NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Long after Oregon’s 60-58 loss to Utah in the NCAA Tournament’s opening round Friday, a small clutch of reporters huddled around Duck coach Ernie Kent in a corner of the Oregon locker room.
In the middle of the room, his hands supporting his head like it was an anvil, sat Luke Ridnour.
In another corner, Luke Jackson used the concrete for a crutch.
This wasn’t “Luke to Luke.” This wasn’t “Luke squared.” Friday afternoon in Nashville, it was “Cool (shooting) hand Luke.”
Ridnour, in what could be his final game at Oregon, went 3-for-13 from the floor and 0-for-5 from three-point land as the Utes focused their defense on Oregon’s star and the rest of the Ducks fell hard. Jackson, who also might have been playing his final college game, fared better, scoring a team-high 14 points and snagging seven rebounds. But the disappointment after the game was shouldered equally by both Lukes.
“You can’t fault one person for this loss,” Jackson said. “This was a team loss.”
Ridnour ended his season with a long list of impressive accomplishments. He finished first in Oregon season assists, tied for first in steals, third in points, third in free throw percentage and fifth in three-pointers made.
But all that is out the window now, as Ridnour is sure to remember the disappointing 13 points and five assists — both well below his season average — in the Ducks’ final game of 2003.
Ridnour was guarded for most of the night by Utah’s Marc Jackson, who was able to keep the Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year in check. He held Ridnour without a field goal in the first half, and the Oregon star didn’t hit his first bucket until almost seven minutes elapsed in the second frame.
“He had a tough ending to the season,” Kent said. “He’s done so many great things this season to get to this point, it just happened to end on a bad note.”
But once he got that first bucket, Ridnour heated up. He fed Matt Short for an easy bucket on the next possession, cutting Utah’s lead to five points.
Jackson also expressed disappointment that the season ended like the aftertaste of a Sour Skittle.
“I felt like we were getting good looks,” Jackson said. “This is just a tough way to end the season.”
Now, the two Lukes will face a barrage of attention in the next few weeks as they approach their decisions to enter the NBA or not. Both refused to speculate on their futures market, and Kent also said he won’t think about it for a while.
“I don’t want to speculate on that right now,” Kent said.
Just like the Ducks won’t speculate on what could have been, no matter how hard that might be.
Contact the sports editor at [email protected].