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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 6, 2002)
Sports Editor Peter Hockaday peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com Wednesday, November 6,2002 -Oregon Daily Emerald Sports Best bet NBA: New Jersey at Milwaukee 6:30 p.m., ESPN Crossing the Pacific Jeremy Forrest Emerald Redshirt freshman Ian Crosswhite, from Australia, is the only international member of the Oregon team. Ian Cnosswhite made his way to Oregon from Australia, and in his first game he’ll face his old team from Down Under Peter Hockaday Sports Editor Most Ducks will look down the roster of the Australian Institute of Sport — the Oregon men’s basketball team’s first oppo nent of the exhibition season — tonight and see just a group of names. But Ian Grosswhite will see friends. Grosswhite, Oregon’s redshirt fresh man forward from Sydney, Australia, played for the AIS team two years ago, just one of many teams that Grosswhite played for before coming to Eugene. On the eve of his first state-side meeting with his former cohorts — the Ducks and AIS will tip off at 7:30 tonight at McArthur Gourt — Grosswhite reflected on entering his second season with the Ducks. “It’s real bush,” Grosswhite said of his hometown of Gastlecrag, just outside of Sydney. “It’s close to the city, but we’ve got kookaburras and parakeets and all sorts of wildlife. I actually like (Eugene) a little more; it’s more quiet, and the community here is embracing. People will take care of you and actually care about you.” Grosswhite’s thick Australian accent is about the only thing that differentiates him from the other athletic big men of the Ore gon basketball team at first meeting. But Matt Short, who redshirted last season with Grosswhite, clarified the feeling of having an Aussie next to him on the bench. “He adds a little more flavor to the team,” Short said. “We’ve got a lot of dif ferent personalities on the team, but we all get along so well. It just adds a little more character to our team.” There may not be much of a basketball On tap What: Oregon men’s basketball exhibition season opener Who: Against Australian Institute of Sport When: 7:30 p.m. Where: McArthur Court tradition Down Under, but what little there is flows through Crosswhite’s veins. His fa ther, Perry, played on the Australian Olympie basketball team in three different Olympics, captaining die squad in Montre al in 1976 and Moscow in 1980. His moth er, Janice, also played basketball but was known for being a national hurdles cham pion while at Melbourne University7. So Crosswhite has played basketball since he could say “hook shot.” His mother would leave him at a day care center that was right next to a basketball court, he said, and the young Crosswhite would dribble the days away. Still, Crosswhite felt like he needed to play basketball in America, like his sister Anna, who plays for Virginia. “You get a litde bit of pressure on you,” Crosswhite said. “So it was kind of good to get out of Australia, kind of earn things on your own merits.” On an Oregon team that is faster than a speeding bullet, Crosswhite and his fel low big men are the “X” factor — can they be as strong as a locomotive? As Crosswhite pointed out, the Ducks’ biggest loss last year, in the NCAA Tour nament’s Elite Eight to Kansas, came in large part to the Jayhawks’ dominance of the boards. Oregon was among the na tion’s leaders in points scored last season, but that didn’t matter in its only March Turn to Crosswhite, page 12 Pac-10 soccer title to come from California As Pac-10 play winds down, UCLA and USC look to grab a share of the title from Stanford Soccer jesse Thomas Sports Reporter It’s called the “Conference of Champions.” The Pacific-10 Conference is represented by three states along the West Coast, along with Arizona. But when it comes to women’s soccer, the Golden State is the only one to represent. Stanford leads the way with an undefeated conference mark and a 16-1-0 overall record, losing by one goal to one of the nation’s best, North Carolina. Stanford is led by senior forward Marcia Wallis with her two goals in the 2-1 victory over Cal and was responsible for eight of the 12 shot attempts. UCLA and USC round out the top three teams in the Pac 10 with one and two conference losses apiece, respectively. The Bruins’ only loss came to the Cardinal and the Trojans two losses are to UCLA and Stanford. In the race for the Pac-10 championship, Stanford will at least clinch a share of the title as long as it wins one of its fi nal two games. If the Cardinal can win out or UCLA drops one of its remaining games, they will be the sole champion. The Trojans could grab a share of the title with Stanford and/or UCLA if they can win out and some other serious upsets occur. For the Oregon schools, they represent the opposite end of the Pac-10 spectrum. Oregon and Oregon State sit in the bot tom three of the conference with just two wins combined in Turn to Soccer, page 10 UO’s third - quarter woes linger Adam Amato Emerald Oregon safety Keith Lewis breaks up a pass intended for Stanford's Alex Smith in the Ducks' 41-14 win. The Ducks face No. 5 Washington State in Pullman this week. The No. 15 Ducks have been outscored 59-21 by Pac-10 opponents in the third quarter Oregon notes Adam Jude Senior Sports Reporter Things would be much easier for the Ducks if there were no halftime. “We’re not going to go in (the locker room), we’re going to stay out. Rain, snow, sleet — we’re going to scrim mage right through halftime,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said jokingly. “We’re not going to have a halftime. The third quarter is going to be an ex tension of the second quarter.” One can dream. No. 15 Oregon (7-2 overall, 3-2 Pa cific-10 Conference) has not trailed at halftime this season, but has been outscored 59-21 in the third quarter during conference play. In the last three games, the Ducks have allowed seven touchdowns in the third quarter. “We may do bull-in-the-ring in the locker room, the coaches may do something crazy, I really am not sure,” Bellotti said. “It’s probably way overblown. I think it’s still something we’ll consider and look at the alterna tives to improve our performance. I don’t know that we can do more moti vationally than what we’ve done. “The bottom line is, we have to play better.” Turn to Oregon, page 10
