Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@daiIyemerald.com
Monday, March 3,2003
Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
Best bet
NCAA men's basketball:
Kansas at Texas Tech
6 p.m., ESPN
Ducks use threes to sink Bruins early
Mark McCambridge Emerald
Robert Johnson drained a three-pointer, the only one of his career, in his last game at McArthur Court on Saturday.
Oregons hot shooting
performance Saturday is
an indicator of where it could
be when the postseason starts
Men’s basketball
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
What was next? The Duck hitting a
three? The guys with the Mickey
Mouse gloves coming out of the Pit
Grew to drain treys?
It seemed like everyone was hitting
threes at McArthur Court on Saturday.
Robert Johnson hit a three. Even the
Outback Three-Point Thriller guy
drilled five threes in 30 seconds.
In the game, Oregon hit 14 of 22
three-pointers, burying UCLA 79-48
on the strength of a perimeter game
that will have to be strong again when
the Ducks hit the NCAA Tournament.
“When we’re shooting the ball like
that, obviously we’re a very difficult
team to beat,” Oregon head coach Ernie
Kent said. “We’ve shot like that before. I
think the impressive thing in this game
was not so much the shooting but the
fact that we had 22 assists on 27 buck
ets. That allows them to have good
shooting, because that means they’re
making the extra pass, and usually
when we make the extra pass, we take
good shots, and when we take good
shots, we’re a very good shooting team.”
Oregon set the tone for the firey-hot
shooting night by hitting three three
pointers on three of its first four pos
sessions. On the second possession,
point guard Luke Ridnour fed James
Davis for a three, and when Davis con
nected, Ridnour looked to the Mac
Court roof and yelled as the sold-out
crowd erupted around him.
The Ducks went up 19-2 and used
five three-pointers to get there.
Later in the game, with the win se
cure, Kent ran a designed play to get
his senior forward, Johnson, open for
a three.
“If you’ve seen our practices, we
have a lot of shooting games where
he shoots the three, and he can shoot
it,” Kent said.
With 3:26 left in the game, Johnson
came off a screen, got the ball at the top of
the key and popped off a shot, which tick
led the net for the only three-pointer of
his career. He held three fingers in the air
as he ran back down the court, smiling
“I suggested it earlier in the game, I
was like ‘I’m feeling it a little bit!’”
Johnson said. “We ran it for Brian
(Helquist); we wanted to both get one.
But he never got open.”
On the next few possessions,
Helquist tried to get open for three, but
never was able to. But on the posses
sion after Johnson’s three, Ridnour
found a slashing Helquist for a lay-in.
“I’m not worried about it,” Helquist
said about not getting a three.
Kent, who pulled the seniors out
with 2:14 left, said he wanted to give
the departing players a going-away
present of sorts.
“I thought it was a great send-off,
and no disrespect to UCLA or any
thing else,” Kent said. “More so than
anything else, it was about Robert and
it was about Brian Helquist.”
But Oregon’s three-point barrage
was also, in part, about the postseason.
The Ducks have an almost mathemati
cal formula for winning and losing,
which Kent alluded to. When the
Ducks can get assists on almost every
basket, get open looks and hit their
Turn to Threes, page 9
horry, Luke, but students might not let you go to the NBA
Dear Mr. Ridnour,
Ask any student at
Oregon, and they’ll say
yes, they would tie you
to a lamppost next to
Mac Court. Yes, they
will lock you in your
house and camp out
side on guard for a few
months. Yes, they will
ambush you in class,
kidnap you and hold
you for ransom.
Peter
Hockaday
Two minutes for
crosschecking
The ransom? One more year.
One more year in lightning yellow. One
more year of oh-my-gosh-where-did-that
come-from passing. One more year of slic
ing defenders like they’re birthday cake
and hitting the Mac Court floor like it’s a
swimming pool.
Talk to any student, and please, don’t even
mention those dirty three letters. NBA. Nation
al Boring Association. The Next Best thing to
Archery league. Nobody Brings it Association.
You really want to go to the NBA? You
think Pat Riley is going to love you like Ernie
Kent does? Think Vince Garter isn’t going to
slice the tires on your new Lexus if you don’t
pass to him enough ... in practice?
G’mon, Luke, you were made for college
ball. You were made to make the college girls
swoon, and the girls love those curls. After
the game Saturday, two girls waited at the top
of the locker room stairs long after the game
was over. One clutched a photo of your curly
locks to her chest. “He is sooo fine,” she said.
“I knooow,” her friend said.
Get to the NBA, and that conversation is
held in a skybox.
“Who’s that rookie point guard? ”
“Shut up and mix me a cosmopolitan. ”
You’re not a mixed drink, Luke. You’re a
beer. A non-alcoholic beer. A guy who turned
down Playboy’s All-American team because
of your rock-solid faith. You didn’t want to go
to the Playboy mansion.
But in the NBA, Luke, the Playboy man
sion comes to you. The limos are long and
the champagne is bubbly. It’s another world.
So stay in ours just a little longer.
I know, we’re a hassle, we here in the
Turn to Hockaday, page 10
Greco’s shot boosts Bruins
to win over Oregon women
The Ducks and Bruins will meet again in the
Rac-10 Tournament in San Jose on Saturday
Women’s basketball
Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
Pauley Pavilion provided the setting for upcom
ing attractions Saturday afternoon.
Senior Michelle Greco hit the game winner for
UCLA, which overcame Oregon, 56-54, in a last-sec
ond thriller.
The Ducks had their chances at the end, but af
ter three strikes, they were out.
After Greco’s final shot, sophomore Amy Taylor
threw a full-court pass to junior Gathrine
Kraayeveld, who beat the defense but missed the
lay-up and didn’t get a foul. Strike one.
With 2.7 seconds left, Oregon inbounded the ball
to Kraayeveld, but two Bruin defenders knocked the
ball away. Strike two. Oregon had its last chance
with 1.6 seconds left. The ball was lobbed to
Kraayeveld over junior Whitney Jones but her shot
was no good. Strike three.
“We had our opportunities to win this game,”
Oregon head coach Bev Smith told KSCR-AM. “For
me and our coaching staff and our players; we had
the game, we had the opportunity and it kind of
slipped away from us.”
Despite Oregon’s loss, the Ducks (12-15, 8-10
Pac-10) moved from seventh to fifth in the Pacific
10 Conference standings on the weekend. And with
the Bruins (17-10, 12-6 Pac-10) in a secure fourth
position, the two squads will meet again to do battle
Saturday night in the Pac-10 Tournament.
It was an afternoon that included everything in
Turn to Women's, page 10
Mark McCambridge Emerald
Cathrine Kraayeveld missed three shots at the thrilling end of the game Saturday at UCLA.