that began
at the 13-minute mark of the first
half. The Capitals didn’t get their
20th point until the 18th minute
of the game. By then, the Ducks
had 49 points.
Oregon unveiled a new line
up Tuesday night, including one
new starter who made a big im
pact. Robert Johnson, a junior
transfer from Santa Rosa Junior
College in California, proved to
be the Ducks’ most effective re
bounder. Johnson ended the
contest with eight points and 10
boards, a game high.
“Robert will be a factor on our
team,” Kent said. “You saw him
rebound. You saw him score.
But what you didn’t see is that
he does so many more little
things that help this team a great
deal.”
The Ducks’ high scorer of the
night was senior guard Freddie
Jones, who finished with 27
points on ll-of-13 shooting.
Jones did everything Oregon
fans are accustomed to seeing:
he made acrobatic dunks,
played tight defense and dished
out assists on fast breaks.
Sophomore point guard Luke
Ridnour, last year’s Pacific-10
Conference Freshman of the
Year, proved that he might be
even better than last season.
Ridnour ended with the game’s
only double-double: 17 points
and 10 assists.
Ridnour accumulated most of
his statistics on fast breaks, as
the Ducks ran on the Travelers
all night.
“That’s the way the game was
meant to be played,” Ridnour
said. “Hopefully we’re in better
shape this year, and we can just
keep runnin’ and runnin.’”
Despite the offensive effort,
all eyes were on Oregon’s de
fense Tuesday night. The Ducks
said they showed a grit on de
fense that was missing last sea
son, as they allowed Brisbane to
convert only 32.8 percent of
their shots. The Capitals were 2
16 from three-point land in the
contest.
“We’ve changed our whole
defensive style, and that’s mak
ing us more focused and intense
out there,” Jones said. “Our goal
on defense is to make the other
offense do things they’re not ac
customed to doing. ”
Oregon forced 25 turnovers
Tuesday, including 12 steals.
But Kent said that the Ducks’
one weak point was the 23
turnovers that Oregon commit
ted themselves.
“We’re going to turn it over
some,” Kent said. “We can tone
that down some.”
Tuesday night’s game was
summed up in the frustration
vented by Brisbane’s coach af
ter that early turnover. It was
also the first taunt of the season
for Oregon’s loud “Pit Crew,”
who heckled the Australian
team for much of the 40-minute
contest.
Aaaaah.
Peter Hockaday is a sports reporterforthe
Oregon Daily Emerald. He can be reached
at peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.
Harrington-led offense is No. 1 in Pac-10, but still not ‘perfect’
■A plus-12 turnover margin and an
effective red zone offense have been
the keys to Oregon’s success
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said
that when his seventh-ranked Ducks
take on the 16th-ranked UCLA Bruins at
12:30 p.m. Saturday in
a regionally televised
game on ABC, the
keys will be special
teams, penalties and
turnovers.
If the Ducks’ success so far this sea
son in the latter category is any indica
tion of what will happen Saturday, Bel
lotti will emerge victorious from the
Rose Bowl for the first time since 1995.
At plus-12 turnovers on the season,
the Ducks are second in the conference
in turnover margin (averaging 1.33 take
aways per game). After forcing five
UCLA turnovers last week, Washington
State is the best in the Pac-10 — and
third in the nation — at a plus-13
turnover margin.
“We have been very good at not turn
ing over the football this year,” Bellotti
said.
Red hot in the zone
The Joey Harrington-led offense had
had little trouble scoring lately.
Behind a balanced rushing and pass
ing attack, the Ducks are the top-rated
offense in the Pac-10, averaging 463 to
tal yards per game.
At 37.3 points per game, the Ducks
are third in the conference in scoring.
Most notably, though, may be the fact
that Oregon has converted 33-of-35
trips to the red zone into scores, 30 of
Turn to Football, page 6
Thomas Patterson Emerald
Senior quarterback
Joey Harrington
and Oregon’s offense
have scored on 33
of 35 trips to the
red zone, the best
mark in the Pac-10.