Oregon hits the road again
looking for different results
Oregon heads to Boise
State and Arizona State
this weekend in search
of its first Pac-10 win
By Scott Archer
Freelance Reporter
It's back to the road.
Again.
The Ducks hit the road today for a
matchup with Boise State (5-3, 2-2),
followed by a match against No. 19
OUIlUdy.
WRESTLING is
_ currently 1-7
in Pacific-10 Conference play, remain
ing in search of its first league victory.
The Ducks are hoping to improve
on some impressive individual per
formances from a week ago and to
turn those into something positive as
a team this weekend.
"The guys are frustrated," head
coach Chuck Kearney said. "(The past
two matches) we could have won if
we won the 125 and 157-pound
weight classes."
Arizona State
(7-5, 3-0) on
Sunday.
overall and 0-3
t
That's been the mantra all season
long.
Oregon has finished several match
es with results split at 5-5 ties. Howev
er, the points earned by the opponent
in those matches have catapulted
them above the Ducks.
It is those close matches that have
stalled the Ducks. Oregon has yet to
have all wrestlers compete to the best
of their abilities on the same day.
Oregon must also balance prepa
rations for the Pacific-10 Confer
ence Tournament and the NCAA
Tournament.
"(It's getting close) to the Pac-10
and NationalTournaments," Kearney
said. "And those deserve attention."
The Ducks are also facing a short
week during which they won't make
any practice schedule adjustments,
Kearney said. The team wrestled Cal
State-Bakersfield on Sunday and re
turned to the practice mat Monday
in preparation for this weekend's
matches.
Boise State features one nationally
ranked wrestler in 197-pound soph
omore K.C. Walsh, who is ranked
13th overall. Walsh boasts a team
best record of 20-6. He has four ma
jor decision victories and two pins
on the year.
After today's match the Ducks will
head south to face No. 19 Arizona
State, against whom the Ducks are 3
17 all-time. The Sun Devils have
earned successive wins over Stan
ford, Oregon State and Cal State
Fullerton.
Arizona State has eight nationally
ranked wrestlers. No. 11 Christian
Staylor (125-pound class), is fol
lowed by No. 9 Mike Simpson (133
pounds), No. 13 Patrick Williams
(149 pounds), No. 17 Brian Stith
(157 pounds), No. 20 Ron Renzi
(174 pounds), No. 6 Nick Frost (184
pounds), No. 3 Ryan Bader (197
pounds) and No.7 heavyweight Cain
Velasquez.
Following this weekend, the
road-weary Ducks will have a
chance to relax from competition
for a while. Oregon has had a match
every weekend since the beginning
of the term and even had a busy
winter break.
Oregon will return home Feb. 15 to
challenge Oregon State in its last
home match of the season.
Scott Archer is a freelance
reporter for the Emerald.
Adam Amato Senior Photographer
Ian Crosswhite was a big reason California’s Amit Tamir scored just two points and shot 0 of 8 from the field.
MEN
continued from page 7
him touch the ball. If he got me in the
post, I knew there was someone com
ing to double team him just about
every time so I knew I had help."
Anderson had one of his best
games of the year in his 30 minutes,
the most he's played all year. He
scored nine points and grabbed four
rebounds.
Anderson said he was amazed
Tamir didn't get a field goal. He
wouldn't have bet on that before the
start of the game.
"I was pretty sure he was going to
hit at least one right in my face,"
he said.
It was a battle of the big men all
night long. Oregon (10-5 overall, 5-3
Pac-10) knew about the hype that was
surrounding Tamir and freshman for
ward Leon Powe entering this game.
The plan was to shut those two
down. The plan worked.
"This was the best job we have ever
done in defending Tamir," Oregon
head coach Ernie Kent said.
Powe finished with 12 points and
seven rebounds, far below his aver
ages of 15.5 and 9.7 rebounds per
game. Powe struggled early on with
traveling calls, and he was given a
technical at the end of the first half.
"They just stayed on us; they had
some good defense," Powe s,aid. "1
just told my teammates you got to hit
when I'm open, because I (would) be
open and they (would) be hitting me
when I got people on me."
Powe leads the Pacific-10 Confer
ence in rebounding with 9.7 per
game. Among active players on the
California roster, Powe ranks fourth in
career rebounds with 152 in his fresh
man season. The three players above
him are all seniors.
Forward Ian Crosswhite had his
way on both Powe and Tamir in the
low post. Crosswhite finished with 16
points and six rebounds.
He was able to dominate in the sec
ond half when Cal's post players got
in foul trouble.
"They got two prolific big guys in
Powe and Tamir," he said. "Powe had
three fouls and coach said take it to
them and Tamir to get them in foul
trouble," Crosswhite said.
Crosswhite had his moments of
flash on offense. After a timeout with
14 minutes left in the second half, he
faked like he would pass and then
had a 360-degree spin move to help
boost an Oregon offense that strug
gled at certain points.
Crosswhite also made clutch free
throws with 1:23 left to put Oregon
back up by nine points.
Oregon won the rebounding bat
tle, 33-26. Entering the game, Cal
was averaging almost four more of
fensive rebounds per game than its
opponents but was minus three
against Oregon.
Anderson finished 3 for 5 from
the field and had one three-pointer
with 3:02 left in the first half. Cross
white said he was upset that he
missed eight shots in shooting 6 for
14 from the field.
"Thirty minutes was the most An
derson has played all season and he
did a fantastic job," Kent said.
Contact the sports reporter
at jessethomas@dailyemerald.com.
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