Washington 85 - Oregon 93

Aaron Brooks' peace offering to Ryan Appleby (both pictured here), was the only thing that Brooks was denied on Saturday.

Saturday's game also marked the first time Brooks and Washington's Appleby were on the same floor since Brooks was ejected from a Pac-10 Tournament game last season for intentionally hitting Appleby in the mouth with an elbow.

Brooks, who wrote a letter of apology to both Appleby and Washington coach Lorenzo Romar while in the locker room following his ejection, was given a two-game suspension for the blow, which included the Ducks' game in Seattle on Jan. 25. The Huskies won that game 89-77.

"He didn't want to shake my hand, that's on him," Brooks said. "I can't dwell on that. We had a basketball game to win."

Appleby's rejection before the game drew a loud reaction from Oregon's "Pit Crew" student section.

The Oregon guard and Seattle native scored 30 points to lead the Ducks (No. 24 ESPN/USA Today; No. 23 AP) to a 93-85 win against the reeling Huskies.

Only one regular season game left as the Beavers come to Eugene next Saturday (3 pm -TV OSN).

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Have You Acted To Save The Internet?

Ducks victorious over Cougars

Tajuan Porter (pictured) led # 24 Oregon (21-7, 9-7 Pac-10) to a 64 - 59 victory over #9 Washington St. (22-5, 11-4 Pac-10) last night in Eugene.

Porter scored 21 points and gave the Ducks just the jump start they needed as the season winds down and the NCAA selection committee begins to focus on possible candidates for The Big Dance.

Porter made four of six 3-pointers, moving within four 3-pointers of tying the Pac-10 freshman record of 82 set by UCLA's Jason Kapono in 2000.

Aaron Brooks finished with 16 points and six assists.

Oregon's record is its best after 27 games since the "Tall Firs" team that won the NCAA championship went 22-5 in 1938-39.

"Our locker room is on fire down there, and maybe this is the win we need to kind of energize us coming down the stretch," Kent said.

Washington comes to Mac Court on Saturday (7:30pm TV_FSN) after losing to the Beavers last night in Corvallis, 73 - 65 (ouch).

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Stanford buries Oregon 88-69

Brook Lopez scored a career-high 26 points and keyed a big second-half run that helped Stanford beat Oregon (No. 17 ESPN/USA Today; No. 15 AP) for the 21st consecutive time at Maples Pavilion, 88-69 Saturday night.

Oregon (20-7, 8-7) has lost six of eight games overall and will try to recover with three home games to end the season.

Aaron Brooks scored 25 points for Oregon, but most of them came after the game was decided. Tajuan Porter (pictured) added 20, including 16 in the first half.

Washington St. will be in Eugene on Thursday (8:00 pm - FSN) and then Washington enters the Pit on Saturday (7:30pm - FSN).

At this point it pretty much boils down to "do or die" time for the Ducks. It would be a shame to let this season go down the tubes with the great start the team had this year.

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SOLD!

For those of you who have been following my personal Hatfield & McCoy story, a fellow who lives off of Coburg Road purchased the hot tub late yesterday afternoon. I will be working all day with him taking it apart and moving it to his house. If you feel up to the challenge and would like to help just give me a call.

Cal snaps six-game losing streak, upends slumping Ducks

When Oregon erased California's eight-point halftime lead in the opening minutes of the second half Thursday night and built a lead of its own, the game looked like a repeat of the first meeting between the teams.

Then Ryan Anderson delivered the big plays Cal has lacked in recent weeks. Anderson's three-point play with 1:01 remaining helped the Golden Bears snap a six-game losing with a 63-61 victory over No. 15 Oregon.

Cal (13-12, 5-8 Pac-10) held Oregon (20-6, 8-6) scoreless for the final 4:31 of the game -- including misses by Bryce Taylor and Chamberlain Oguchi in the final seconds -- to win for the first time since Jan. 18 at Oregon State and the first time in eight games this season against ranked opponents.

The Ducks didn't score for the final 6:08 of the half and Joevan Catron's layup was their only basket in the final 9:23. On their final 10 possessions, the Ducks committed three turnovers, missed seven 3-pointers and didn't shoot a single shot from inside the arc.

"I don't even think you can explain it," Hairston said. "That's bad basketball."

The Ducks need to finish the regular season with some wins to insure a good spot when it come time for the selection committee to set up the NCAA brackets.

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New Hampshire assistant will direct offense at Oregon

Chip Kelly, an assistant at Division I-AA New Hampshire for 14 years, has been named the new offensive coordinator at Oregon.

Kelly replaces Gary Crowton, who was Oregon's offensive coordinator for two seasons and installed the Ducks' spread-option offense. Crowton left for the offensive coordinator's job at Louisiana State.

Most recently Kelly served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Wildcats, who averaged 35.3 points per game and 401 yards of offense this past season.

"First of all, this is exciting because of everything I've heard about the football program at the University of Oregon," Kelly said. "It's just a dynamic place. Secondly, the opportunity to coach in the Pac-10, which I believe to be one of the top conferences in the country."

Kelly, 43, has been offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at his alma mater since 1999. His offenses have averaged more than 400 yards of offense for seven of the last eight seasons.

"My philosophy has been to coach an attacking style of football and stretch the defenses in as many different ways as you can," Kelly said. "You have to get the ball into the hands of your playmakers and let them operate in order to be successful."

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Oregon Names Kilkenny Athletic Director

University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer today announced Pat Kilkenny as his choice to lead the university’s athletic department.

“I selected Pat because he is clearly best able to provide an immediate impact to the University of Oregon athletic department,” Frohnmayer said. “Pat Kilkenny has had a very successful career leading a major private insurance agency, knows the University of Oregon intimately, has strong leadership skills, solid relationships with donors and supporters, and will hit the ground running to help make the Oregon athletics program one of the most successful in the country.”

Full article at GoDucks.com

I wonder how he gets along with Phil Knight?

Arizona 77 - Oregon 74

Oregon couldn't keep up with the Wildcats at crunch time this afternoon at Mac Court.

With just 26 seconds left Tajuan Porter sank a 3 pointer to give Oregon a 74-73 lead. Arizona responded when with 10 seconds left Ivan Radenovic made a 2 point jumper making it 75-74.

Aaron Brooks then brought the ball up. At the top of the key he gets called for charging when attempting to go around Chase Budinger.

It was a tough call against the Ducks and Brooks in particular. Budinger went on to make both free throws resulting in the final score.

Four Ducks were in double figures. Bryce Taylor had 18 points followed by Leunen with 17, Hairston 13 and Porter 12. Brooks was held to just 6 for his second off day in as many games.

Down to the Bay area next week to take on Cal, Thursday (7:30 pm - no tv) and then on Saturday at Stanford, (5 pm - OSN).

Brooks will need to regain his confidence for the Ducks to close out games down the home stretch.

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Arizona St. 51 - Oregon 55

Tajuan Porter helped Oregon survive a rare off night by star guard Aaron Brooks.

The freshman point guard scored 24 points to lead the Ducks (No. 15 ESPN/USA Today, No. 13 AP) to a 55-51 win Thursday night against a resilient Arizona State team looking for its first league win of the season.

Porter was 8-for-12 from the field with six 3-pointers as he scored his most points since breaking the Oregon single-game record for a freshman with 38 points against Portland State on Nov. 12.

"Tajuan stepped up," said Brooks of his 5-foot-6 teammate. "He played big today. He played 6-5 today."

Maarty Leunen added nine points and Malik Hairston had eight for the Ducks. Still, it was enough to give the Ducks (20-4, 8-4 Pac-10) their fourth 20-win season in 12 years under head coach Ernie Kent.

#24 Arizona comes to town on Saturday at 12:30pm (TV - ABC). Oregon will need to be sharper, have fewer turnovers and shoot the ball better to get a victory. Hopefully everyone will get on track.

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Oregon 68 - USC 71

USC held on to win todays game in what turned out to be very close in the final minutes. The Ducks had 2 chances in the last few seconds but missed both 3 point attempts by Oguchi and then Brooks.

Oregon shot a dismal 33% from the field compared to USC's 61%. The reason the Ducks even had a chance in this game was the second half defense and their tenacious rebounding the whole game.

Aaron Brooks led Oregon with 16 points followed by Tajun Porter with 15 and Malik Hairston with 14. Oregon falls to 3rd in the PAC-10 race and will be home next weekend to face Arizona St. on Thursday (5:30 pm - OSN) and then Saturday against Arizona (12:30 pm - ABC).

We need to kick some serious butt next weekend to get into a good rhythm for the final month of action.

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Bruins Take Round 2

Maarty Leunen scored nine points as the 9th ranked Ducks fell to #5 UCLA, 67-59 last night at Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA put together two strong halves and avoided the kind of collapse that cost the Bruins in their previous game. The Bruins' defense repeatedly shut down Oregon, with the Ducks coming up empty on field-goal attempts to start the second half.

Bryce Taylor scored 17 points to lead Oregon, off to its best record in 80 years. The Ducks' five starters came in averaging double figures, but Brooks was the only other player to do so with 14.

Oregon needs to come out strong on Saturday against USC (locally on KEZI @ 12:30 pm)to stay in the Pac-10 race. In all three of their losses, the Ducks have allowed opponents to shoot better than 50 percent from the floor. Defense will fuel an Oregon victory and earn them a split on this road trip. We'll see if they can pull it off.

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