Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adam j ude@dailyemerald. com
Assistant Sports Editor:
Jeff Smith
jeffsmith@dailyemerald .com
Monday, February 25,2002
Perfection: Oregon finishes 16-0 at home
■The Ducks take over sole possession of first
and end their home season undefeated
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
For a moment, the cheers were halted.
When the game was over and perfection was com
plete, Ernie Kent took the microphone from public ad
dress announcer Don Essig.
The Oregon head coach quieted the crowd and spoke
from the heart.
“You guys are the reason this team went 16-0,” Kent
said while his team stood next to him. “I think you have
seen what maybe was one of the greatest teams at the
University of Oregon. ”
Kent’s passion for McArthur Court is endless, stem
ming from his days as a player in the “Kamikaze
Kids” era of the 1970s. When he took over as coach in
1997-98, he spoke of his desire to bring back the at
mosphere of the “Mac Court of old.”
Mission accomplished — and then
some.
Saturday night, in front of a sold out
crowd of 9,087, the Oregon men’s bas
ketball team outlasted pesky Washing
ton, 90-84, to cap off a 16-0 home
record.
The last time the Ducks went unde
feated at home was 1937-38, a stretch of 64 years that
left Kent shaking his head in amazement during his
postgame press conference.
“It hasn’t even sunk in,” Kent said. “That’s a long
time. (The community) has seen it with football and
now they have an opportunity to see it up close with
basketball.
“It’s just incredible what this team has done.”
No. 15 Oregon (20-7, 12-4) now stands alone in
first place, a full game ahead of a three-way tie for
second involving Arizona, California and USC. Stan
ford and UCLA are both two games behind. The
Turn to Men’s, page 10
Oregon senior
Freddie Jones skies
over Washington’s
Errol Knight tor a
powerful one-handed
slam in the first half
of the Ducks’ victory
Saturday. (Below)
Jones reacts to his
dunk amid the roaring
cheers of the crowd.
jjSSj
Photos by Jonathan House Emerald
Jones leads group of six seniors in farewell at McArthur Court
Oregon’s
maturity
reigns over
Washington’s
youth as the
Ducks finish
the season
16-0 at home
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
On senior night at McArthur Court,
seniority defeated youth.
Maturity ruled over immaturity. Ore
gon’s seniors toppled Washington’s
sophomores.
Led by the 33 points from senior
Freddie Jones, the Ducks beat the
Huskies 90-84 Saturday night in the fi
nal home game for six Oregon seniors.
Washington, which has only two sen
iors and no juniors on its roster,
showed its youth with key turnovers
and defensive lapses down the stretch.
Jones, who ignited the Ducks with
several thunderous dunks, wasn’t the
only senior to play well Saturday
night. Anthony Lever scored 11 points
on three three-pointers. Chris Christof
fersen had two blocks, five rebounds
and four points.
In short, the Oregon seniors re
minded the McArthur Court crowd
why the players will be so sorely
missed next season.
“I’m going to miss this group of sen
iors tompletely,” Oregon head coach
Ernie Kent said. “There’s so much
character in there.”
The seniors were honored in a
pregame ceremony, and many of their
parents showed up to participate.
“I was happy that my family was
here to share the moment with me,”
Jones said.
Even Christoffersen’s parents came
— from Denmark.
Another Oregon athlete honored the
seniors in his own way. Former Duck
quarterback Joey Harrington showed
up in the middle of the Pit Crew with a
beard disguise and a T-shirt that had a
picture of Christoffersen and the words
“The Great Dane.”
The Pit Crew honored the seniors
with signed yellow T-shirts for each of
Turn to Seniors, page 10
UW ends 12-game skid to Oregon
■With an 88-80 loss to Washington,
the Ducks enter the Pac-10 Tournament
as the No. 7 seed and host WSU
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
A rare Washington win sets the stage for a rare
chance at redemption for Oregon.
For the first time in six years, the Washington
women’s basketball team defeated the Ducks — in
an 88-80 battle in Seattle on Saturday.
The loss ends the regular season for Oregon (15
12 overall, 10-8 Pacific-10 Conference), which holds
the No. 7 seed for the inaugural Pac-10 Tournament.
The Ducks host the first game of the conference
tournament Friday against 0-18 Washington State,
a team Oregon beat 88-47 Thursday in Pullman.
Assuming they get past the Cougars, the Ducks
will again play the Huskies, the No. 2 seed in the
conference tournament, at McArthur Court on
Saturday at noon.
“It’s the card that’s been dealt to us and we just
have to take advantage of it,” Oregon head coach
Bev Smith said Sunday. “We’re just so excited to
be here in Eugene, with the opportunity to play
four games on our home court.”
To even get to the semifinals of
the tournament, though, the
Ducks will have to knock out the
Huskies (17-11, 12-6), who have
not won in Eugene in nine years,
but showed they can beat Oregon.
“We knew in the back of our
minds about the whole Oregon ri
valry,” Washington guard Loree
Payne said of the Huskies’ 12-game losing streak
to the Ducks. “We wanted to get some momentum
going into the tournament. The key is playing well
going into the Pac-10 Tournament and carry that
over into the NCAA Tournament.”
^Turivto Women’s, _page12_
Freshman
Andrea Bills
posted
16 points and
11 rebounds
against
Washington,
the first
double-double
other career..