FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
A5
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021
COLLEGE
SPORTS
Ducks’ Ashford to
play 2 sports
EUGENE — Robby
Ashford is going to be
splitting his time be-
tween the gridiron and
diamond for the next two
months.
The Oregon sec-
ond-year freshman quar-
terback and outfielder
was recruited as a two-
sport athlete and Ma-
rio Cristobal and Mark
Wasikowski are going to
enable Ashford to make
that work.
Ashford spent the fall
dedicated solely to foot-
ball. With football winter
workouts under way and
baseball season about to
start, he’s spending the
majority of his time with
football and practicing in-
dividually to be prepared
for baseball.
“We’ve had detailed
conversation with coach
Cristobal and his staff, (of-
fensive coordinator Joe)
Moorhead, all the way
through Matt Noyer with
the operations stand-
point to make sure we’re
in compliance with rules,”
Wasikowski said. “Rob-
by’s a two-sport athlete;
he’s going to play foot-
ball, he’s going to play
baseball. It’s not just all
of a sudden he moves
over and he’s 100% base-
ball. He wants to be the
starting quarterback at
the University of Oregon
and he feel as though
he can do that. He wants
that opportunity. I want
to give him that oppor-
tunity.”
Ashford and Oregon’s
other quarterbacks threw
earlier this week to have
their velocity and revolu-
tions tracked.
Wasikowski said Ash-
ford playing in the out-
field makes it easier for
the baseball staff to work
with him individually and
he’s been doing so for a
couple of weeks.
“He’s still full-time
football,” Wasikowski
said. “He’ll be full-time
baseball as well, which is
going to take a lot of dis-
cipline and time manage-
ment on his hands with
the exception that he’s
not going to practice full-
time with the team like
our team practices. He’s
been impressive so far, re-
ally good kid.”
bendbulletin.com/sports
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Stretch
run
Ducks look to continue
seasonal success in February
BY CHRIS HANSEN
The (Eugene) Register-Guard
F
ebruary has traditionally been
a month that’s belonged to the
Oregon men’s basketball team
and there isn’t a team out there happier to
have January in the rearview mirror than
the Ducks.
Oregon played just four games in the first
month of 2021 and went 2-2 as it had two
long COVID-19 pauses and had five games
postponed.
Since the calendar flipped to February, the
Ducks (12-4, 7-3 Pac-12) have gone 3-1 and
have won three straight, continuing a trend
Josh Galemore/Arizona Daily Star via AP
that dates back to the 2017 Final Four season.
Arizona’s Terrell Brown Jr. (31) tries to block a shot by Oregon’s Chandler Lawson (13) on Saturday in Tucson, Arizona.
Oregon’s record in February through the Pac-12
Tournament in the four full seasons plus four games
since then is 37-14.
The reigning Pac-12 champions are back in the
thick of another conference championship race as
they’re in third place and just one game back in the
loss column in the Pac-12 standings. Southern Cal is
in the lead at 12-2 and UCLA is second at 10-3.
In fourth place is Colorado (16-6, 10-5), whom
the Ducks play at 8 p.m. Thursday in Eugene.
“Fortunately we’ve had something to play for ev-
ery year and so the guys have rallied around that
and been unselfish and we’ve found ways to get a
little better,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said of his
program’s history of late-season success. “I’m hoping
this group will be the same.”
“Fortunately we’ve had something to play for
every year and so the guys have rallied around
that and been unselfish and we’ve found ways
to get a little better. I’m hoping this group will be
the same.”
— Dana Altman, Oregon coach, on his program’s history
of late-season success
The Buffaloes are responsible for one of the
Ducks’ losses this season thanks to a 79-72 win in
Boulder on Jan. 7. It was a loss that snapped Ore-
gon’s eight-game winning streak while also keeping
it winless in 10 games all-time at Colorado.
MLB | SPRING TRAINING
Broken clubs behind him, Koepka
feeling better about his game
COLLEGE
BASEBALL
Beavs 4th, Ducks
7th in Pac-12 poll
— The Oregonian
See Ducks / A6
GOLF
— The Oregonian
In a poll dominated
by UCLA and the Arizona
schools, Oregon State is
picked to finish fourth
and Oregon seventh in
the Pac-12 coaches pre-
season baseball poll.
Oregon State gained
59 points to edge Stan-
ford by one point for
fourth place. Oregon had
47 points.
UCLA is the unani-
mous choice to win the
Pac-12, earning all 10
first-place votes and 100
points. Arizona, with 85
points, edged Arizona
State (83) for second
place.
UCLA won the 2019
Pac-12 championship.
The 2020 season was can-
celed before the start of
conference play due to
the pandemic.
Oregon State, under
second-year coach Mitch
Canham, kicks off its 2021
season Friday against
Kansas State in Surprise,
Arizona. Oregon’s season
opener is delayed until
Feb. 25 against Seattle.
The Ducks’ three-game
series against Omaha
that was to begin Friday
was canceled due to a
COVID-19 situation.
The Buffaloes dominated the Ducks on the
boards in that game, winning the rebound battle
40-29. Altman also lamented Oregon’s transition de-
fense as it allowed Colorado to score 26 fast-break
points.
“Those two things enabled them to score 79 and
beat us,” he said. “We’re going to have to do a better
job in those two areas.”
There’s a chance the Ducks could be without
starting forward Eric Williams Jr. for a second
straight game. The junior has been battling through
a sore knee that kept him on the bench in the 63-61
win against Arizona on Saturday.
Williams is averaging 11.3 points and 6.5 re-
bounds.
BY DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
Charles Rex Arbogast/AP file
Chicago White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito throws during a game against
the Detroit Tigers in Chicago in September.
Players return to
COVID protocols
BY STEVE MEGARGEE
Associated Press
One year later, players and
managers say they have a bet-
ter understanding of what it
takes to play baseball through a
pandemic.
Pitchers and catchers around
the game reported to spring
training Wednesday saying
they appreciate what’s at stake
as they try to make sure the
season starts on time. The pro-
tocols have been tightened
even further from what they
experienced during the abbre-
viated 2020 season.
“We’ve all gone through a
year of this, of living through
this,” New York Yankees man-
ager Aaron Boone said. “And
so I think we’re a little, much
better equipped of how to han-
dle ourselves, how to conduct
ourselves, how to make good
use of our time.”
New standards agreed to
by Major League Baseball and
the players’ association require
players, staffers and other team
personnel to wear electronic
tracing wristbands for ballpark
access.
See MLB / A7
LOS ANGELES — Brooks
Koepka is back at Riviera with
a healthy dose of confidence
from winning and the same
set of irons.
The latter illustrates some
of the frustration for a four-
time major champion who
was trying to get back to the
form that made him No. 1
in the world. He missed the
cut in Mexico to end the year.
He missed the cut in Palm
Springs to start the year. And
then he missed the cut at
Torrey Pines and was at his
breaking point.
Instead, he broke his clubs.
Twice.
“I snapped two sets of irons
after playing Mexico and
then after Torrey, and I don’t
really do that,” Koepka said
Wednesday at the Genesis In-
vitational. “So there was quite
a bit of frustration, but at the
same time, you’ve just got to
stick it out. I felt like my pa-
tience is always there. It’s just
sometimes results take a little
bit longer.”
There are photos to illus-
trate what Koepka did to his
clubs, but those stay among
his posse. More than a snap
decision, this sounded as
though it involved some pre-
Ryan Kang/AP
Brooks Koepka tees off on the second hole during the Genesis Invita-
tional pro-am at Riviera Country Club on Wednesday in Los Angeles.
meditation.
“I did it at the house. I
wouldn’t do it so everybody
else could see,” Koepka said.
“It was in the living room. I
walked right into the house
and just (snapped it) right
over the knee.”
Winning doesn’t take care
of everything, but it goes a
long way. Koepka felt good
about his game at the Phoe-
nix Open, and winning with a
bold charge on the back nine
only affirmed what he was
thinking.
Now he’s at Riviera to face
the strongest field of the year
and a tournament feels as
prestigious as anything this
side of a major championship
or The Players Champion-
ship.
Some of that has to do with
the strength of the field. Much
of it has to do with Riviera,
among the best course players
will see all year, especially in a
week of dry weather and con-
ditions that are fast and firm
and get their attention.
Dustin Johnson, the No.
1 player in the world, also is
coming into Riviera off a vic-
tory.
He has no confidence is-
sues, no broken clubs.
See Golf / A6