Members of the Pit Crew began the chant with 6:20 left and Oregon leading, 98-60.
“Christensen! Christensen!”
It picked up again with the clock showing 3:46.
“I think it’s funny. I love it. I’m not going to lie,” Oregon senior Kristian Christensen said. “It gets me kind of pumped and ready to go. I’m like, ‘Come on coach, when are you going to put me in?’”
Thursday night, Christensen’s time came when Ernie Kent motioned for him at the 2:57 mark to replace Anthony Lever.
Christensen played the rest of the way and scored two points in Oregon’s 115-77 victory over Washington State at McArthur Court.
In his career, he had scored nine points heading into the game — all on threes — and was eager to record his first two-pointer.
Every time he touched the ball, the crowd would yell for him to launch it, but he said he tries not to force it. Then, with a minute remaining, his opportunity came.
“I got the ball up top, and I kept hearing all the people telling me to shoot it, and I was like, ‘Can I get it off?’” Christensen said. “Then, I thought, ‘No way,’ so I threw it to Jay (Anderson). Jay swung it really quick to James (Davis), who had back-cut on the bottom and then I back-cut from the top, and James somehow got it to me.
“Then I thought I was going to trick the lay-up again, but I finally got it in.”
As is evidenced by his detailed description of the action, Christensen’s mind thinks like a coach. His first year on the Ducks in 1997-98 was also Kent’s first year as a coach. Christensen was given the opportunity to walk on and hasn’t wasted his five years of sitting on the bench in the Pacific-10 Conference.
“I definitely want to coach,” said Christensen, who was voted the team’s most inspirational player in 2000. “That’s all I have dreamt about. I want to be a college coach for life.”
He is described by his teammates as the link between the coaches and the players. Often, Kent will talk to him to see get a pulse on his team, especially that of Chris Christoffersen.
Christensen and Christoffersen met at a basketball camp in Denmark in 1995. Two years later, Christoffersen came over from Denmark as an exchange student and lived with the Christensens while playing basketball at Nordhoff High in Ojai, Calif.
Christensen was a year older and walked on at Oregon and Christoffersen followed the next year. The two seniors still live with each other, along with Christensen’s little brother and Christoffersen’s girlfriend.
“That was always a huge wish list for both of us to be able to play college ball together,” Christoffersen said. “It’s worked out great. He’s one of the smartest guys on the team and everybody loves him.”
“How can you not like Kristian?” fellow senior Mark Michaelis said. “He’s a great guy. It’s a jewel that we have him. You don’t really notice him unless you’re in the program. He knows so much about the game.”
Now, the affable smile at the end of the bench has one final game left at Mac Court. His mother, Pia, will be flying up from California on Saturday to be there with her son as they honor the seniors before the game against Washington.
It’ll be an emotional time for the family as they celebrate a college career that began in tragic circumstances. A week before Christensen was to arrive at Oregon as a freshman in the fall of 1997, his father, Peter, passed away.
“That was a tough first year, but coach Kent and coach (Greg) Graham have really looked out for me,” said Christensen, whose father once played for the Dallas Cowboys. “They’ve helped me along. And this year, for the first time really, I’ve been able to get all the problems behind me and just have fun and enjoy it.”
He can even make fun of himself for situations such as his shot attempt against Oregon State last Saturday that nailed the side of the backboard and sent the bench into non-stop laughter. More than any game action, though, he’ll take with him the memories of being a part of the team.
“It’s finally hitting me that it’s coming to an end,” Christensen said. “This has been my family for so long.”
And he can’t wait to have his mother there by his side Saturday when he bids adieu to his faithful fans.
“It’s going to be amazing, but more so for my mom,” Christensen said. “She’s been put through so much. I’ve paid for my own school, taken out loans, just trying to get by.
“It hasn’t been easy for us, but it’s been worth it.”