Sophomore forward Ian Crosswhite averaged 9.3 points per game last season and 8 in Pacific-10 Conference play.
He scored a career high 22 against UCLA on Jan. 30 at Pauley Pavilion. He didn’t lead the Ducks in scoring that night — Luke Jackson had 27 — but he did in Oregon’s 90-81 win over Minnesota on Dec. 22, 2002 with 18 points.
Crosswhite was a key player during Oregon’s Pac-10 Tournament run last season and remains significant this season. He knew, however, that he needed to work on a few things during the offseason.
“Working on a right hand (shot),” Crosswhite said at the team’s media day last week. “Toward the end of conference play and post-conference, a lot of people were just sitting on my left hand.”
Crosswhite added that he also worked on his ability to shoot more accurately off of one dribble.
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said that Crosswhite has improved greatly over the summer. So much, in fact, that he may be one of the most improved players on the team.
“I call him new and improved, because, as a coaching staff, in our opinion, he probably operated at about 50-60 percent of his capacity or productivity last year,” Kent said. “I think with some changes he has made in his game, his work ethic, his focus, his determination, that right now at individual workouts we feel like he’s at 75-80 percent of his productivity. That’s really encouraging to us because we see that he is getting a lot of things done right now.”
Crosswhite is expected to anchor a cast of forwards and centers that is young, but has size and strength. Sophomore Matt Short and senior Jay Anderson are both returning, while redshirt freshman Adam Zahn and true freshmen Mitch Platt and Ray Schafer are battling for playing time.
Crosswhite, Short and Anderson as a group averaged 14.4 points per game last season.

Date change … get your tickets
The Ducks originally scheduled a game with Portland State on Dec. 1 at McArthur Court. That, however, was changed to the next day, Dec. 2. The game will start at 7 p.m. and will be shown on the Oregon Sports Network.
Oregon sold 5,709 season tickets this year, a 12 percent increase from the 5,119 sold last season.
Individual game tickets go on sale Friday, though there are limited numbers for all but one game according to Oregon officials.

Let the rebuilding begin
It’s not often that UCLA has to go through a rebuilding process. But that is just the task first-year head coach Ben Howland will have to undertake this season.
Steve Lavin was fired after last year’s 10-win debacle, and Howland — a Lebanon native — was brought in from Pittsburgh to help reestablish the Bruins.
“I’ve been at two other schools that were down and out (Northern Arizona and Pittsburgh), and I’ve built them both back up,” Howland told the Daily Bruin last week. “I have a good background to rebuild the program. We have only one direction to go — that’s up.”
Senior T.J. Cummings is expected to return to the lineup, while Howland has a more-than-capable point guard in Cedric Bozeman.
“I think we can be competitive,” Howland said. “It was not a fun season to be a part of for these kids last year. They’re all used to winning, so they’re going to be willing to prepare and work hard.”
The Bruins host Vermont on Nov. 29 at Pauley Pavilion in the first game of the 2003-04 UCLA season.