Sports Editor:
Hank Hager
hank hager@dailyemerald.com
Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet
NCAA basketball:
Missouri vs. Indiana
1 p.m. Saturday, ESPN
Friday, December 5, 2003
Herd, Ducks battle in Portland
The Ducks are looking for their
third win of the season against
a dangerous Marshall squad
By Hank Hager
Sports Editor
Marshall the football team has pro
duced such future NFL stars as Chad Pen
nington and Byron Leftwich.
Marshall the basketball team has, well...
Maybe that excellence in basketball isn't
there just yet.
The Thundering Herd is Oregon's oppo
nent Saturday at the sixth annual Pape Jam
in Portland. The game, which is held at the
Rose Garden, begins at 6 p.m. The Oregon
women open the day against Colorado
State at 3:30 p.m.
It would be easy for the Ducks to over
look the Mid-American Conference
member, but a 13-point loss to Kentucky
on Monday proves that Marshall may be
more than advertised.
"Hopefully people understand now, at
this level, everybody can play and any
body can beat anybody else," Oregon
head coach Ernie Kent said after the
Ducks' seven-point win over Portland
State on Tuesday. "You saw what that
basketball team did to Kentucky. They
can shoot it, they can score inside, they're
very well-coached. It's going to be a
tougher matchup than people think."
The Ducks will have to be ready for the
Ron lirsa-coached team that kept close to
the Wildcats in every respect. The Thun
dering Herd shot 45 percent from the
field and made 10 three-pointers, five
more than Kentucky.
Marshall was led by guard Ronny
Dawn, who scored 23 points in the loss.
The junior is averaging 13.7 points per
game through Thursday night and is a
playmaker, evidenced by his seven three
pointers against the Wildcats — which
ties a Kentucky opponent record for the
most in one game.
For the Ducks, the game will represent
a chance to get back on track after a slop
py win over the Vikings. Portland State
got to within four late in the contest and
a 10-minute scoreless streak by the
Vikings may have saved Oregon's victory.
"This is going to be a really good
game for us," Oregon forward Luke Jack
son said. "Early on, you want to have a
game like this because it shows you that
you have to come out and you have to
play perfect basketball. I think that's a
lesson that a lot of younger guys don't
know. They think sometimes you can
just show up."
The game begins a stretch of key con
tests for the Ducks. Oregon will take next
week off from competition for final ex
aminations, but will get a big test after
the short hibernation in the form of No.
1 Kansas.
Oregon travels to Kansas City, Mo., to
Mark McCambridge Photographer
Mitch Platt (3) will lead the Ducks in Portland against Marshall at the sixth annual Pape Jam.
face off against the Jayhawks on Dec. 13.
After that, it's a game at McArthur Court
against Santa Clara on Dec. 17, a trip to
Las Vegas on Dec. 20 against Alabama at
the Las Vegas Showdown and finally a a
road game Dec. 22 against Portland.
But for now, the Ducks will have to fo
cus on Marshall, a veritable wolf in
sheep's clothing. The Thundering Herd is
looking to be the first team to defeat the
Ducks at the Pape Jam, something that
Kansas, Louisville, Massachusetts, Min
nesota and Vanderbilt have failed to do.
Let's see if the Ducks can make it she in
a row.
Contact the sports editor
at hankhager@dailyemerald.com.
Oregon loses
in first contest
sans Kraayeveld
Oregon suffers its first loss of the season at the
hands of Portland Thursday at the Chiles Center
By Jon Roetman
Sports Reporter
PORTLAND — It was expected that Oregon would be a dif
ferent team without injured forward Cathrine Kraayeveld, but
no one could have expected this.
Turnovers and lackluster play doomed No. 20 Oregon as it
fell to Portland 76-58 in front of 334 fans at the Chiles Center.
It was the Ducks' worst defeat since an 85-54 loss to Stanford
Feb. 6 and their second consecutive loss at the Chiles Center.
Kraayeveld sat out Thursday's game and will miss the re
mainder of the season after tearing the anterior cruciate liga
ment in her right knee during Tuesday's practice.
Without their senior All-American candidate on the floor,
the Ducks looked like a completely different team. Oregon
was sloppy on both ends of the floor and could never estab
lish any kind of a rhythm. Sophomore Carolyn Ganes started
in place of Kraayeveld and finished with nine points and two
rebounds in 20 minutes.
"You could definitely feel that she wasn't on the court,"
Ganes said. "Everybody needs to kind of take a little time and
get used to that feeling and re-adjust our roles."
Portland (2-2 overall) cashed in 23 Oregon (5-1) turnovers
for 34 points in its most lopsided win of the season.
Portland led from the 16:47 mark on after a short jumper
by forward Ashlee Omdorff, giving the Pilots a 7-5 lead. Orn
dorffs basket was part of a 20-2 Portland run that spanned
more than seven minutes, putting Oregon in an early hole that
it couldn't climb out of.
"It all started in warm-ups," Oregon point guard Corrie
Mizusawa said. "We didn't come out ready to go. I don't think
we were going hard intensity-wise."
Oregon struggled defensively, allowing Portland open
perimeter shots and clear lanes to the basket. The Pilots took
advantage, knocking down 51 percent of their shots, includ
ing 7 of 18 from three-point range.
Pilot forward Khalila O'Rielly-Williams led all scorers with
17 points on 7 of 11 shooting in 30 minutes.
Oregon pulled to within 12 early at the 18:21 mark of the
second half when a jumper by Ganes made the score 44-32.
After a Mizusawa steal on the ensuing Portland possession,
junior Brandi Davis missed a three-pointer from the left comer
that would have cut the lead to single digits, lhe Pilots scored
19 of the next 25 points to put the game away.
"I don't want to take any credit away from (Portland), but I
don't think defensively we were in the right position at the
right time to challenge those shots," Oregon head coach Bev
Smith said. "They played very well and shot very well and I tip
my hat to them for that."
Without Kraayeveld on the floor, the Ducks often looked
flustered offensively. They had trouble creating open looks and
forced some shots after falling behind. Oregon shot 40 per
cent from the floor, connecting on just 10 of 29 in the first half.
"We were a little bit on our heels," Smith said. "Each and
every one of us tried to take the shot that was going to be
worth 15 points rather than be patient.
"This was just a nasty game all over."
Mizusawa led Oregon with a season-high 12 points in 36
minutes. Bills, Oregon's second leading scorer at 15.2 points
per game, finished with six on 3 of 8 shooting.
Contact the sports reporter atjonroetman@dailyemerald.com.
Larwin leads early season swing for young wrestling Ducks
The Ducks have a busy
winter break with matches
against No.l Oklahoma
State and Oregon State
By Scott Archer
Freelance Reporter
It's a word that may be used a lot
when describing the Duck wrestlers
this season: young.
Oregon entered its second tourna
ment of the year two weeks ago when
the team traveled south to the South
ern Oregon University Best of the
West competition in Ashland.
The Ducks had a strong perform
ance from Luke Larwin after the jun
ior finished second in the 165-pound
weight class. Larwin finished the day
with a 4-1 head-to-head record.
"I saw some good things and some
bad things," Oregon head coach
Chuck Kearney said. "A young team
will make young mistakes."
Joey Bracamonte finished third in
the same weight class after losing to
Oregon State's Matt Ellis. Dustin Fish
er rounded out the more impressive
finishes of the day with a 4-2 record in
the 184-pound weight class.
Looking ahead
The wrestling team's opening Pacif
ic-10 Conference match will be
against arch-rival Oregon State next
week. It must then enter a match
against No. 1 Oklahoma State.
"We are looking inward," Kearney
said. "We aren't worried about oppo
nents because we can't control oppo
nents, we can only control us. Hope
fully, in the end of a match we have a
hand raised."
Oregon is looking at the matches
against Oregon State and Oklahoma
State as a way to prepare itself for a
tough Pac-10 schedule. While positive
results are always desired, it's experi
ence the young Ducks want to gain.
"Oregon State is big for Pac-10,"
sophomore Chet McBee said. "We
were picked seventh or eighth in the
Pac-10, they were picked third or
fourth, and we are just as good a team
as them if not better."
The matches will afford the Ducks
the opportunity to gauge where the
rest of their season could go.
"We shouldn't (treat the matches
differently than the rest), but we prob
ably do against Oregon State," McBee
said. With Oklahoma State, "We have
nothing to lose and everything to
gain. If they come here and have a bad
showing, that makes us look good."
"It's a great opportunity to make a
name for ourselves," Kearney said.
"You can't become one of the best 'til
you beat one of the best."
Oregon travels to Reno on Dec. 18
for the Tournament of Champions,
and then it visits Lincoln to take on
Nebraska on Jan. 3.
Scott Archer is a freelance sports
reporter for the Emerald.