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BUY USED TEXTS
a proud member of Unique Eugene
No. 4 Arizona boards up
Ducks’ home win streak
The Wildcats end a three
game losing streak at Mac
Court by crashing the boards
with tenacity in the 81-72 win
Men’s basketball
Adam Jude
Senior Sports Reporter
Someone finally figured out how
to beat the Oregon Ducks at
McArthur Court.
And Arizona, ranked No. 1 to
begin the season, won by attacking
the Ducks’ No. 1 weakness.
Channing Frye’s putback dunk
with 31 seconds remaining sealed
the Wildcats’ 81-72 victory Thurs
day and put the exclamation point
on No. 4 Arizona’s 50-28 rebound
ing advantage.
The loss snapped a 23-game
home-winning streak for the No. 9
Ducks (10-2 overall, 1-1 Pacific-10
Conference), a streak dating back
to Oregon’s last home loss on Feb.
24, 2001. The streak ties the
school record set from 1937-39.
The Ducks led 41-37 at halftime,
but withered late in the game
when Arizona turned its attention
on the boards.
“When they became the aggres
sor, we didn’t respond,” Oregon
head coach Ernie Kent said. “We
need to be a little tougher. We
needed a little bit more out of our
big guys, particularly in the area
of rebounding.”
Oregon’s Luke Jackson (20
points) and Luke Ridnour com
bined for 36 points, but it was Ari
zona’s senior duo of Jason Gardner
and Rick Anderson who deflated
the soldout Mac Court crowd
of 9,087.
Gardner hit a three-pointer with
2:13 left to give the Wildcats their
first lead of the second half at 73
70, and then Anderson hit a trey a
minute later to extend the lead
to six.
Early in the second half, the
Ducks led by as much as 10 after a
Jackson three-pointer with 15:11
left. But Arizona snapped its three
game losing streak in Eugene with
an in-your-face defense and by at
tacking the offensive glass. It didn’t
helped that Oregon missed a num
ber of layins and short jumpers.
“Arizona’s forte isn’t usually re
bounding,” Jackson said. “But you
gotta give them credit, they came
out with fire. We made some silly
mistakes at the end that cost us
the game.”
Senior forward Robert Johnson
led the Ducks with nine rebounds,
though seven of those came in the
first half.
“Johnson killed us in the first
Adam Amato Emerald
Hassan Adams is one of a handful of talented freshmen on the Arizona roster.
half,” Arizona head coach Lute Ol
son said. “But in the second half
our guys did a great job of keeping
him off the boards.”
Arizona (9-1, 2-0) won despite
the absence of senior Luke Wal
ton, who has struggled with in
juries much of the season.
“This is a big victory for me; this
is a big victory for this team,”
Gardner said. “Our young guys
stepped up big.”
Gardner finished with a game
high 21 points.
“There’s no question that Jason
was the ringleader,” Olson said.
“He did what seniors do in the
clutch. He’s a winner.”
Arizona’s depth also proved piv
otal as four Wildcats scored in
double figures and eight played at
least 12 minutes. Freshman Has
san Adams finished with 12 points
and nine rebounds, including sev
en offensive boards.
“We need to focus more on
blocking out — that really hurt
us,” said Ridnour, who had seven
assists but eight turnovers.
Contact the senior sports reporter
at adamjude@dailyemerald.com.
Men's
continued from page 11
As Oregon heads into the Pac-10
season, the Ducks have already
given fans a blueprint for what to
watch over the rest of the season.
Ridnour and Luke Jackson have
led the team, as expected. Ridnour
is averaging 19.3 points per game,
good enough for second in the
league, and leads the Pac-10 in as
sists with 6.8 per game. Jackson is
scoring 17.5 points per game and
leads the team with 7.1 rebounds
per contest.
But Oregon wouldn’t be a 10-2
team without its role players. Per
haps most surprising .has been the
emergence of Joseph, a junior col
lege transfer who has made a big
impression on Kent with his
scrappy play.
“He’s an energy guy,” Kent said
of Joseph. “He brings us to anoth
er level.”
As far as other newcomers, Ian
Grosswhite had an impressive
preseason but struggled against
Arizona, going 2-of-12 from the
floor in the loss. He also struggled
in the first half against Arizona
State, and Kent sat him out for the
second half.
“He’s stepping up onto a big
stage for the first time,” Kent said
of Grosswhite. “It’s going to take a
little more time.”
Anderson and Short, the other
big men in the Oregon equation,
came out in the second half of the
ASU game and should see more
playing time in the future.
The next step in the Ducks’ sea
son is a trip to the Bay Area to vis
it California and Stanford, two
places where Oregon lost early in
the season last year. California
beat Stanford on Saturday to tem
porarily take the Bay Area crown,
and the Golden Bears have been
on a roll this season. Their two
losses came at the hands of
Kansas and Georgia. Stanford,
meanwhile, has struggled this
year. The Cardinal’s loss to the
Bears was their fourth of the
young season.
Contact the sports editor
atpeterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.