Sports Editor:
Hank Hager
hankhager@dailyemerald.com
Thursday, January 29, 2004
-Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet
NBA:
Sacramento vs. San Antonio
6:30 p.m., TNT
Coming to a point
After an injury to freshman point guard Aaron Brooks, the starting duty has gone to Brandon Lincoln
By Hank Hager
Sports Editor
Brandon Lincoln knows success.
As a sophomore at Jefferson High
School in Portland, the Oregon point
guard teamed with current Kansas
stars Aaron Miles and Michael Lee to
win the state's 4A championship.
Two years later, he was rated
as a "super prospect" by
http://www.FansOnly.com and
was ranked as the 67th-best play
er in the nation by ESPN.com.
That equated to a No. 2
ranking in the state of
Oregon.
So when fresh
when Brooks went down, combined
to score 12 points, dish out six assists
and turn the ball over two times. It
can be viewed as a setback, based on
statistics alone, but they've been suc
cessful to a point considering the ad
justments the two have had to make.
Since Brooks suffered the in
jury, Lincoln has averaged
2.8 points and 2.4 assists
per game. He failed to
score against Washington
State and Arizona State,
both Oregon wins.
Coming into the
season, Davis was
virtually anoint
ed the team's
niau puilil gUdlU
Aaron Brooks
went down with
an injured wrist
in early Janu
ary, there
were no
worries.
perimeter
sharpshooter.
He has yet to
start a game
this season,
playing in
all but
one, and
mgm;
Right
now, just
tilling in
spot,
kind
of takes
care of it
self because I'm
surrounded by
great players,"
Lincoln said.
"We're just getting better
with every game. We had
an unfortunate loss to Ari
zona where it kind of got
out of hand. We're still
making forward progress.
We're not going to let that
loss knock us back too
far."
Against the Wildcats,
Lincoln and senior James
Davis, the heir apparents
has been
deadly
from
out
side.
H i s
shooting
ability has not
been affected
by Brooks' ab
sence.
Overall this
season, he is
shooting 48.3
percent from beyond
the three-point line. In
Pac-10 play, he has
knocked down 54.3 per
cent of his shots from
downtown.
He ranks second in the
Pac-10 in three-pointers —
just behind Stanford's
Chris Hernandez, who
has made 54.8 percent of
his three-pointers, but in
47 less attempts.
He's been a key offensive leader
since Brooks went down. In the past
five games, Davis has averaged 13.2
points per game.
"I think we're doing all right now,"
Davis said. "I think it could be a lot
better, but as far as us two together,
and Luke Jackson playing a little bit,
we're doing all right."
Jackson has been tak
ing the ball up the
court and run
ning the Oregon
offense from
the point at
times. That was
the case in the
Ducks' loss to
Oregon State on
Jan. 10, a game in
which the Creswell
senior had a career
high 39 points.
During that time,
Oregon was a work in
progress. Lincoln was
starting his first career
game in a Ducks uniform
and had just six points and
two assists. Davis, meanwhile,
connected for 17 points but was
unable to establish an offensive
rhythm in the second half.
Last season, Lincoln played in 26
games for the Ducks, averaging a little
more than eight minutes a contest. He
was a valuable contributor off the
bench and served that role well on
a team that had Luke Ridnour.
Ridnour was on the fast track
to the NBA, eventually getting
drafted by Seattle with the
14th overall selection in the
2003 draft.
When Brooks came to Eu
gene, it was expected he
would see backup action at
the point, allowing Lincoln
to come off the bench at
the other guard position.
When Ridnour left, it
threw a wrench into
the Oregon offense;
forcing Brooks, the super freshman,
into increased playing time.
That meant Lincoln was an even
more valuable tool as a sophomore.
Lincoln said Oregon head coach
Ernie Kent's feedback for him has been
to "stay aggressive and stay optimistic.
"Guys make mistakes all the time.
I'm not perfect. Nobody's perfect. He
knows I'm going to make mistakes.
He just wants to make sure I stay opti
mistic and keep trying to get better."
For Lincoln, the adjustment is ob
vious. He had been well-accustomed
reacting to the situation when replac
ing Brooks on the floor.
Now he has to know what he's go
ing to attack before the game even
starts.
"At first, it kind of caught me by sur
prise," Iincoln said of his starting role.
"It's still a work in progress. There's
still a lot of things I need to work
through. There are things the guys are
helping me on. I'm getting better with
it every day.
"Coming off the bench, you can
get a feel for the how the game is go
ing. I wasn't really adjusted to start
ing the game, getting right into it.
That was something I wasn't used to.
Coming straight out and playing is
kind of different."
Lincoln is expected to get con
sistent time on the floor until
3rooks gets back on the
scene, which is expected to
be in late February. Kent
said the freshman from
Seattle is right on
schedule for his return
to the lineup.
Brooks is set to
have pins taken out
of the wrist on Mon
day and will under
go a CT scan on
Wednesday. If all is
well, Kent said, the
cast could be taken
off the same day.
From then on, he
will start his re
habilitation
Turn to POINT,
page 14
California forwards
provide backbone
of Bears’ offense
Cal’s Leon Powe leads the
Pac-10 with eight double
doubles and in averaging
9.7 rebounds per game
By Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
His nickname is "The Show."
Not coincidentally, one only earns such
a nickname by putting on a show for the
fans, for the team and for the opponent.
California forward Leon Powe has
proven his worthiness of such a nick
name in just his first season with the
Golden Bears.
The freshman from Oakland, Calif.,
was named the Pacific-10 Conference's
Player of the Week on Monday after the
terror he brought to USC and UCLA
last week.
Powe is only the 20th freshman in
league history to receive the honor.
He is the Bears' leading scorer and re
bounder and will lead his team into
McArthur Court tonight in the hope of
starting Cal's first winning streak all season.
Powe scored 14 points against USC
Jan. 22 and grabbed eight rebounds on
the night of his 20th birthday. Against
UCLA on Saturday, he electrified the
crowd with 19 points and 14 rebounds,
accounting for his league-leading eighth
double-double of the season.
Powe had 12 points and eight re
bounds in the final eight minutes against
the Bruins.
"It's like having another point guard in
the lineup, and that's helped us," Cali
fornia head coach Ben Braun said. "He's
an extra ball handler. He's certainly a
Turn to BACKBONE, page 14
Oregon opens second half
of Pac-10 against UCLA,USC
The Ducks are in Los Angeles today
for a 7 p.m. tip-off against UCLA;
UO looks for its third Pac-10 win
By Mindi Rice
Senior Sports Reporter
Halfway through Pacific-10 Conference play the
Oregon women's basketball team is looking to change
its fate.
The Ducks (10-9 overall, 2-7 Pac-10) travel to Los
Angeles to take on UCLA at 7 p.m. Thursday and USC
at 4 p.m. Saturday in search of their second conference
win on the road.
The start of the season's second half gives Oregon
an opportunity to finish
strong: finish a play, finish a
game and finish a season.
"The one thing we need to
work on is finishing games at
the end," point guard Corrie
Mizusawa said. "Against Arizona and ASU, we had
chances to win at the end and we just didn't come
through and make plays. We've been playing well for
35 and 38 minutes but just not finishing the game."
WOMEN’S
BASKETBALL
The Ducks are even running end-of-game situation
al drills during their practices to help them with their
approach if they're ahead or behind with a few min
utes remaining.
"We're a little more tentative on offense," Mizusawa
said. "Just kind of waiting instead of not being aggres
sive. That's the thing we're working on in practice —
being more aggressive no matter how much time is
left on the dock."
The Ducks have had the lead in the waning minutes
more often than not in their Pac-10 games, but Ore
gon has let as large of a lead as 12 points slip away to
become a loss.
Thursday, Oregon gave up a six-point lead to Ari
zona before the Wildcats turned the game around and
earned the win, 70-66. Against Arizona State on Sat
urday, the Ducks held an eight-point lead with four
minutes remaining. The Sun Devils went on a 13-3
run to dose the game and earn the 69-67 victory.
"Our players certainly understand that both of
those games were within our hands," Oregon head
coach Bev Smith said. "It's just a matter of extending
37 good minutes of basketball to 40. Playing UCLA
and USC is a great opportunity for us to get back and
play those games for 40 minutes and get back on the
Turn to WOMEN, page 14