Oregon Daily Emerald
Monday, January 24, 2005
“Iguarantee we won’t shoot that bad again.
Oregon’s Jordan Kent on the Ducks’ 4-of-34 three-pointers
against Arizona State on Saturday night
■ Men s basketball
Oregon's ice-cold
shooting proves
costly in ASU loss
The Ducks shoot 28.6 percent from the floor and drop
their second straight home game to the Sun Devils
BY ION ROETMAN
SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER
The Oregon men’s basketball team hoped to give head coach Ernie Kent a
victory for his 50th birthday Saturday against Arizona State.
Instead, the Ducks came out of the locker room ice cold and fell to the
Sun Devils, 64-51, in front of a sellout crowd at McArthur Court.
Oregon (11-5 overall, 3-4 Pacific-10 Conference) shot 20 of 70 from the
floor and connected on a miserable 4 of 34 three-point attempts against Ari
zona State’s zone defense. The Sun Devils (14-5, 3-4) entered the contest
on a three-game losing streak, allowing 90.7 points per game during that
stretch, but limited the hapless Duck offense to a 28.6 percent shooting clip
— including 11.8 percent from three-point range.
“Quite frankly, with this group, I felt like they hit the wall with their
rhythm, their energy and their timing,” Kent said. “And it’s something that
we’re going to have to push ourselves through. ”
Oregon found itself down 33-19 at halftime and got within no closer than
10 in the second half. The Ducks looked confused offensively for the sec
ond consecutive game, often standing around and forcing long-range
jumpers. Even when the Ducks got open looks from the perimeter, they
couldn’t knock down their shots.
“We were very stagnant,” Oregon freshman Malik Hairston said. “We
didn’t let our offense flow; we played heavy legged and we didn’t play with
a lot of intensity.”
Hairston led Oregon with 17 points but made only 8 of 18 from the floor,
including 1 of 8 from three-point range. Aaron Brooks finished with 10
points on 3-of-15 shooting (0-of-6 from three-point range), while Bryce Tay
lor scored three points on l-of-10 shooting (l-of-7 from three-point range).
“Defensively, we worked really hard,” Arizona State head coach Rob
Evans said. “ (Friday) we had the hardest practice we’ve had the day before
a game because I was not happy with our defense (of late).”
The lack of an inside game was also evident for Oregon, as post
players combined to shoot 3-of-7 from the floor. Forward Ian Cross
white, who came off the bench for the first time all season after strug
gling for several games, didn’t attempt a field goal and committed two
turnovers in 12 foul-plagued minutes.
Cross white, who garnered All-Pac-10 Honorable Mention honors last sea
son, was the third big man off the bench — following Ray Schafer and sel
dom-used Adam Zahn — and didn’t enter the game until the 11:52 mark of
the first half.
Arizona State jumped out to a 6-0 lead when Steve Moore and Bryson
Krueger knocked down consecutive three-pointers against Oregon’s zone
defense. The Ducks got as close as two at several points in the first half but
trailed the entire game.
Oregon did excel defensively, however, limiting the Sun Devils to 36.5
percent shooting. The Ducks also held star center Ike Diogu to a
MEN, page 10A
Erik R. Bishoff | Photographer
Oregon’s Bryce Taylor’s shot is blocked by Arizona State's Ike Diogu in the Ducks’ 64-51 loss at Mac Court
Saturday night. Diogu blocked four shots and altered many more in the Sun Devils’ victory.
■ Women's basketball
Ducks drop second straight road game to ASU
The Ducks' Pac-10 record away from Mac Court falls to 1 -4
after Saturday's 74-65 loss to the Sun Devils in Tempe
BY STEPHEN MILLER
SPORTS REPORTER
With all the talk of the Oregon
women’s basketball team being snake
bitten by injuries, an abundance of
turnovers over the weekend proved to
be the most poisonous venom.
Despite senior Cathrine Kraayeveld’s
sixth double-double effort of the season,
Oregon couldn’t outlast Arizona State and
fell 74-65 in front of 1,811 fans at Wells Far
go Arena on Saturday.
“We're happy about the way we played,
although we came up with a loss,"
Kraayeveld said. “We were a lot more ag
gressive and assertive than we were
against Arizona.”
While the Ducks (12-6 overall, 5-4 Pacif
ic-10 Conference) may be happy with their
performance, they still committed 14
turnovers in the first half and 25 total —
one less than their season-high.
Kraayeveld proved to be Oregon’s
most vital asset with 20 points (7-of-ll
shooting) and 10 rebounds in 37 min
utes. No other Duck reached double
digits in any category.
“She really had to work for things and
she didn’t get any clean looks that she usu
ally gets,” Arizona State head coach Charli
Hirner Thorne said. “We did a solid job on
her overall.”
It was a defensive battle in the first half
with the Sun Devils recording seven of
their nine blocks in the first 20 minutes.
Arizona State (14-5, 6-3) manufactured
a 15-2 scoring run over an eight-minute pe
riod in the middle of the first half. Neither
team shot better than 35 percent out of the
gate, but Oregon managed to nibble back
and tie the game at 19 on an Eleanor Har
ing jump shot with 1:50 left in the half. The
score settled in Arizona State’s favor, 23-19
at the break.
“In the first half we were a bit disap
pointed with the turnovers,” head coach
Bev Smith said. “It seems to be a consis
tent part of our game. It’s something we
have to eradicate.”
The Sun Devils figured out how to
score in the second half and tip-toed to
their largest lead of the game at 55-40
with 4:57 remaining.
Sophomore guard Kylan Loney made
three three-pointers in the second half, two
of which were five feet beyond the arc. She
finished with 13 points.
Oregon shot 3-of-8 from three-point
range. All three came in the final four min
utes of play with senior Brandi Davis sink
ing two of them.
“We had a few defensive breakdowns,
in part from our fatigue and the way Ari
zona State plays,” Smith said about the
second half.
Senior point guard Corrie Mizusawa
saw minutes of action for Oregon and
posted eight points to go with game-highs
in assists (6) and steals (3). With Mizu
sawa’s final assist of the game, she
notched the 300th of her career.
“Our team still feels good about what
we created in this game and how we
played intensely,” Smith said. “TheTe
are no moral victories and our team is
very disappointed.”
Arizona State’s 74 points is the second
highest total scored against Oregon this
season. Southern California and Wash
ington each posted 77.
The Ducks are now 1-4 against Pac-10
opponents on the road, but return to
McArthur Court this week to face UCLA
and USC.
stephenmiller@ dailyememld.com
GAME TIME
Thurs., Jan. 27
Men’s basketball
Oregon at California,
7:30 p.m.
Women’s
basketball
Oregon vs. UCLA,
7 p.m.
Fri., Jan. 28
Wrestling
Oregon vs. Cal State
Fullerton, 2 p.m.
Oregon vs. Stanford,
7 p.m.
Sat, Jan. 29
Women's tennis
Oregon at University of
Minnesota Court Classic
Men's tennis
Oregon vs.St. Mary's
(Calif.), 11 a.m.
Oregon vs. Eastern
Washington, 5 p.m.
Women’s
basketball
Oregon vs. USC,
1 p.m.
Men’s
basketball
Oregon at Stanford,
5:30 p.m.
Sun., Jan. 30
Women’s tennis
Oregon at University of
Minnesota Court Classic
OREGON
SCORES
j -
Fri., Jan. 21
Women’s tennis
Oregon 6, Portland 1
Oregon 6, Utah 1
Sat., Jan. 22
Men’s tennis
Oregon 7, Gonzaga 0
Oregon 7, Linfield 0
Men’s basketball
Arizona St. 64, Oregon 51
UO: Hairston 17 pts
ASU: Angounou 20 pts
Women's
basketball
Arizona St. 74, Oregon 65
UO: Kraayeveld 20 pts
ASU: Westerberg 26 pts
Sun., Jan. 23
Women’s tennis
Oregon 6, UC Irvine 1
REGIONAL
& NATIONAL
SCORES
Sun., Jan. 23
NFC Championship
Philadelphia 27, Atlanta 10
PHI: McNabb 17/27
245 yds, 2 TD
ATL: Vick 11/24 133 yds,
1INT, 4 att, 26 yds
AFC Championship
New England 41,
Pittsburgh 27
NE: Brady 14/21207 yds,
2TD
PITT: Roethlisberger 14/24
226 yds, 2 TD, 3 INT