Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
Wednesday, January 22,2003
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Ducks’ vapid defense
leads to Pac-10 woes
Oregon must step up defensively if it
hopes to move up in the Pac-10 standings
Women’s basketball
Hank Hager
Sports Reporter
Take a look at the Pacific-10 Conference stand
ings and you will find a situation that many Oregon
fans are not used to seeing.
The Duck women are tied for eighth place with
USC. Both teams have a 2-5 conference record.
Oregon is 1-4 in its last five games and has gone
just 1-3 against teams ranked in the top 25
this season.
Then take a look at the Pac-10 statistical cate
gories and you will find one glaring reason for the
drop in the standings.
Scoring defense. The Ducks are allowing 78.4
points per game in Pac-10 play. And although Ore
gon State failed to score more than 70 points
against the Ducks, it was apparent the Oregon de
fense was outmatched.
“In the second half — and I still think we’re play
ing harder than a month ago — but I think we re
laxed a little bit with pressure on their perimeter,”
head coach Bev Smith said. “As a result, they
moved the ball around the perimeter, were very pa
tient, and our post players cannot battle two excel
lent post players when they have time to pass the
ball and look in.”
Oregon has averaged 67 points per game this
season. Couple that with the team’s inability to
hold most opponents under 70 points, and you’ve
got a recipe for disaster.
Against the Beavers, the Oregon defense was no
ticeably absent from the court, especially during
the Beavers’ 20-2 run that seemed to last the entire
20 minutes of the second half. It didn’t, but it may
as well have.
“They were playing all offense, and we were
playing defense the whole time,” senior Alissa
Edwards said.
Injuries abound
Oregon has been suffering from a multitude of in
juries this season, never more apparent than when
the Ducks had only eight players suited up against
Oregon State.
There is no update on junior Gathrine
Kraayeveld. She is still expected to miss at least
four more weeks, although Smith has said there is
a strong possibility the forward will not make it
back this season.
Sophomore Andrea Bills has been filling in for
Kraayeveld on the offensive end, but she is suffer
ing from plantar fasciitis in her left foot. She is not
expected to miss any games.
The same goes for junior Kayla Steen. The jun
ior missed the Oregon State contest due to a sore
back but should play against Washington and
Washington State.
“This is a big test for us and this program, in
terms of what has happened to us, and we’ve got
good reasons to go on,” Smith said. “We’ve got
games in front of us, we’ve got the Pac-10 Tourna
ment, and our focus is to get better each and every
time we hit the basketball floor.”
Final Duck thoughts
Oregon is 3-4 this season when freshman Car
olyn Ganes scores more than 10 points in a con
test. Conversely, the Ducks are just 3-6 when the
6-foot-3 forward fails to score in double digits.
The Gill Coliseum jinx was supposed to take
care of Oregon State when the Ducks visited Sat
urday. The Beavers had not won in Corvallis
against Oregon since 1996, but they did so in con
vincing fashion. The loss for Oregon pushes the
Ducks’ record on the road in Pac-10 play since the
2000-01 season to 7-14.
Turn to Women's, page 6
Adam Amato Emerald
Kayla Steen (4) and the Ducks have allowed 78.4 points per game in conference play this year.
Arizona rolls into top spot, now faces Kansas
Arizona coach Lute Olson
says the No. 1 Wildcats don’t
deserve the top spot, but his
team is on top nonetheless
Men’s Pac-10 notes
Adam Jude
Senior Sports Reporter
After a four-week hiatus, Arizona
returned to the top of the charts
Monday. But don’t expect a wild par
ty this week in Tucson — the Wild
cats are hoping that will happen in
late March.
frankly, we re not even close to
No. 1 yet in terms of how we’re play
ing,” Arizona head coach Lute Olson
told the Daily Wildcat.
The top-ranked Wildcats (13-1
overall, 6-0 Pacific-10 Conference)
received all but five first-place votes
in the Associated Press poll this
week, and all but one first-place vote
in the USA Today/ESPN coaches’
poll. Duke, previously ranked No. 1,
lost its first game last week, giving
way to Arizona.
Pittsburgh is No. 2, followed by
Duke, Texas and Florida in the
top five.
Arizona was ranked No. 1 in the
preseason, but fell to LSU, 66-65, on
Dec. 21 and dropped from the top
spot. With a healthy Luke Walton
in the lineup, though, the Wildcats
are rolling.
After an 81-72 win at USG on
Thursday, Arizona demolished
UCLA, 87-52, on national television
Saturday.
But the Wildcats are still
not content.
“We still have a lot of areas where
we need to improve,” senior guard
Jason Gardner said. “The guys know
we could improve on the defensive
end, and on the offensive end we
could cut down on the turnovers and
take better shots.”
Arizona could easily fall from the
top spot after this week. The Wild
cats host Arizona State (12-5, 4-2)
Wednesday before traveling to No. 6
Kansas on Saturday (noon, CBS).
UCLA searching
for answers
It’s never been this bad at UCLA.
Engrossed in rumors about the pos
sible firing or resignation of head
coach Steve Lavin, the Bruins (4-9,2
3) have the worst record in the Pac-10.
UCLA was swept by the Arizona
schools last weekend, including a 35
point loss to the Wildcats, the Bruins’
worst-ever loss at Pauley Pavilion.
With six home games remaining,
UCLA has already lost a school
record seven home games.
“I don’t know how to respond,”
UCLA’s Jon Crispin told The Daily
Bruin. “After you lose this many, it’s
like, ‘What the heck.’”
Despite leading the Bruins to five
Sweet 16 appearances in six years,
Lavin is likely on his way out,
though he has said he will not resign
“I blame the players,” Arizona
freshman Hassan Adams said. “You
could tell they didn’t want it. They
have a talented team, and they
Turn to Men's, page 6
Mark McCambridge Emerald
Martin Mitchell has pinned five different opponents this season.
Oregon looks to Mitchell for pins,
wins in early part of 2003 season
Martin Mitchell provides Oregon
with a spark, pinning opponents
for half his wins this season
Wrestling
Mindi Rice
Freelance Sports Reporter
In front of 620 fans Friday evening,
sophomore Martin Mitchell stood up in
the middle of the mat with his
California-Davis opponent Tommy
Schurkamp rolled into a ball on his
shoulders.
Mitchell said later that Schurkamp
had his wrists pretty well controlled
and there wasn’t too much Mitchell
could do with him.
Except set him down.
And pin him in the same period to
win the six points for Oregon.
“It was good for him to go out tonight
and get a fall and dominate somebody,”
head coach Chuck Kearney said.
Mitchell lost his first match Friday,
10-5, in overtime against Stanford’s
Nathan Peterson before coming back to
pin Schurkamp at the 2:47 mark.
Mitchell, who is 10-6, has earned ex
actly half of his victories by pinning his
opponent.
The Tonaskit, Wash., native had two
pins in nine victories last season, when
he wrestled in the 133 weight class. Like
two of his teammates, seniors Casey
Hunt and Tony Overstake, Mitchell has
dropped a weight class and currently
wrestles at 125.
While Mitchell has definitely im
proved since last season, Kearney still
expects more of him.
“There are some things he’s got to do
better,” Kearney said. “And he’s going to.
“Athletically and technically, he’s got
all of it. He’s a guy that’s going to contend
Turn to Wrestling, page 6