In the long shadow of the Oregon football team playing in the Rose Bowl, the Oregon women’s basketball team will open the Pac-10 Conference season against Washington at 7 p.m. today at McArthur Court.
Largely, the football game and women’s basketball team will go on without each other.
The basketball team will start its hour-long shooting practice at 2 p.m. today, about 10 minutes before kickoff of the football game in Pasadena, Calif.; then there will be a pre-game meal from 3:15 to 4, and then the basketball team will report back to Mac Court by 5:30 to begin preparations to play.
“It will be a little window of ‘how’s the team doing, what’s going on, we’re up by a touchdown or whatever,’” coach Paul Westhead said Thursday. “They are keenly interested, as is everyone in this town, everyone in this state. But I have addressed them about issues like this — that we’re performers. It’s New Year’s Day and other things are going on, but our task is to perform at our best.
“They realize that.”
As Oregon guard Taylor Lilley put it: “For me personally, this is important to me. It should be important to our team. This is what we should be focusing on.”
What impact the Rose Bowl will have on attendance at Mac Court tonight will remain to be seen, but the football telecast will be over in time for basketball fans to make the tip-off.
“I guess you would think (attendance) would be down, but we do have loyal fans,” Westhead said. “I will say this: If our fans, or a good portion of them, are in town, they’ll be here. Obviously, if they went down to celebrate the football team in the Rose Bowl, they won’t be here. …
“I have some friends who live in the Pasadena area. They think they’ve been invaded; there are Ducks everywhere.”
The Ducks (9-3) haven’t played since they lost in overtime at Utah on Dec. 22. They took time off for Christmas and have spent the last five days practicing. They’re ready to play, minus reserve forward Lindsey Saffold, who suffered a concussion in Wednesday’s practice and has been ruled out for the opener.
The Huskies (5-5) also haven’t played since Dec. 22; they’ve won three of their last four, with the only defeat in that stretch a road loss to Michigan State. Washington’s leading scorer and rebounder is senior wing Sami Whitcomb, averaging 14 points and 6.1 rebounds.
“We know they have some good inside strength …,” said Westhead, on the verge of his first Pac-10 game. “I think they’re going to be a real challenge to us. I’ll know more about this league as I start going through it, but it looks to me that there’s a cluster of teams that on any given night can beat each other.
“Everybody talks about the one or two standouts that you’re going to have trouble beating — Stanford, as an example. But for the most part this looks like a league that if you show up, you better be ready to play, because you’re not that much better than anyone, or that much behind the eight-ball that you can’t win.”
Lilley said the Ducks are eager for league games to begin.
“I would say we have that quiet confidence, in a way,” she said.
“We see the potential in us, especially with this past week. I think we’re ready for this game, and this is what we’ve been waiting for.”
UO woMEN VS. WASHINGTON
Oregon (9-3, 0-0)
Amanda Johnson, 6-2, So. (15.3 ppg, 10.0 rpg)
Victoria Kenyon, 6-2, Jr. (6.7 ppg, 5.7 rpg)
Micaela Cocks, 5-8, Sr. (14.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg)
Taylor Lilley, 5-6, Sr. (14.9 ppg, 2.8 rpg)
Nia Jackson, 5-7, So. (8.8 ppg, 4.1 apg)
Washington (5-5, 0-0)
Mackenzie Argens, 6-3, So. (6.6 ppg, 3.4 rpg)
Regina Rogers, 6-3, So. (9.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg)
Sami Whitcomb, 5-10, Sr. (14.0 ppg, 6.1 rpg)
Kristi Kingma, 5-10, So. (7.1 ppg, 3.2 rpg)
Sarah Morton, 5-8, jr. (5.2 ppg, 2.5 apg)
Time: 7 p.m.
Radio/TV: KUJZ-FM (95.3)/No TV.
Tickets: Coupon for two reserved tickets for the price of one available at Jerry’s Home Improvement; Mac Court ticket office opens 90 minutes before the game.
around the pac-10
Washington State (5-6) at Oregon State (8-2): 7 p.m. in Gill Coliseum. Not a good matchup for the Cougars, as the Beavers lead the Pac-10 in scoring defense, allowing only 49.9 points per game, and the Cougars are last in the league in scoring, averaging 61.3 points per game.
UCLA (7-4) at Arizona (6-4): Wildcats lost their last three nonleague games; two teams almost even in scoring average (67.2 to 66.6), but UCLA No. 2 in the league in defense, allowing just 53.5 points per game.
USC (6-4) at Arizona State (8-3): ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne is two wins away from 300; the Trojans are led by Ashley Corral, third in the league in scoring at 16.2 points per game.