Men’s
continued from page 5
defensively,” Kent said.
Offense —Grade: A
Kent said the biggest help to
his offense has been the emer
gence of several key players off
the Oregon bench and the gener
al improvement of all his offen
sive components.
“There’s been so much growth
on this team,” Kent said.
That growth has turned Ore
gon into an offensive force to be
reckoned with this season. The
Ducks lead the Pac-10 in scoring
average (85.8 points per game),
scoring margin (+16.7 points per
game), field goal percentage (49
percent) and 3-point percentage
(42 percent).
The Ducks, arguably, are the
best offensive team in the Pac-10.
Defense — Grade: B
Anthony Lever is one of the
veterans on this year’s squad,
which gives him a unique view
on the Ducks’ sordid
defensive history.
But he is still a college student.
“What is this, class?” Lever
said about ranking Oregon’s
2002 defense.
All joking aside, the senior
guard spoke of the suddenly
strong Oregon defensive system.
“With coach Litz, any time we
have any slippage on the defen
sive end, he’s there to correct
us,” Lever said.
Coach Litz is Fred Litzenberg
er, a noted defensive specialist
who brought his style over from
the women’s team. The switch
worked for the men, who have
held opponents to 69.2 points
per game and 41 percent shoot
ing from the floor.
But the Ducks have allowed
certain players to “go off,” as
guard James Davis put it. Which
is why Davis gives the Duck
guard corps a ...
The guards —Grade: B
“We’ve got a long way to go,
defensively,” Davis said. “We let
(Casey) Jacobsen go off, we let
the Washington guards go off.
We can’t let those big-name guys
have big games.”
“We” refers to Oregon’s
guards, who have given up big
offensive nights, including 32
points to Stanford’s Jacobsen,
32 to Washington’s Doug Wrenn
and 35 to Washington State’s
Marcus Moore.
But other than those blemish
es, the Oregon guards have been
consistently dominant. Starting
guards Freddie Jones and Luke
Ridnour average 16.4 and 14.9
points per game, respectively,
while forward/guard Luke Jack
son weighs in with 15.5 points
per contest.
The posts — Grade: C+/B
Chris Christoffersen has come
a long way in four years as a
Duck, but for The Big Guy there
is always more room to grow.
Not physically, of course, be
cause he is already 7-foot-2 and
300 pounds.
“I’m always a pessimist,”
Christoffersen said, explaining
the low grade he gave himself. “I
know that I can always become
better, and there are still a lot of
things about the game that I need
to learn.”
Despite his pessimism,
Christoffersen has improved this
season.
He bumped his average to 8.8
points per game and is shooting
Adam Amato Emerald
While reluctant to grade Oregon’s play, senior guard Anthony Lever said the team’s
defense has improved, “With coach Litz (the defensive specialist), anytime we have
any slippage on the defensive end, he’s there to correct us.”
53 percent from the floor.
Christoffersen’s supporting
cast has improved to the point
where the load is taken off The
Big Guy’s huge shoulders.
Robert Johnson has been a
welcome addition at forward,
and Brian Helquist has been a
super substitute off the bench.
Just a couple examples of im
provement on a team that is
rightfully leading the Pac-10
halfway through the season.
They can only hope the final re
port card is as good.
E-mail sports reporter Peter Hockaday
atpeterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.
Wrestling
continued from page 5
wrestled some of the best guys in the
country at his weight class when
Overstake has been out. He goes out
there and every single time, regard
less of the caliber of his opponent, he
fights and gets after it. Every team
needs to have some people like that
in it, and Michael has done a real
good job for us.”
Missing weigh-in
On the way to Friday’s weigh-ins,
freshman Elias Soto’s truck broke
down, Kearney said.
Because he missed the weigh-in
time, Soto (184 pounds) could not
compete in either of the meets, caus
ing a considerable shake-up to Kear
ney’s lineup.
To fill Soto’s slot, freshman Shane
Webster was bumped up one class
from his typical 174 pounds. Harris,
who usually wrestles in the 165
pound slot, competed at 174 where
Webster was scheduled. Finally,
Overstake and Badicke each compet
ed at 165 against Pacific and Central
Washington, respectively.
Harris continues to shine
Heading into the Pac-10 portion of
the season, the senior from Las Vegas
is now 20-2 overall and 7-1 in duals.
Harris seems to be getting stronger as
the season progresses, and now has
two pins.
„ “Eugene wrestled extremely well
and has continued to put big points
up on the board and doing the things
he is capable of doing,” Kearney said
after the last meets. '
As of the last polls to come out,
Harris was ranked No. 6 in the na
tion. Shaun Williams (125 pounds) is
No. 13 in his class and heavyweight
Eric Webb is now at No. 16.
E-mail sports reporter Chris Cabot
at chriscabot@dailyemerald.com.