Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
-OregonDailyEmerald
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Friday, January 24,2003
Danielle Hickey Emerald
James Davis had six three-pointers in the Ducks'91-66 win over Washington on Thursday at McArthur Court.
Ducks dawg UW
at boisterous Pit
No. 23 Oregon shares the
wealth in a 91 -66 pounding
of the Huskies at Mac Court
Men’s basketball
Adam Jude
Senior Sports Reporter
Luke Ridnour says he has nothing
personal against Washington. This is
just basketball. Just another game.
But, on so many levels, this was far
from just another game.
For one, Ridnour, typically a level
headed guy who keeps his emotions
bottled up, let loose Thursday on the
Huskies.
A Blaine, Wash., native, Ridnour
sank a 3-pointer early in the second
half, then forced a Washington
turnover at the other end of the floor.
Battling a near-flawless opponent and
an unforgiving McArthur Court crowd,
the Huskies, trailing 63-33, called a
timeout, and Ridnour yelled in celebra
tion, pumped his fist, flexed his mus
cles, yelled some more, then smiled as
he walked back to the bench.
Just another game? Hardly. This
game featured a nasty, blood-squirting
Luke Jackson finger, 14 Oregon 3
pointers, 28 Oregon assists on 34 field
goals, and a UGonn reject. It all added
up to a 91-66 win for the 23rd-ranked
Ducks (13-4 overall, 3-3 Pacific-10
Conference), who have won three
straight after a slow start to the confer
ence season.
“I thought (the Ducks) could’ve played
with anybody in the country tonight,”
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “I
don’t know if there’s another team in the
country that’s had a game like that, with
28 assists on 34 baskets.”
Still limping from consecutive
blowout losses two weeks ago in the
Bay Area, Ridnour said the Ducks were
just hoping to match the Huskies’ an
ticipated energy. They didn’t expect a
second-half walk-through, which is
what it eventually became at a sold-out
Mac Court.
And the Huskies (7-9, 2-5), after de
feating Stanford in their last game,
were expecting an intense showdown,
which is what has become of this rival
ry. Instead, Washington gave up a
school-record 14 3-pointers to the
Ducks and got a lackluster perform
ance from their star, Doug Wrenn.
“I was really impressed by the way
they shared the ball,” Washington
first-year coach Lorenzo Romar said of
Turn to Men's, page 8
Jackson injures finger in bloody first-half play
Nobody knows how he injured it, and
the Oregon forward will miss Saturday^
game because of the laceration
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
In an otherwise mediocre contest be
tween Oregon and Washington on Thurs
day night, the question on everybody’s lips
concerned a finger.
Luke Jackson’s severely lacerated, blood
spurting ring finger, to be exact.
Jackson, attempting a steal late in the first
half of the Ducks’ 91-66 victory, got his right
ring finger (on his non-shooting hand) some
how caught in the jersey of Husky forward
Doug Wrenn. Jackson was whisked away right
after the game, and nobody else was quite sure
how it happened, but two things are for certain.
First, Jackson needed 10-12 stitches on
the bottom of his right ring finger, but was
healthy enough to return to the Oregon
bench with his hand bandaged and his arm
in a sling. Second, he will miss Saturday’s
game. Anything after that is up in the air.
“The cut was three-quarters of the way
around the base of his ring finger, and the
area where it’s at meant there was a lot of
blood,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said.
“We’re just thankful it wasn’t worse.”
Nobody knows exactly how it happened,
except for, perhaps, Jackson himself. Wrenn
said he hardly even felt Jackson bump into
him, and that he didn’t think his fingernail
caused the cut.
“Hopefully, he’ll bounce back,” Wrenn
said. “I didn’t feel anything; he probably got
caught on my jersey.”
Kent said he didn’t know how it hap
pened, either.
“He just jammed his hand in there; who
knows exactly how?” Kent said. “The good
news is it didn’t hit a tendon or a nerve.”
Andre Joseph will start Saturday’s game in
place of Jackson, and Kent wasn’t sure
whether Jackson will be back for next week’s
contests at UCLA and USG.
“Everybody moves up,” Kent said of Satur
day’s rotation, “This will be an opportunity
for us to show our depth.”
Jackson’s finger bled profusely at first, and
he was ushered off the court quickly by assis
tant athletic trainer Clay Jamieson, who
wrapped Jackson’s hand in a towel. Jackson
came back midway through the second
frame, but he didn’t play. He received an ova
tion when he returned to the Oregon bench.
Jackson’s injury' could have been a distrac
tion for the Ducks, who were leading 38-14
when he left the game with 5:52 left in the
first half. On the previous possession, Jack
son made a steal and took it the length of the
court for a lay-in.
“We could sit there and let our minds race,
but the key thing was to remain focused and
remain calm, and this team did a great job of
that,” Kent said.
The Ducks did remain calm, and kept the
lead where it was until halftime, before blow
ing the game open in the second half. They
even got the approval of Washington coach
Lorenzo Romar.
“I’ve talked to Ernie Kent about his team,
and the one thing he always talks about is the
character of the team,” Romar said. “That’s
Turn to Jackson, page 6
UO women fall hard at Washington
Oregon fells to ninth place in the
Pac-10 with a loss to Washington
Women’s basketball
Hank Hager
Sports Reporter
It was a game Oregon desperately
needed to get back into the Pacific-10
Conference race.
It was a game steeped in rivalry
against the Ducks’ traditional North
west foe.
Unfortunately for Oregon, it was a
game taken over by Loree Payne and the
rest of the Washington women’s basket
ball team.
Payne tied a career high with 29
points and knocked down six three
pointers as the Huskies walked away
with a victory, 79-60, Thursday at Bank
of America Arena in Seattle.
The loss gives Oregon (6-11 overall, 2
6 Pac-10) a three-game losing streak and
drops the Ducks to 1-6 away from
McArthur Court this season.
“The game is 40 minutes long, and we
have not had that defensive intensity
and heart for 40 minutes,” Oregon head
coach Bev Smith told KSCR-AM.
The Ducks held Washington to 45 per
cent shooting in the first half, but Wash
ington exploded in the second half en
route to shooting 50 percent from the
field on the night. The Husky offense was
led by Payne, who knocked down nine of
14 shots in 30 minutes of play.
Overall, the Huskies (14-3, 6-2) had
four players in double figures and 10
players scored at least one point.
“They have a tremendous rhythm
within the players they have playing for
them,” Smith said.
Oregon was led offensively by fresh
man Carolyn Ganes, who came within
one of her career best with 24 points.
Ganes, as she has done all season, domi
nated down low, but also showed her ver
satility in making two 3-pointers.
The Ducks did not fare bad offensively
— shooting 44 percent in the first half—
but could not come through late when it
mattered most.
Just like the contest against Oregon
State, the Ducks faltered midway
through the second half both offensively
and defensively.
After going into halftime with a 34-32
lead, Washington took control early in
the second stanza, posting an 8-2 run to
start the half.
Washington made it 54-43 with 12:17
left on Payne’s fourth 3-pointer of the
night, and from that point on, the Ducks
could get no closer than 13 points.
“Certainly, where we have to look is
on the defensive end,” Smith said.
“That’s where we lose our concentration
and focus.”
Turn to Women's, page 8
Danielle Hickey Emerald
Brandi Davis and the Ducks fell to 2-6 in Pac-10 play with the loss.