Oregon Daily Emerald
Monday, February 28, 2005
“They talked about (former Oregon guard)
Freddie Jones smoking the wacky tobacky and Ian
0Crosswhite), calling him a big, dumb goof. ”
Coach Ernie Kent on comments Stanford fans have harassed Oregon players with in the past
■ In my opinion
CLACTON (ONES
SEVENTH INNING STRETCH
Players,
fans, can't
we all just
get along?
Banter between fans and players has
been a staple of college basketball
throughout the years.
Student sections get rowdy, and sure,
things are said that might not be con
strued as appropriate to say to a guest.
Most of the time it is considered part of
the atmosphere, and players take it with a
grain of salt.
But Stanford’s Chris Hernandez took ex
ception to comments made by members of
the Pit Crew and taunted them by point
ing and jawing toward the sea of yellow
after the Cardinal’s victory against Oregon
Saturday night at Mac Court.
“I just wanted to let them know, be
cause they had been talking all game,”
Hernandez said. “That’s just a friendly ex
change between the crowd, and I’ve al
ways liked playing here.
“This crowd, besides our own, is the
best crowd in the Pac-10.”
However, not all saw it in such a way.
When the teams were congratulating
each other after the game, Oregon head
coach Ernie Kent had a few choice words
for Hernandez.
“The thing I told to Chris was, ‘Chris
I’ve never seen that from a Stanford team
before,”’ Kent, a former assistant at Stan
ford, said. “He got a little heated up about
me saying that, but that’s okay. I felt like
that needed to be said and told him that
we wouldn’t ever do that at your place,
and we haven’t done it.”
Hernandez disagreed with Kent.
“Coach Kent got a little upset about it,
but his players have done that to our fans
before,” Hernandez said. “But he was up
set about (the taunting) for a reason. I
think he was upset about the loss as well.”
I don’t know, Chris, I would hope Oregon
wasn’t taunting the fans at Stanford when
they were pounded earlier in the season. In
fact, I hope they haven’t taunted a Stanford
crowd since 1986 — the last time a Duck
team has won at Stanford.
According to Hernandez, before Satur
day’s game started, Oregon fans were
making comments about the personal
lives of Stanford players and were tossing
things at them on the court.
“They were saying some derogatory
(comments),” Hernandez said. “If they
want to say something about us that’s fine
... They said some stuff about people’s
girlfriends and researched and said things
about some of our family members. Per
sonally, I think that is going a little too far.
“I think the throwing stuff is what sepa
rates our fans from theirs. ”
While Hernandez may have dug his
own grave by inferring that Stanford’s fans
are more classy than Oregon’s, I do agree
that personal attacks at players is going
over the line.
JONES, page 8
■ Men's basketball
Another disappointing loss
leaves Duck team deflated
Oregon can't convert final
shots and falls to Stanford
58-56 in final home game
BY JON ROETMAN
SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent and
Stanford’s Chris Hernandez engaged
in a heated exchange after Saturday’s
game at McArthur Court.
Hernandez responded to some ver
bal taunts from the Pit Crew by mock
ing fans after the game. Kent took ex
ception to this and decided to voice
his displeasure toward the Cardinal
point guard.
Other than that confrontation, it
was a game full of more of the same
for the Ducks.
Oregon (13-12 overall, 5-11 Pacific-10
Conference) choked away another po
tential victory amidst a cloud of missed
free throws, 18 turnovers and a score
less streak for the game’s final three
minutes and 39 seconds. These factors
combined equaled a 58-56 loss to Stan
ford in front of 9,087 spectators for the
Ducks’ final home game of the season.
The Cardinal (16-10, 10-6)
grabbed a two-point lead when for
ward Matt Haryasz dropped in an 8
foot floater with 14.1 seconds re
maining. Oregon had three chances
to tie or take the lead in the closing
seconds but couldn’t convert.
“We just ran one of our normal
plays (called) five up,” Haryasz said.
“I took a couple dribbles, then (Ore
gon forward Maarty) Leunen stepped
up, and I just let it go.”
After a timeout, Aaron Brooks got
the ball and launched a 25-foot
three-pointer from the left wing that
bounced high off the rim with about
seven seconds remaining. Malik
Hairston had a clear shot at the re
bound but missed a tip-in attempt
rather than coming down with the
RN
Tim Bobosky | Photographer
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent, left, gets into a heated exchange with Stanford point guard
Chris Hernandez (11) after the Cardinal’s 58-56 win Saturday at McArthur Court.
ball and trying to go back up again.
A scramble for the loose ball en
sued, leading to a jump ball and one
final possession for the Ducks with
1.9 seconds remaining.
However, Oregon failed to get a de
cent look as Brooks threw an off-bal
ance inbound pass to Hairston, whose
wild shot from the left corner drew
nothing but the top of the backboard.
Brooks said he thought about bounc
ing the ball off Hernandez’s back but
changed his mind at the last moment,
causing him to lose his balance.
“(Hernandez) wasn’t paying at
tention at all,” said Brooks, who was
noticeably distraught after the game.
“It was wide open, I just didn’t have
the guts to do it. At the end of the
game I kicked myself for it because
Malik wasn’t open.
“Maybe it would have worked, but
I didn’t want to chance it.”
Brooks carried Oregon late in the
second half, scoring seven of the
Ducks’ final eight points. The sopho
more finished with a team-high 14
points but dished out only three as
sists, while committing six turnovers.
Brooks has a 3-to-2 turnover-to-as
sist ratio during Oregon’s last four
MEN, page 8
■ Women’s basketball
Oregon coasts by California
with a 58-51 win in Berkeley
With Saturday's victory, Ducks secure grasp on the
No. 2 seed for the Pac-10 tournament next week
BY STEPHEN MILLER
SPORTS REPORTER
Seniors play a major role in helping
teams win games. The Oregon
women's basketball team can attest to
that after defeating California, 58-51,
at Haas Pavilion on Saturday.
The Golden Bears did not see the
same success as the Ducks this sea
son — even with five seniors on their
roster who were honored as part of
Senior Day following the loss.
“We have a special group of seniors
that we really wanted to win this
game for,” Cal head coach Caren
Horstmeyer said. “I thought the team
as a whole came out and played with
passion, fire and drive.”
Despite being outrebounded and
outshot by Cal, Oregon (19-8 overall,
12-6 Pacific-10 Conference) persevered
to secure the No. 2 seed in next week's
Pac-10 Tournament and finish tied for
second place in the conference with
Southern California and Arizona State.
“I'm very proud of this team, bounc
ing back from a loss to Stanford (on
Thursday),” Oregon coach Bev Smith
said. “We talked all along that this year
we have set ourselves up to always
have our destiny in our own hands.”
Senior Brandi Davis drilled a three
pointer at 16:19 in the first half to give
the Ducks an 8-5 advantage, and they
retained that lead for the remaining
36 minutes of it regular season.
Davis, who finished with 10 points,
sank a jump shot one minute into the
second half to give the Ducks their
largest lead of the game at 36-27.
With less than 10 minutes to play,
the offensive production stalled for
both teams.
Cal (10-17,4-14) started a 5-2 scor
ing run at 9:46 and cut its deficit to
three points when Cathrine
Kraayeveld nailed a shot from beyond
the arc with 2:32 on the clock to
bump Oregon’s lead to six, at 51- 45.
From then on, the Bears could not
close within a single possession.
“We got the looks that we wanted,"
Smith said. “They really jammed our
low-post players when we did get the
ball (inside). That three-pointer
Cathrine hit was a dagger to them.”
Oregon converted 3 of 12 shots from
three-point range in each half. Cal only
made 3 of 14 from long range in the
game but outrebounded the Ducks, 44
31, and shot 37.3 percent from the field
compared with Oregon’s 36.5 percent.
Kraayeveld notched a game-high 14
points along with five boards and four
WOMEN, page 8
GAME TIME
Mon. Feb. 28 -
Tues. Mar. 1
Men's golf
Oregon @ Cleveland Golf
Classic,.Westlake Village,
Calif.
Thu. Mar. 3 -
Sat Mar. 5
Softball
Oregon @ UNLV Rebel
Classic, Las Vegas
Thu. Mar. 3
Men’s basketball
Oregon @ USC,
7:30 p.m.
Fri. Mar. 4
Mon. Mar. 7
Women’s basketball
Oregon @
Pac-10 Tournament
Sat Mar. 5
Track
Oregon @ UW Last
Chance Qualifier
Women’s tennis
Oregon vs. Boise State,
12 p.m.
Men’s basketball
Oregon @ UCLA
5 p.m.
Sun. Mar. 6
Lacrosse
Oregon vs. UC Davis, 1 p.m.
GAME
SCORES
Fri. Feb. 25
Lacrosse
Denver 17, Oregon 12
Softball
Alabama 3, Oregon 0
Creighton 4, Oregon 1
Sat. Feb. 26
Softball
Oregon 3, San Diego State 1
Oregon 5, Florida Atlantic 0
Women's basketball
Oregon 58, California 51
UO: Kraayeveld 14 pts, 5 reb,
4 ast, 3 stl, 2 blk
UO: Forristall 12 pts, 8 reb
Men’s basketball
Stanford 58, Oregon 56
STAN: Haryasz 18 pts, 10 reb
UO: Hairston 12 pts, 12 reb
Men’s tennis
Texas Tech 4, Oregon 3
Women’s tennis
Arizona State 7, Oregon 0
Lacrosse
Northwestern 21, Oregon 2
Pac-IQ Scores
Men
Washington 93, Arizona 85
Washington State 57,
Arizona State 55
Oregon State 82,
California 63
Women
Stanford 84, Oregon State 41
Washington 64, Arizona 60
UCLA 80, USC 77
Arizona State 59,
Washington State 40