Men: Ducks currently ninth in the Pac-10
Continued from page 13
from Collin County Community Col
lege in 1999.
Kent’s run-and-gun style offense
is what attracts many young play
ers to Oregon. But like in seasons
past, this year’s crop of Duck fresh
men have yet to understand all
that goes into running a fast-paced
offensive attack.
The Ducks (12-11 overall, 4-10 Pa
cific-10 Conference) have been run
ning when they see a potential tran
sition bucket.
Kent wants them to run on every
possession.
“Typically, it takes them a year
to really understand and have the
mentality that you run every single
time regardless if you have a layup
or not, and they don’t understand
that,” Kent said. “They run when
they think they have a score, and
there’s a difference there. They
have an opportunity to put the
pressure on people constantly for
the minutes that they’re on the
floor and wear teams down like
we’ve done in the past, but they
will be able to do that down
the road.
“That’s the encouraging thing.”
Kent compared the troubles of Ma
lik Hairston and Co., to those of Luke
Ridnour during his freshman year.
“Luke Ridnour would never give
up the ball his freshman year,” Kent
said. “He would just dribble, drib
ble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble.
We couldn’t run, he wouldn’t hit
ahead, he wouldn’t be able to go in
the lane and finish plays ... and in
between his freshman and sopho
more year, the offense started flow
ing and clicking, and he became a
great player.
“He just grew and understood
the offense. ”
Hairston said he and the rest of
Oregon’s young players hear Kent’s
message — it’s just a matter of
translating it on the court.
“He wants us to be a little un
selfish with (running) and then
I
Damellf. Hickey | Photo editor
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said Malik Hairston, above, and other Duck freshmen
need to run the floor more on offense.
tag-team our teammates and let
them get in there,” Hairston said.
“We may not be the ones to get the
buckets, but the other team will be
real tired.”
Entering today’s 7:30 p.m. tipoff
against California (12-12, 5-9) at
McArthur Court, the Ducks are
stressing offensive aggressiveness.
Oregon has lost eight of its last nine
games and has scored 70 points
only twice since beating Oregon
State 73-64 in early January.
With four games remaining, the
Ducks sit in ninth place in the Pac-10.
They trail Cal and Washington State
by one game for the eighth and final
spot in the conference tournament.
Kent said that while qualifying for
the Pac-10 Tournament is important,
simply getting another win is the
team’s priority.
“Every meeting, every walk
through session, every practice and
obviously every ball game is ex
tremely important for this team,”
Kent said. “We have not and will
continue to not waste one minute of
this season.”
jonroetman@dailyemerald.com
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Stelly: Guard swept Mac Court
hardcourt before playing on it
Continued from page 13
and varsity teams his junior year.
That season he was voted the varsi
ty team’s most improved player.
The problem for Stelly was that
Benson had great players ahead of
him, such as J.R. Moore, who now
plays at Rhode Island, and Darren
Cooper, who now plays at the Uni
versity of Portland.
Don Emery, former Benson head
coach and current athletic director
at De La Salle North Catholic High
School, said Stelly understood his
role on the team.
“In high school, he was never a
star player,”
Emery said.
“He was a
hard worker
and has al
ways been
able to play
a role. That’s
what coach
es like
“Stelly gives me fits every time in
practice. He comes in and makes
guys work real hard, and he’s a
great player. I think he’s the No. 1
walk-on in the country. ”
Aaron brooks | Oregon guard
to see.”
Emery said Stelly didn’t start a
game in high school but showed
what he could do when he had time
on the floor, especially in his senior
season. For the second year in a
row, Stelly was named the team’s
most improved player.
Stelly said getting playing time
with the highly ranked Benson bas
ketball program was tough.
“Practice was more competitive
than any of our games, besides the
Jefferson games,” Stelly said.
“Everybody was going at each oth
er, and coach would say whoever
wins would start.”
Those experiences helped Stelly
as he was deciding to come to Ore
gon. He felt the educational experi
ence gained at Oregon outweighed
going to a smaller school to
play basketball.
He was part of a work study pro
gram his freshman year at the Uni
versity when he decided to take the
maintenance crew job. Stelly said he
really didn’t do much at the arena.
“The people here are pretty cool,”
Stelly said. “I really just hung out
and walked around for a couple
hours. It was cool to see the players,
and when no one was (at Mac
Court), I would come in and shoot.”
Spring term of his freshman year,
Stelly caught wind of a tryout for a
walk-on spot on the men’s team
and felt he had nothing to lose.
In fall term of his academic soph
omore year, Stelly received a call
from the coaching staff saying he
was on the team and that he need
ea 10 taiK to
head coach
Ernie Kent.
“He ex
plained how
it would
work and
how it
wouldn’t
call for big
minutes or
media attention,” Stelly said. “But he
told me I was on the team and that I
should make what I could of
the opportunity.”
He made his Oregon debut on the
floor at the Pape Jam in 2002 and said
he was surprisingly not nervous.
“I didn’t get a chance to get nerv
ous,” Stelly said. “He called me in,
and I was like, ‘Uh.’”
“You’re surprised once you get in
the game how easy it is ... because
it’s just basketball.”
And that’s what this experience is
about for Stelly — just basketball.
Basketball is something he works
hard on, but it’s just something he
does while he finishes school in
stead of the other way around.
“I want to get into teaching and
coaching,” Stelly said. “I just want
to spread knowledge of not just the
game, but life knowledge as well.”
claytonjones@dailyememld.com
Women: Stanford top in Pac-10,
Oregon sits right behind in second
Continued from page 13
all that we can to secure a spot in
the (NCAA) tournament.”
Meanwhile, Stanford has already
clinched its fifth-straight Pac-10 title
and an invitation to the Big Dance.
“They really are firing on all pis
tons,” Smith said of Stanford, which
now has senior guard Susan Bor
chardt back from injury. “They are
better than they were earlier in
me season.
“I think Su
san Borchardt
gives them that
third point
guard on the
floor. Her and
Candice Wig
gins seem to
really fuel off
of each other.”
“The weekend here against
the Arizona schools has just
given us the extra
encouragement to go out and
finish the season strong. ”
Gabrielle richards | Oregon center
Wiggins is another story.
She is the only freshman to be
nominated for the Naismith TVophy
this season, which honors the top
male and female collegiate basket
ball players in the country. The 5
foot-11 guard has been recognized
as the Pac-10 Player of the Week
twice, leads her team in scoring and
is second in the conference, averag
ing 17.4 points per game.
As a team, Stanford owns the best
scoring offense, field goal percentage
and rebounding average in the Pac
10. It is second in scoring defense and
three-point field goal percentage.
“They’re a very structured team,
and they do exactly what they’re
supposed to do,” Oregon senior for
ward Cathrine Kraayeveld said.
“But we play like that too.”
Smith said her team’s style of
play matches up well to Stanford’s
because both teams have an em
phasized inside-outside game.
“We like to use the skill of our
players and have our players be in
coniroi or
the game,”
Smith said.
For Oregon
senior point
guard Corrie
Mizusawa, a
native of
Lafayette,
Calif., two
wins for Ore
gon in the Bay Area will be a sweet
finish to her final season.
“We want to win both games this
week and go into the Pac-10 Tourna
ment confident with that second
seed,” Mizusawa said.
As the season nears its end,
Richards looked back on the final
months of a winning team.
“I think it’s flown by, especially the
past two months,” she said. “We’re
very excited to get to the end of the
season, but we don’t want to stop
playing — it’s kind of bittersweet.”
stephenmiller@dailyemerald.com