It’s only been 11 days on the calendar, but Oregon head coach Ernie Kent says that his team has matured greatly since it left the Bay Area Jan. 13 with two lopsided defeats.
And despite an up-and-down weekend at home with the Washington schools, Kent is confident that the Ducks (11-4 overall, 2-3 Pacific-10 Conference) will perform up to par on the road this weekend in Los Angeles.
“We will respond better because I think we’ve grown since our last trip as a team in some areas,” Kent said.
The road won’t be easy for Oregon, as the No. 22 USC Trojans await the Ducks on Thursday night, with 4-1 UCLA looming on Saturday.
The key areas of growth for Oregon were in its freshmen, according to Kent.
“The biggest thing is that young guys had an opportunity to play down there [in the Bay Area],” Kent said. “Luke Jackson has come a long way since and is a much better, more composed and more confident basketball player.
“Luke Ridnour will handle the environment different now going on the road in his second road trip.”
Oregon junior guard Freddie Jones wasn’t so quick to make the assessment that his team has grown. He sees improvement, but knows the challenge that this weekend presents.
“We’ll find out a lot on this road trip,” Jones said. “I mean, we really don’t know where we are until we get out there and face the crowd and the adversity again.
“So next week I can tell you whether we’ve grown up, or if we’re back in the same boat.”
A week ago at this time, Oregon was determined to beat Washington at home after falling to California and Stanford in a rather lethargic fashion. The poor play continued against the Huskies as the Ducks lost 72-71 in overtime in a game in which Oregon shot just 34.5 percent from the field.
The Ducks then held an encouraging meeting where players spoke about what needed to happen for them to return to the high level of play they had in December. The meeting seemed to help, as Oregon looked more poised and fluid in its victory against Washington State Saturday.
“It was a tale of two games,” Kent said of the home stand. “One game you saw a team that played a lot of individual basketball and wasn’t on the same page. And then Saturday you saw a team that had come back together and played well.
“Hopefully they can understand the difference.”

Big Chris making a big

presence
One of the biggest bright spots for the Ducks last weekend also happened to be their biggest player.
Junior center Chris Christoffersen, who towers over his teammates at 7-feet-2, scored a career-high 11 points in Oregon’s 81-66 victory against the Cougars.
The Roenne, Denmark, native was all over the floor, setting solid screens, grabbing key rebounds, blocking shots and taking it strong to the hoop on offense.
Christoffersen hasn’t played in five of Oregon’s 15 games this season, but when asked if he’ll play this weekend, Kent emphatically responded, “Oh yeah.”
“He changes the game,” Kent said. “Because of his size, people have a hard time matching up with him. He’s had two good practices this week on top of the games, so that’s encouraging to see.”
Sure enough, at the end of Oregon’s practice Tuesday, Christoffersen made his presence felt with back-to-back powerful dunks that brought a smile to the Great Dane’s face.
“I’m having a lot of fun out there,” Christoffersen said. “It’s always more fun when you have your confidence going and the coaches believe in you. I would like to think that I bring a togetherness to the team.”
Jones came into the program with Christoffersen as a freshman, and knows that there’s a lot of untapped potential in him.
“I know what Chris can do,” Jones said. “He’s a good player, and people don’t know that yet. When you play with him every day, you know the type of skills he has. He’s going to surprise a lot of people.”

Miller’s time to go
Washington State senior guard Eddie Miller, who was one of the six players suspended from last Saturday’s game with Oregon, has been dismissed from the team.
According to the Spokesman-Review, Miller was the “ringleader” in gathering five of his teammates and going out to Eugene’s Rock N’ Rodeo bar late Friday night after their hotel room had been checked by their coaches.
While at the bar, the six players — all dressed in Cougar sweats — were spotted by Oregon sports information assistant director Greg Walker. Walker, a former Washington State employee, called Cougars head coach Paul Graham to notify him.
“Given my history with the team, I felt obligated to tell Paul,” Walker said.
Graham cited a poor attitude toward team responsibilities as the main reason for taking the Cougars’ second-leading scorer off the team.
“After discussions with my coaching staff, we have made the decision that Eddie Miller’s basketball career at WSU is over,” Graham said. “Eddie is a senior and has been given several chances, yet has failed to demonstrate a commitment to the program.”
Washington State is 1-5 in the Pac-10 and 7-8 overall.