The city of Blaine, Wash., nestled next to the Canadian border, has a population of about 3,500. The Washington basketball team’s Bank of America Pavilion could hold the entire population of Blaine nearly three times over.
Tonight, they’ll try.
Blaine’s favorite son, Luke Ridnour, is returning to his home state for the second time this weekend as an Oregon star. For the sophomore point guard, that means a chance to see family and a heck of a lot of friends.
“I’m just excited to get back home,” Ridnour said.
And with the Huskies sliding, Oregon fans just might outnumber the Washington supporters.
“Maybe not,” Ridnour said with a smile Wednesday. “But there’ll be a fair share of Oregon fans there.”
Ridnour and the 19th-ranked Ducks (14-4 overall, 6-1 Pacific-10 Conference) will head to Washington with the goal of staying atop the Pac-10 standings, where they have been perched since last weekend’s conference games. With Southern California — the team co-leading the Pac-10 with Oregon — facing Bay Area foes Stanford and California, the Ducks could very well be playing for sole possession of the conference’s top spot.
On the surface, Washington seems like a team ill-suited to knock Oregon off its horse. The Huskies have lost nine of their last 10 games, and hold a 7-11 overall record, 1-7 in the Pac-10.
Washington State, Oregon’s opponent on Saturday, is worse. The Cougars are a dismal 4-12 overall and haven’t won a conference contest in eight tries this season. Dating back to last year, Washington State has dropped 12 of 13 Pac-10 games, with their only win coming against — surprise — Washington.
But beneath the surface lay two teams still capable of surprising an unwary conference foe, and the Ducks are preparing accordingly.
“Every game in the Pac-10 is big,” sophomore forward Luke Jackson said. “We need to go up there and take care of business.”
Jackson had a triple-double against Washington last season at the Bank of America Pavilion and was the Pac-10’s reigning triple-double holder until Arizona’s Luke Walton got one against USC on Jan. 17.
“I’ll just have to go out and get another one,” Jackson said.
Jackson will get his shot tonight when the Ducks face the Huskies in front of the Husky fans — and likely many more Oregon fans than usual, thanks to the little border town named Blaine.
“Our sport is different from football, where fans will make the trip to Washington,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “In basketball, even if it’s only 300 to 400 people, you will get the sense that there are some Oregon people there, and that will give you confidence.”
Oregon will take on Washington at 7 p.m. tonight and Washington State at 3 p.m. Saturday. Tonight’s game will be broadcast on the Oregon Sports Network, while Saturday’s game will be on Fox Sports Net.
E-mail reporter Peter Hockaday at [email protected].