Ducks Host Bears, Cardinal in Final Home Games
WHAT’S ON TAP . . . The Ducks close out the home portion of the 2004-05 schedule by hosting California on Thursday, Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m. at McArthur Court (9,087) and Stanford on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 4 p.m. Fox Sports Net will televise the Oregon-Cal game live nationally, while ABC returns to Mac for the second time this season for the Stanford game.
SENIOR DAY . . . Oregon will honor senior managers Kevin Christiana and Adam Hummel during a pregame ceremony on Saturday. Christiana, from Coos Bay, Ore., will graduate this summer with a degree in sociology, while Hummel, from Roseburg, Ore., will graduate next year. Both have served as student managers for the past four seasons.
QUICK HITS...A brief look at what to watch for Saturday:
* Rookie Production. After scoring 53 of Oregon’s 67 points last Thursday at Arizona (led by Malik Hairston’s career-high 21), Oregon’s six newcomers are now accounting for 50 percent of Oregon’s offense (36.0 ppg) and 43 percent of its rebounds (15.0 rpg).
* Motown Malik. Freshman Malik Hairston, from Detroit, Mich., has shaken an early January funk by averaging 14.8 points per game in the last nine. He recorded another career first -- a double-double (18 points, 11 rebounds) last Saturday at Arizona State.
* More Malik. Freshman of the year candidate Malik Hairston is second in the Pac-10 among freshman in scoring (13.3 ppg).
* Future Four. Oregon’s four true freshmen all scored in double figures to lead the Ducks to a 69-66 victory Feb. 12 over Washington State. Chamberlain Oguchi and Bryce Taylor both scored 12, while Malik Hairston and Maarty Leunen added 11. And it was Taylor’s short jumper with 1:01 remaining that put the Ducks ahead for good. See p. 4 for more on Taylor.
* Junior forward Ian Crosswhite has been dismissed from the team. See p. 4 for more.
* Jordania. Jordan Kent’s 19-point, 16-rebound performance Feb. 10 versus Washington marked the sophomore’s first career double-double and he flirted with becoming the first 20-20 player at Oregon since Greg Ballard had 41 points and 20 rebounds against California in 1977. The 16 rebounds was the highest by a Duck this season.
* Free Bird! Oregon attempted a school and McArthur Court record 54 free throws Feb. 10 against Washington (making 33). The previous school record was 51 (vs. Boston U., 12-9-88) and the old Mac record was 50 by Oregon (vs. Seattle, 12-7-74). The two teams also combined for 67 fouls, one shy of the Court record -- Washington’s 36 fouls was a Husky record.
* 20-20. When Aaron Brooks (21 points) and Malik Hairston (20 points) each scored 20 points Feb. 5 at Oregon State, it marked the first time Oregon had a pair of 20-point scorers in the same game since Jan. 2, 2004, at USC (Ian Crosswhite -- 22 points, James Davis -- 21 points).
* Numbers Game. Oregon’s starting five Feb. 5 at Oregon State and Feb. 19 at Arizona State wore the lowest numerical combination possible on their jerseys (0, 1, 2, 3, 4). The number 00 is also legal, though teams may not have both a 00 and a 0 on their active roster.
* For the Defense. Oregon has held 10 of its opponents below 40 percent shooting from the floor. Overall, the Ducks are allowing opponents to shoot 43.2 percent from the field. See p. 4 for more.
* The Taylor’s Tale. Bryce Taylor’s 26 points at Washington State on Jan. 15 was the fourth-highest scoring effort ever by an Oregon freshman. See p. 4 for more.
* An Extraa A for Effort? Freshmaan Maarty Leunen haas graabbed 10 rebounds three times this season -- twice in Paac-10 play. Despite averaaging under 20 minutes a gaame, Leunen is Oregon’s third-leading rebounder at 4.5 per gaame.
* Deep Bench. Oregon has played at least 10 players in 21 of 23 games this season (and 12 in 12 of the 23).
* Sophomore Topper. Aaron Brooks’ 34 points vs. USC (nine-of-13 shooting/four-of-seven from three-point range) matched Ron Lee for the highest single-game scoring effort by a UO sophomore. See p. 4 for more.
* Drive 55. Oregon’s 55-52 win Jan. 15 at Washington State marked the first time in Ernie Kent’s tenure that the Ducks won when scoring less than 60 points. Oregon had been 0-17 in those games under Kent prior to the win over the Cougars. The Ducks last won a game when scoring in the 50s Feb. 18, 1996 (55-52 vs. Washington).
* Sharp Shooting. Oregon hit 60.7 percent (34-of-56) from the field Nov. 27 against Marshall. That was Oregon’s best shooting effort since hitting 61.5 percent from the floor (43-of-68) Dec. 21, 2002, in a 115-77 win against Washington State.
* 50-50 Club. With 50 rebounds Nov. 19 against Idaho State, the Ducks recorded their first 50-rebound game since grabbing 54 against Pepperdine Dec. 14, 2001.
ABOUT THE 100TH SEASON . . . This is the 100th season (not year) of Oregon basketball. The first year the Ducks played basketball was 1902-03. There were three seasons the school did not field a team for various reasons (1904-05, 1908-09 and 1915-16). Please see p. 42 in the 2004-05 Oregon Media Guide for more details. The UO Athletic Department designed a special logo for the 2004-05 season, printed special commemorative season tickets, has a changing "flashback" feature in the game program, and will be conducting a series of on-line fan polls as part of the 100th season celebration.
TAYLORMADE . . . As mentioned on p. 2, Bryce Taylor has made some clutch shots for the Ducks as a freshman, the most recent being his short jumper with 1:01 remaining to put the Ducks ahead for good in the 69-66 Feb. 12 win over Washington State. After scoring a team-high 19 points Dec. 11 against No. 1 Illinois, Taylor hit a clutch three-pointer with 4:18 remaining Dec. 14 against Bethune-Cookman after the Wildcats had cut the Oregon lead to two. BCC never got closer. Dec. 18 at Fresno State, Taylor’s offensive rebound and put-back jumper with 0.8 seconds lifted the Ducks to an 83-82 non-conference road victory. With a two-point lead Dec. 31 against USC, Taylor hit a lay-in with 1:59 remaining to give UO the cushion to win the game. He then scored a career-high 26 points (six-of-eight three pointers) Jan. 15 at Washington State and followed that with 20 Jan. 20 against Arizona.
DEFENSIVE DUCKS . . . As mentioned on p. 2, Oregon’s defense has been the most reliable component of its game this season. The Ducks have held 10 opponents below 40 percent shooting from the floor. Lost among Oregon’s offensive woes against Arizona State on Jan. 22 was the effort at the defensive end. The 64 points scored is a season low for the Sun Devils. Oregon also limited player of the year candidate Ike Diogu to 10 points -- matching his career low. Oregon held its first four opponents this season below 40 percent from the floor. That marked the first time Oregon had done that in four straight games since 1992-93 against Alaska-Fairbanks (37.0, 12/9/92), Idaho (32.3, 12/12/92), Missouri-St. Louis (34.3, 12/19/92) and Pacific Lutheran (37.1, 12/21/92).
