Author Archives | Shawn Medow

Brittany McPhee’s marvelous second half downs Oregon 78-65

At halftime of the game against No. 25 Stanford, No. 6 Oregon, which led 41-32, knew what to expect in the second half.

“We actually called that at halftime,” Oregon head coach Kelly Graves said. “We said, ‘No. 12 is gonna come out ‘cause she didn’t do much in the first half.’ We figured that she was gonna do what she did.”

Graves was right as Stanford’s Brittany McPhee put up 31 second-half points to finish the game with a whopping 33 total points as Oregon fell 78-65 to the Cardinal, who are now tied with the Ducks in first place in the Pac-12. The loss is Oregon’s first defeat in the 21 games which the Ducks have led at halftime this season.

“It was a quiet locker room, I can tell you that,” sophomore guard Sabrina Ionescu said. “So I think we’re gonna let this hurt a little bit but tomorrow we’re coming to practice and we’re gonna get ready for the Washington schools, and they’re gonna give us their best games as well so we’re gonna put this game behind us maybe, you know, in a few hours — a few days actually.”

McPhee’s stellar performance is reminiscent of Oregon’s loss to Mississippi State in December, which saw the Bulldogs’ Teaira McCowan and Victoria Vivians score 35 and 30 points, respectively.

Oregon started fast and took a 9-0 lead. The tempo was set largely by Ionescu, who was driving to the basket, pulling up for 3s and bringing down rebounds. But, the Cardinal rallied back to grab the lead by the end of the first quarter.

Oregon bounced back in the second to take the lead at half but following the intermission, it was all Stanford.

The Ducks shot 50 percent at halftime, while the Cardinal shot at 38 percent. By the end of the game, Oregon’s shooting percentage dropped to 40 while Stanford climbed to 47 percent.

Part of that drop off included Ruthy Hebard, who scored all of her 16 points in the first half. Hebard snagged eight rebounds but one attempted shot in the second half stifled Oregon’s presence in the paint.

“I think our team just had to be reminded this is what she likes to do and we need to do something about it,” Stanford head coach Tara VanderVeer said. “I think we worked harder to not let her get in deep, get her spot. I thought Brit did a really nice job of doubling and trying to make other people make shots.”

Ionescu, who led the Ducks with 22 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, says she and the guards should take some of the blame for Hebard’s quiet second half. The only Ducks to score were the starting five.

Now the Ducks have to respond ahead of a trip to play Washington and Washington State.

“We’ll shake it off,” Graves said. “We lost to Oregon State a few weeks ago and turned right around and played one of the best games we played all year two days later. … We’ve shown the ability to bounce back.”

Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow

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Breaking: Report of armed suspect on Kincaid and E. 13th Ave.

Early Sunday morning, Eugene Police Department and UOPD responded to a call of a reported armed suspect inside a black pickup truck.

EPD and UOPD stopped the truck on Kincaid St. between E. 13th Ave. and E. 14th Ave. near Taylor’s Bar & Grill. UOPD Sergeant Jared Davis said the scene was cleared by police and patrons at the nearby bars were able to remain on the premises.

Five EPD cars and one UOPD car were at the scene. Sergeant Davis said that EPD would be the primary agency conducting the investigation.

This post will be updated when more information becomes available.

Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow

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Carbon monoxide alarm causes The Patterson apartment evacuation

Alarms at The Patterson Apartments went off in the early afternoon on Sunday after detections of carbon monoxide in the building. Residents were evacuated and the Eugene-Springfield Fire Department is going through the building to check for residents who did not evacuate.

Residents stood in the outside The Patterson apartments, located at E. 13th Ave. and Patterson St after the fire alarm went off.

Eugene-Springfield Fire Department responded to a carbon monoxide detection at The Patterson apartments on E. 13th Ave and Patterson on Jan. 28, 2018. (Shawn Medow/Emerald)

Resident Noah Andrews said that an hour before the evacuation, the parking garage was dusty and “it smelled like somebody had been leaf blowing.”

Eugene-Springfield Fire Department Battalion Chief Ben Meigs said that they responded to reports of a natural gas leak and that they were conducting extensive air monitoring. Meigs said it is believed that leaf blowers that give off carbon monoxide fumes used in the building’s underground garage are what caused the alarms to go off after the fumes rose to dangerous levels.

Meigs said the department pulled the fire alarm and would go through the building systematically one floor at a time to check for residents. He said that it can take between five and 10 minutes to go through each floor because they only had one key.

Carbon monoxide is odorless and tasteless, according to Meigs, and can be a problem because one would “never know that you’re breathing it.”

Two engines, two trucks, two EMS trucks and one ambulance were on the scene. Meigs said that the response is standard for a high rise alarm.

The Fire Department set up fans at the doors and stairwells to circulate the air in the building.

The Patterson apartments (Google Maps)

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Report: Hannah Cunliffe leaves Oregon track and field team

Oregon track and field sprinter Hannah Cunliffe has left the team, according to the Oregonian’s Ken Goe.

Cunliffe, who was the 60-meter national champion last year, has not competed for the Ducks in either of the team’s two meets this indoor season. Cunliffe would be a senior this year.

According to the Oregonian, Cunliffe is not registered for classes, but as of Sunday morning, she is still listed on the team’s roster on goducks.com.

Oregon track and field head coach Robert Johnson told the Oregonian via text, “want to support Hannah in her dreams of being a pro.”

After transferring from Oklahoma following her freshman year, Cunliffe was named the 2016 women’s Pac-12 track and field athlete of the year and 2017 USTFCCA women’s indoor track athlete of the year while with Oregon.

The three-time Pac-12 champion and four-time All-American is not alone to leave the team prior to graduation. Sprinter Deajah Stevens and 2017 Bowerman Trophy winner Raevyn Rogers left the team after last year to turn professional.

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Strong first half saves Oregon from second half lapse as Ducks beat Beavers 66-57

Payton Pritchard drove to the basket between three Oregon State players, and while tossing up a layup that kissed off the glass and went in, he was fouled. Before heading to the free throw line, he let out a yell. Excitement. Joy. Relief.

After Oregon went on a 27-4 run in the first half, the Ducks’ 41-25 halftime lead diminished in the second half as Oregon went 6-of-24 from the field. But, the Ducks (14-7, 4-4) hung on to win the 350th edition of the men’s basketball Civil War, 66-57.

“I complimented them on shot selection [at halftime], then to start the second half we take three really quick, bad 3s and never really got that same rhythm offensively that we got in the first half,” head coach Dana Altman said.

The first half featured a nearly perfect performance from Elijah Brown, who was 4-of-4 shooting and 3-of-3 from 3-point range. However, he finished the game 4-of-10 while making 9-of-9 free throws to total 20 points on the night.

“When Elijah hits his shots, I think that’s when we’re at our best,” forward Paul White said. “A lot of people are able to make plays for each other and the floor can open up more so he really helped us today.”

From 6-of-10 shooting, White tied his career high 17 points while he turned the ball over on three occasions.

“I thought he did a good job especially in the first half, of taking the ball to the basket,” Altman said. “If it wouldn’t have been for those turnovers, he really had a good ballgame.”

Elijah Brown was a big part of the Ducks’ first half run, but some explosive plays from his teammates kept Oregon’s momentum going.

Victor Bailey drove to the baseline, stopped and dished it inside the key to Kenny Wooten, who collected the pass, took a step forward and leaped for a one-handed dunk with his right hand to give the Ducks a 23-11 lead.

Pritchard only shot the ball once in the first half. Instead of going for the baskets himself, he was finding his teammates, aiding the Ducks’ 65.2 percent shooting first half.

“I was just getting teammates the ball, getting people going,” Pritchard said. “I just let the game come to me. I’m not going to force anything but if I see a lane I’m gonna take it. Guys are hitting shots and we got up by 16 so I didn’t really see a need for me to get super aggressive and take a shot that wasn’t there.”

The win was the first time the Ducks kept a team under 60 points since Oregon’s 114-56 win over Alabama State in November.

Oregon forced 12 total turnovers from Oregon State, nine of which came in the first half.

“Throughout all week of practice, we were just really talking about taking away their easy baskets, contesting shots, running them off the 3,” White said. “Once we were able to do that, they kind of gave us some gift baskets.”

The Ducks’ shift their focus to the Bay Area as Oregon gears up for matchups at California and Stanford on Feb. 1 and Feb. 3, respectively.

Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow

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Report: Cort Dennison to be Oregon’s outside linebacker coach

Oregon is set to hire former Washington linebacker Cort Dennison to coach the outside linebackers, according to Cardinal Authority.

Dennison, who was Louisville’s linebacker coach and recruiting coordinator, was a linebacker for Washington from 2007-11, redshirting his 2007 season. He started at Louisville in 2014 as a defensive graduate assistant before becoming an inside linebacker coach.

Prior to his time at Louisville, Dennison worked at Western Kentucky. While Dennison was Louisville’s inside linebackers coach, the Cardinals went 17-9 over the course of the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

The Ducks, now under the helm of Mario Cristobal, have been adding coaches to the staff following the exit of Willie Taggart to Florida State. Taggart’s exit saw several former Oregon assistant coaches follow Taggart to Tallahassee.

Dennison is the eighth coach on Oregon’s staff, and he is also the youngest.

Last season, defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt coached the inside linebackers while Raymond Woodie coached the outside linebackers. Woodie is one of the coaches who followed Taggart to Florida State.

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Ducks team play vital in UCLA win

In the first half of Oregon’s 90-87 win over UCLA, the Ducks showed the best glimpse of team play all season when all five players on the court combined to set up a Troy Brown 3-pointer from the corner.


“We work on it in practice,” forward MiKyle McIntosh said. “Just gotta make sure we make the extra pass, and getting people open and understanding that it’s a team and not just individuals. Any way we can get our teammates a bucket is the best way we can go.”

With only one returning player who played significant minutes in the Ducks’ 2017 Final Four run, teamwork has been difficult to generate for Oregon this season. The Ducks’ strong team performance carried them to the finish line after they came close to losing, despite possessing an 18-point lead in the second half.

Oregon moved the ball with precision, never turning it over in the first half. The Ducks’ offense worked against UCLA’s defense like it was a practice drill.

“We did a great job of it when we were at Arizona, Arizona State,” McIntosh said. “I think we just gotta get back to our ball movement because our ball movement was amazing over there and I think our team played a lot better when we pass the ball a lot.”

Oregon has relied on different players throughout the season to have big games. From Payton Pritchard to McIntosh to Elijah Brown, multiple Ducks have been forced to step up individually to grind out wins.

Against UCLA, the scoring came with a bit of variety as four players scored 17 or more points. Pritchard led the way with 25, including several free throws late in the game to hold onto the win.

“He’s been shooting the way we knew he could,” McIntosh said of Pritchard. “He was shooting the ball very well in the summertime. We see him as a shooter so he’s just doing his job and hitting shots. Sometimes it goes in and sometimes it doesn’t. Right now, his shot is hitting.”

The teamwork didn’t solely come on the offense, but came in clutch for the defense late in the game as Oregon’s lead thinned. Oregon’s defense fouled strategically to send UCLA players to the line rather than allow the Bruins to attempt 3-pointers to tie the game.

The Ducks narrowly out-rebounded UCLA 31-29, improving Oregon’s record to 12-1 when out-rebounding opponents. Six different players had rebounds for the Ducks’ win.

With a young team, Oregon’s inexperience became apparent late as UCLA started to climb back, but the Ducks’ resilience kept them on top.

“I looked out one time and we had Kenny [Wooten], Troy [Brown] and [Bailey Jr.] out there for a long time and that’s usually not a formula for success, you know, having three freshmen out there against a vet team,” head coach Dana Altman said. “Gotta be careful about getting too many freshmen out there in conference play, but we’re late in January, they’re gonna have to play in some.”

Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow

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Ducks team play vital in UCLA win

In the first half of Oregon’s 94-91 win over UCLA, the Ducks showed the best glimpse of team play all season when all five players on the court combined to set up a Troy Brown 3-pointer from the corner.


“We work on it in practice,” forward MiKyle McIntosh said. “Just gotta make sure we make the extra pass, and getting people open and understanding that it’s a team and not just individuals. Any way we can get our teammates a bucket is the best way we can go.”

With only one returning player who played significant minutes in the Ducks’ 2017 Final Four run, teamwork has been difficult to generate for Oregon this season. The Ducks’ strong team performance carried them to the finish line after they came close to losing, despite possessing an 18-point lead in the second half.

Oregon moved the ball with precision, never turning it over in the first half. The Ducks’ offense worked against UCLA’s defense like it was a practice drill.

“We did a great job of it when we were at Arizona, Arizona State,” McIntosh said. “I think we just gotta get back to our ball movement because our ball movement was amazing over there and I think our team played a lot better when we pass the ball a lot.”

Oregon has relied on different players throughout the season to have big games. From Payton Pritchard to McIntosh to Elijah Brown, multiple Ducks have been forced to step up individually to grind out wins.

Against UCLA, the scoring came with a bit of variety as four players scored 17 or more points. Pritchard led the way with 25, including several free throws late in the game to hold onto the win.

“He’s been shooting the way we knew he could,” McIntosh said of Pritchard. “He was shooting the ball very well in the summertime. We see him as a shooter so he’s just doing his job and hitting shots. Sometimes it goes in and sometimes it doesn’t. Right now, his shot is hitting.”

The teamwork didn’t solely come on the offense, but came in clutch for the defense late in the game as Oregon’s lead thinned. Oregon’s defense fouled strategically to send UCLA players to the line rather than allow the Bruins to attempt 3-pointers to tie the game.

The Ducks narrowly out-rebounded UCLA 31-29, improving Oregon’s record to 12-1 when out-rebounding opponents. Six different players had rebounds for the Ducks’ win.

With a young team, Oregon’s inexperience became apparent late as UCLA started to climb back, but the Ducks’ resilience kept them on top.

“I looked out one time and we had Kenny [Wooten], Troy [Brown] and [Bailey Jr.] out there for a long time and that’s usually not a formula for success, you know, having three freshmen out there against a vet team,” head coach Dana Altman said. “Gotta be careful about getting too many freshmen out there in conference play, but we’re late in January, they’re gonna have to play in some.”

Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow

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Oregon women’s basketball up to No. 7 in AP Poll

Oregon women’s basketball moved up one spot in the AP Poll to a record-high No. 7 on Monday after wins against Arizona and No. 18 Arizona State on the weekend, extending the Ducks’ win streak to nine games.

The Ducks (17-2, 6-0) are joined by four other Pac-12 teams in the poll: UCLA (13), Oregon State (18), California (21) and Arizona State (22). Oregon’s perfect start in Pac-12 play adds onto a season that has seen the Ducks lose only twice, once to now No. 2 Louisville and once to now No. 3 Mississippi State. Both teams were ranked No. 5 at the time.

Oregon will face Oregon State in back-to-back games this weekend. The Beavers, which climbed from No. 22 to No. 18 in the latest poll, will be the second team to play the Ducks twice — Oregon played and beat Texas A&M twice during nonconference play.

Approaching the halfway point of the Pac-12 slate, Oregon is playing some of its better basketball of the year without many hiccups.

The Ducks still play the rest of the Pac-12 at least once, the Beavers are the one exception with the two games this weekend. Oregon will hope to stay hot for the remainder of the season and through the Pac-12 tournament to earn a high seeding in the NCAA Tournament.

Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow

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Despite bright spots in defense, Oregon unable to stop Cedrick Wilson

LAS VEGAS — Before Oregon and Boise State took the field in the Las Vegas Bowl on Saturday, Broncos wide receiver Cedrick Wilson said that he was cautious of the Ducks’ secondary.

“We see they have a lot of speed and their secondary is probably one of the biggest we’ve played this year,” Wilson said at Friday’s press conference. “… I think it’s just going to come down to who’s going to make the most plays.”

Wilson was the one who made the biggest plays in Boise State’s 38-28 win over Oregon, earning him MVP honors for his 10-reception, 221-yard and one-touchdown performance. He whizzed by the Ducks’ secondary for four plays over 25 yards, including a 65-yard reception.

“He’s a good football player, a good athlete certainly,” Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal said. “He does a lot of things. Very dangerous and made some big plays today in critical situations, changed the game when we had opportunities to get off the field so he’s a really good football player.”

For an Oregon defense that came away with two interceptions — both inside the Ducks’ own end zone — and a fumble recovery inside the red zone, Wilson was its kryptonite.

Freshman Thomas Graham Jr. was tasked with defending Wilson, but the senior from Memphis, Tennessee, was too much for Graham Jr. to handle.

“I try to do the best that I can to let my teammates know where he was on the field but he’s one of those players where you can move him anywhere and they’re going to feed him the ball,” Oregon senior safety Tyree Robinson said. “He did a good job at attacking our weaknesses and we just gotta play better and play more tougher.”

One of Wilson’s big plays was late in the game when the Broncos were up 10 points on 3rd-and-7. The Ducks called a timeout and Boise State took a chance on a long ball.

“We were just talking in the huddle that we were going to take a shot and [I] don’t think they were expecting it,” Wilson said. “Brett [Rypien] threw almost a perfect ball. I couldn’t have asked for a better one and it was my job to catch it and that’s what happened.”

Wilson caught a 41-yard pass from Rypien and that sealed the win for the Broncos in what was a special night for Wilson, whose career began at a junior college before he made the transfer to Boise State.

“When I first went to JUCO I set out a goal for myself and it was to get here and perform on this stage,” Wilson said. “And that’s what I did.”

Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow

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