Sports Editor:
Hank Hager
hankhager@dailyemerald.com
Monday, February 23,2004
Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet
NCAA basketball:
Kansas vs. Texas
6 p.m., ESPN
Ducks' NCAA aspirations dealt blow
Oregon dropped its seventh Pac-10 game of the
season; the Ducks must now win their final four
games to earn a berth to the NCAA Tournament
By Hank Hager
Sports Editor
One must give Oregon credit.
When the Ducks miss, they miss big.
Oregon went long on three-point attempts, but came up
short in an 86-75 loss to Arizona State in front of a sold-out
McArthur Court on Saturday night.
The Ducks attempted a school record 38 three-pointers and
connected on 14.
it#I EZ i^i f C? “We didn't make enough three's,"
SwlElpfr S- Oregon forward Luke lackson said.
BASKETBALL We might zone us be
_ cause they did it before up here. We just
didn't handle it very well."
Oregon (12-9 overall, 7-7 Pacific-10 Conference) didn't
handle it at all. That led to the Ducks' third loss at Mac Court
this season — the most in a single season since 2000-01 —
and second in a row in Eugene.
The discrepancies on the statistics sheet between the two
teams were big. Arizona State corralled 40 rebounds to
Oregon's 27. The Ducks committed 27 fouls — 18 in the
second half — which led to 36 Arizona State free throw
attempts.
The Sun Devils made 26. Ike Diogu had 13 attempts, hit
ting on nine. He made three more than the Ducks even at
tempted.
In other words, it was a cold night in Eugene.
"With everything at stake on the line, I expected us to play
sharper basketball," Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. "The
blame falls on me for not having my team ready to play. As
big as this game was, I thought we could have given a better
effort. Ultimately, they wanted it more than we did and played
key basketball at key times."
As much of a step forward the Ducks took against Arizona
in a loss Thursday, they took an even farther step backward
Saturday.
The presence of Aaron Brooks in the first half did little to
quell offensive jitters. Despite jumping out with nine points
—• on three three-pointers — in the first two minutes, the
Ducks succumbed to Arizona State down the stretch.
The Sun Devils (10-14, 4-11) came back and took a one
point lead five minutes in. Four minutes later, Arizona
Turn to MEN, page 10
Erik Bishoff Photographer
Arizona State's Ike Diogu had 23 points and 12 rebounds in the Sun Devils' win.
Ducks close to 'being a great team'
If there was anyone to blame for Oregon's
loss to the team with the worst record in the
Pacific-10 Conference — Arizona State — on
Saturday, Luke Jackson made it clear
who it was.
Jackson said it four times, all in different
contexts, but his point was clear.
"I take full responsibility for this loss," he said.
So if there was ever any question of who is the
leader of this team, Jackson answered it. If there
was ever any question as to whether Jackson truly
cared, it was clear through his somber, slow tones
after the game.
But it was something else that Jackson said
that stuck. Something that put this season and
what lies ahead in clear perspective.
"This team is so close to being a great team,"
Jesse Thomas
Go the distance
Jackson said.
Too true.
Right now, Oregon ranks 'good' at best on the
success scale. The 'great' spot is reserved for a
Stanford or an Arizona.
That's not to say that Oregon can't be great.
The Ducks have shown a hint of greatness at
times this season.
But the difference between the good teams
and the great teams is like the separation be
tween the National Invitation Tournament and
the NCAA Tournament.
Oregon has lost three of its last four games and
now must go on the road to play two tough
schools in the Bay Area. One of them is the best
in the country.
With every Oregon loss, the window that casts
light on a respectful postseason closes a little bit
more. That window is nearly shut.
Oregon will not make the NCAA Tournament
this year.
Hear me out.
Turn to THOMAS, page 10
Women’s tennis takes a split in Northwest
The Oregon women lost their first
dual match of the season against
No. 5 Washington in Seattle Saturday
By Alex Tam
Freelance Reporter
The nine-match winning streak came to a halt
for the Oregon women.
After defeating Washington State in a close 4
3 victory Friday, the Ducks (9-1 overall, 2-0 Pacif
ic-10 Conference) on Saturday suffered their first
loss of the season, 5-2, to No. 5 Washington.
All year long, the women have been making it
a habit to take the first point of a dual match by
winning at least two of the three doubles con
tests. From then on, they
- have carried that momen
tum into the remaining
six singles matches to fin
ish off their opponent.
WOMEN'S
TENNIS
- That trend was broken
by the Huskies.
Oregon head coach Nils Schyllander talked
during the week leading up to the match-up
about how the matchup was a chance to show
case his squad against a nationally ranked team.
The Ducks took their shot and started the match
off well by taking all three doubles contests.
However, the women were not able to overcome
the Huskies' strong singles, featuring three of the
country's top-90 players.
Doubles were led by Oregon's 16th-ranked
duo of junior Daria Panova and senior Courtney
Nagle, who upended Washington's 29th-ranked
team of Claire Carter and Dea Sumantri, 8-4. Ihe
team of Panova and Nagle improved their dou
bles record to 6-2.
"I thought we played awesome doubles,"
Schyllander said. "In singles, Washington stepped
up when they needed to. I felt it was a winnable
match — it just didn't go our way. We let a good
Turn to SPLIT, page 12
Oregon’s
slow start
gives win
to ‘Cats
The Ducks were outscored
43-20 in the first half in the loss
By Mindi Rice
Senior Sports Reporter
Few things went Oregon's way in Tuc
son, Ariz., on Saturday.
Guard Brandi Davis was 3 for 3 from
behind the three-point line, but she didn't
play until the final
*m%m s*“jr.s fminutes of the
WOMEN’S game for what
BASKETBALL head coach Bev
_ Smith called "disci
plinary reasons."
Every player who came off the bench —
and everyone available did — scored for the
Ducks, but Oregon's first points didn't come
until 5 minutes, 8 seconds into the game.
For every time that Oregon (12-14 overall,
4-12 Pacific-10 Conference) lost a lead and a
victory in the final minutes this season, there
were games like the Ducks' 84-58 loss to Ari
zona on Saturday, where they found them
selves facing a 23-point half-time.
The Ducks don't know which is worse: a
slow start or a bad finish.
"At the start, we dug ourselves a 10-foot
ditch with a 6-foot pole," Smith said. "We
made some runs, but it was too late."
In the end, it was the slow start that got
Oregon. The Wildcats (20-7, 12-4) had an
11-0 lead before Oregon forward Kedzie
Gunderson's long jumper forced the
McKale Center crowd to take their seats —
something fans only do upon the oppos
ing team's first points. Oregon brought the
game to within 10 at one point in the first
half, but the closest the Ducks got in the fi
nal 20 minutes was a 58-37.
"1 take my hat off to Arizona," Smith
said. "They played very well, and that's the
way they've been playing lately. Our slow
start weighed heavily on us. The shots we
did get became more important and put
more pressure on us. (Andrea) Bills' fouls
put us in a difficult match-up situation."
Bills, Oregon's starting center, picked up
her second foul 1:50 into the game. She sat
for much of the first half after getting the
early fouls and ended the game with six
points and three rebounds in 14 minutes.
Early foul trouble and a poor offensive
start led Smith to quickly send out her re
serves. The entire bench saw action and
scored points, while two starters — Corrie
Mizusawa and Yadili Okwumabua — did
n't score.
Perhaps the game was a bright sign for
Oregon's future. The three freshmen —
Jessica Shetters, Ashley Allen and Cicely
Oaks — who have not had extensive play
ing time this season saw plenty of action.
Shetters scored all six of her points in the
second half, and Allen had a career-high
six points. Oaks also had a career-high
with four points in eight minutes.
Mizusawa, the Ducks' starting point
guard, added three assists to her season to
tal while playing on a partially tom left lat
eral meniscus. Mizusawa has 161 assists this
season, tying Lauri Landerholm for No. 3
on Oregon's all-time single-season list.
The Wildcats sent seniors Aimee Grzyb
and Jessica Duger off with a 14-0 home sea
son, the first time in Arizona history that the
Wildcats had a perfect home season.
"To go undefeated at home is a great
achievement," Arizona head coach Joan
Bonvicini said. "It was a goal pf ours from
Turn to SLOW, page 9