Arizona Wildcats basketball: On student spirit, Nike swooshes, Ducks swishes
- Updated
Seen and heard at Matthew Knight Arena during Arizona's game against Oregon.
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
Everything about Saturday’s game screamed big-time.
It was the fifth sellout of the season at Matthew Knight Arena, with a crowd louder for any UA-UO game since the Ducks moved out of MacArthur Court, and the Pac-12 assigned well-regarded officials Verne Harris and Mike Reed to it.
ESPN beamed the game nationwide to a Saturday afternoon audience, while the marquee Pac-12 crew of Dave Pasch and Bill Walton called the action (with Walton wearing his classic tie-dye Pac-12 “Conference of Champions” T-shirt, of course).
Even Pasch, who also calls Arizona Cardinals football games, couldn’t help but get fired up.
“This is awesome,” Pasch said as the pregame atmosphere began to build Saturday. “It’s like some of the great Pac-10 games you used to see all the time, like Arizona-UCLA and Arizona-Stanford.”
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
Even with the high stakes of Saturday’s game, though, Oregon students lining up outside Matthew Knight Arena as late as 8:30 or 9 a.m. were still able to get the best seats along the sidelines.
Much of the time, it’s even easier.
“You can usually come out here an hour before the game and get the same spot,” said Alex Ballesteros, a freshman from Huntington Beach, California.
Then again, there is often rain to have to deal with while you’re waiting. And, as good as the Ducks are, there’s maybe not quite as much urgency within the UO basketball culture as there is during football season.
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
But all that’s not to say there was no spirit in the Pit Crew student section. The Ducks had four shirtless guys spell out the phrase “Go Ducks” and freshman Maxwell Tempell wore a banana suit to his fourth-row center court seat while carrying a sign asking to “Get Your Cats Spayed or Neutered.”
Then there was an eraseable white board held by one of the leaders of the Pit Crew that barked instructions for the students or just made statements from time to time.
At one point, it read: “Alternative fact: Bill Walton only talks about basketball on TV.”
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
While many Wildcat fans showing up at road games are UA grads who happen to live in the region where the game is played, Brian Kersten and two other friends went out of their way to attend UA’s games Thursday at OSU and Saturday at Oregon.
Kersten, a 2012 UA grad from Scottsdale, said they flew up from Phoenix to Portland and commuted to both Wildcat games from there. They spent Friday seeing the damp sites of Portland, where a near-freezing rain fell much of the time between Thursday night and Saturday night.
“The weather sucked, but it was fun checking everything out,” Kersten said.
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
While Arizona pulled out its “State Pride” uniforms, featuring red with copper numbering and stripes, it wasn’t easy to keep up with the Ducks.
Oregon featured its yellow uniforms, with large duck feathers flying up each side of players’ shorts, and wore warmup T-shirts saying “Thanx Aunt Penny," a reference to the wife of Nike boss and Oregon benefactor Phil Knight.
Early in warmups, some of the Ducks also wore mesh warmup tops labeled “Pit Crew” that were lined with trees. Most of the Pit Crew students wore the same shirts for Saturday’s game.
Gear appears so important to Oregon (and its recruits) that the first thing you see when descending the main elevator toward the floor and Oregon locker room is a glass cabinet containing three headless mannequins wearing Oregon basketball uniforms, while 10 different shoe types in various UO color schemes hang on individual pedestals against the wall.
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
16: 3-pointers made by Oregon on Saturday, in 25 attempts (64.0 percent).
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
27: Arizona’s margin of defeat, its biggest since BYU beat UA 99-69 at McKale Center in December 2009, Sean Miller’s first season.
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
40: Straight home games won by Oregon, which snapped UA’s 49-game home win streak last season.
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
"The crowd was great today. … with every 3, the crowd got louder. It was just a really good atmosphere." – Oregon coach Dana Altman
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- Bruce Pascoe
Everything about Saturday’s game screamed big-time.
It was the fifth sellout of the season at Matthew Knight Arena, with a crowd louder for any UA-UO game since the Ducks moved out of MacArthur Court, and the Pac-12 assigned well-regarded officials Verne Harris and Mike Reed to it.
ESPN beamed the game nationwide to a Saturday afternoon audience, while the marquee Pac-12 crew of Dave Pasch and Bill Walton called the action (with Walton wearing his classic tie-dye Pac-12 “Conference of Champions” T-shirt, of course).
Even Pasch, who also calls Arizona Cardinals football games, couldn’t help but get fired up.
“This is awesome,” Pasch said as the pregame atmosphere began to build Saturday. “It’s like some of the great Pac-10 games you used to see all the time, like Arizona-UCLA and Arizona-Stanford.”
- Bruce Pascoe
Even with the high stakes of Saturday’s game, though, Oregon students lining up outside Matthew Knight Arena as late as 8:30 or 9 a.m. were still able to get the best seats along the sidelines.
Much of the time, it’s even easier.
“You can usually come out here an hour before the game and get the same spot,” said Alex Ballesteros, a freshman from Huntington Beach, California.
Then again, there is often rain to have to deal with while you’re waiting. And, as good as the Ducks are, there’s maybe not quite as much urgency within the UO basketball culture as there is during football season.
- Bruce Pascoe
But all that’s not to say there was no spirit in the Pit Crew student section. The Ducks had four shirtless guys spell out the phrase “Go Ducks” and freshman Maxwell Tempell wore a banana suit to his fourth-row center court seat while carrying a sign asking to “Get Your Cats Spayed or Neutered.”
Then there was an eraseable white board held by one of the leaders of the Pit Crew that barked instructions for the students or just made statements from time to time.
At one point, it read: “Alternative fact: Bill Walton only talks about basketball on TV.”
- Bruce Pascoe
While many Wildcat fans showing up at road games are UA grads who happen to live in the region where the game is played, Brian Kersten and two other friends went out of their way to attend UA’s games Thursday at OSU and Saturday at Oregon.
Kersten, a 2012 UA grad from Scottsdale, said they flew up from Phoenix to Portland and commuted to both Wildcat games from there. They spent Friday seeing the damp sites of Portland, where a near-freezing rain fell much of the time between Thursday night and Saturday night.
“The weather sucked, but it was fun checking everything out,” Kersten said.
- Bruce Pascoe
While Arizona pulled out its “State Pride” uniforms, featuring red with copper numbering and stripes, it wasn’t easy to keep up with the Ducks.
Oregon featured its yellow uniforms, with large duck feathers flying up each side of players’ shorts, and wore warmup T-shirts saying “Thanx Aunt Penny," a reference to the wife of Nike boss and Oregon benefactor Phil Knight.
Early in warmups, some of the Ducks also wore mesh warmup tops labeled “Pit Crew” that were lined with trees. Most of the Pit Crew students wore the same shirts for Saturday’s game.
Gear appears so important to Oregon (and its recruits) that the first thing you see when descending the main elevator toward the floor and Oregon locker room is a glass cabinet containing three headless mannequins wearing Oregon basketball uniforms, while 10 different shoe types in various UO color schemes hang on individual pedestals against the wall.
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