Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dcdlyemerald.com
Thursday, December 5,2002
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
Best bet
NBA: Minnesota
at Golden State
TNT, 7 p.m.
Women’s hoops star suspended indefintely
Loach Bev Smith announces that point
guard Shaquala Williams will be
suspended from action starting tonight
Hank Hager
Sports Reporter
Oregon women’s basketball head coach Bev
Smith announced Wednesday that senior
point guard Shaquala Williams will not play
tonight against Portland, and is suspended in
definitely because of disciplinary reasons.
“It is what it is,” Smith said about the situa
tion, declining to go into detail about the rea
sons for Williams’ suspension.
Williams, Oregon’s leader in points per
game last season at 18.4, has struggled this
season as the Ducks have started slow and are
currently 1-3. Williams has averaged 10.9
points, one assist, and 0.8
rebounds per game for
Oregon this season.
Most recently, Williams
shot 5-of-12 from the field
for 11 points in the
Ducks’ 64-47 loss to No.
18 Boston College last
week as Oregon went 0-2
at the Paradise Jam in the
Virgin Islands.
“I respect coach
Smith’s decision, although
I’m very saddened by it,”
Williams said in a release Wednesday after
noon. “I apologize if I have disappointed my
teammates, my coaches or the University in
any way. I will do anything it takes to be a
member of this team again.
Williams
“If given the opportunity to return, I’m go
ing to do everything I can to try to make this
team the best it can be.”
This is not the first time Williams has been
disciplined by Smith.
As Oregon faced off against California last
season at McArthur Court on Feb. 9, Williams
was absent from the starting lineup because
she violated a team rule.
Senior Alissa Edwards is expected to take
over the point guard spot from Williams until
her return. Although no replacement has
been named yet, sophomore Brandi Davis
could come off the bench and start, though
Smith hasn’t named a fifth starter yet.
Davis has battled sophomore Kedzie Gun
derson for a starting spot since the season be
gan, and against the Pilots, the two could see
significant playing time, possibly on the floor
"I respect coach Smith's
decision, although I'm very
saddened by it"
Shaquala Williams
Oregon guard
at the same time.
Davis has averaged more minutes per game
than Gunderson, but has yet to start.
Junior transfer Kayla Steen, who has aver
aged two points and 18 minutes of playing time
per game, should also see more action.
Contact the sports reporter
at hankhager@dailyemerald.com.
Adam Amato Emerald
Robert Johnson (right) and the Ducks prepared for Saturday's game with Kansas by blowing out Portland.
Men blow out Pilots in
final Kansas warmup
The Ducks focus their attention on the
Jayhawks after a 96-66 win Wednesday
Men’s basketball
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
Toward the end of Wednesday’s contest be
tween Oregon and Portland, students at
McArthur Court started chanting “We want
Kansas.”
“We want Kansas.”
“We want Kansas.”
And on the Oregon bench, the Ducks were
thinking exactly the same thing.
No. 7 Oregon rolled to another preseason
victory Wednesday night, moving to 4-0 on
the season with a 96-66 victory over Portland
in front of 8,378 Mac Court fans. It was a win
that avenged one of Oregon’s nine losses from
last season, but it was a different revenge
game that was on the Ducks’ minds — their
rematch with No. 14 Kansas in Saturday’s
Pape Jam in Portland.
“Right now, it’s time for this team to step on
center stage and see how we perform,” Oregon
head coach Ernie Kent said. “Saturday’s game
with Kansas, which we can all talk about now,
made it extremely difficult to get through this
game because it seems like the whole commu
nity, the media, and everybody just wants to
talk about Kansas. It made the hype of this
game a little bit bigger for us.”
But Oregon responded well to the pressure of
a game that the Ducks easily could have over
looked. They jumped out to an early lead and
accomplished several smaller goals along the
path to the blowout.
With the Pit Crew filled and the students
wearing brand-new — if not eerily familiar —
yellow T-shirts, Oregon started the game by hit
ting eight of its first 11 shots to jump out to a
16-3 lead.
“We feel like we can beat any team if we can
get out early like that and start setting the tem
po,” Oregon forward Luke Jackson said.
The Pilots chipped away at the Duck lead,
eventually getting it to six at 25-19, but Oregon
outscored Portland 25-11 over the rest of the
half to put the game out of reach, with the score
50-30 at halftime.
“Our hope was to just stay in the game,
and I thought we did that,” Pilot coach
Michael Holton said. “But we just melted
down at that point.”
Jackson led all scorers with 21 points and
notched 12 rebounds for the second-straight
contest. Five Ducks were in double figures by
the end of the night, including Ian Grosswhite,
who set a career high for the second game in a
row, this time with 16 points.
Jackson’s rebounding effort typified that of
the Ducks, who dominated the rebounding cat
egory for the first time this season. They
grabbed 45 rebounds to the Pilots’ 29.
The Oregon players said that would be key as
they prepare for — yes — Kansas. The Jay
hawks outrebounded the Ducks 63-34 in the
Elite Eight contest, a 104-86 Kansas win, last
March.
“We didn’t start off well tonight rebounding,
but it’s been getting better,” Grosswhite said.
Grosswhite started the game in place of Brian
Helquist, who injured his shoulder in practice
Monday. Kent said Helquist was doing “much
better” Wednesday and will likely start against
Kansas. But Kent will still keep Helquist’s prac
tice time to a minimum.
“If he’s going to re-injure something, I’d
much rather have him do it live, against Kansas,
than against (redshirting freshman center)
Adam Zahn in practice,” Kent said.
Kansas will provide a challenge that the
Ducks haven’t yet seen this season. The Jay
hawks have lost their last two games — to No.
12 North Carolina and No. 8 Florida — but
Turn to Men's, page 12
Boozin it up: The proper drinks for your sporting occasions
Hi.
You probably have no
idea who I am because
this is the sports page,
where sports-related infor
mation is found.
I am an A&E writer,
generally found on the
Pulse page, which has
nothing to do with sports.
This begs the question:
What the hell am I doing
here?
Well, Peter Hockaday was turning greener
than the new “Mandrake” with jealousy over
.my way-cpoler-than-his job, and Ldecided to
do him the favor of a trade.
Mason
West
Selling out
What seemed like bit ot good fun has turned
into deep searching of soul to find what common
bond I share with the sports enthusiast. My idea
of sports is Ice Hockey for the original Nintendo
— on which I took the sports staff to school af
ter the 2001 staff party.
Other than that, the only thing I really en
joy about sports is the drinking that goes along
with it. Nothing beats an illegally spiked soda
at Autzen, or a beer at home on the couch
while yelling at a TV screen that couldn’t care
less whether or not “that guy” is a f@#%ing id
iot.
While it’s safe to say that beer is a sports sta
ple, I like to suit my drinking to the occasion,
letting the subtle flavors add to my viewing ex
perience. There are some easy ones such as
bullfighting and sangria, and sumo wrestling
and sake, but here begins an examination into
more complex cases.
Football = beer. It’s natural drinking order.
While Budweiser has a tight grasp on the market
(God bless the Bud Bowl), it seems silly to em
brace a global beer when we are so loyal to our
local teams. If you’ve got money to blow on Ore
gon micros, buy something from the Deschutes
or Rogue breweries. As for me, a half-case of
Henry’s Private Reserve for $7 is tough to beat,
proving that beer does indeed mean more here.
Beer takes care of basketball too, but a dark
er variety is preferred. With 10 guys running
to and fro on that small court, you’re not lack
ing for action. A thick, full bodied brew that re
sists chugging will be a calm constant as your
head cranes from side to side. Throw in a cigar
and you can act like you’re the coach!
What about boxing? While the football view
er enjoys getting rowdy, to enjoy ass-kicking
on the intimate scale boxing provides, you re
ally need to rile up the blood. Allow me to in
troduce my friend Jack Daniel’s. It’s the
Yosemite Sam of the distilled world. I had a
roommate who couldn’t touch the stuff with
out punching someone. Just steer clear of that
pre-bottled hard cola crap. Lazy bastards.
I don’t know who actually watches golf, but
if they have anything other than gin and tonics
in their hands while doing so, they’re no friends
of mine. Any liquor mixed with tonic is the
Turn to West, page 12