EUGENE, Ore. — Latest news and notes from Arizona's contest against the Oregon Ducks in Eugene on Monday.
Tubelis wins Pac-12 weekly honor again
Thanks to Arizona’s Azuolas Tubelis, USC’s Evan Mobley has lost his stranglehold on the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors.
Tubelis won his second straight Pac-12 Freshman of the Week award Monday after helping lead the Wildcats to a home sweep of Washington State and Washington last weekend, having hit the game-winner against the Huskies while averaging 12.5 points and 12.0 rebounds in the two games.
Tubelis became only the second player this season to receive multiple Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors, with Mobley having taken six of them.
Tubelis collected 16 points and 15 rebounds against the Huskies while scoring nine points with nine rebounds in UA’s 69-53 win over WSU. He shot 44.4% over the two games and also blocked a combined three shots.
It didn’t appear to be a close call this time. Others nominated for the award included Stanford’s Ziaire Williams (13.0 points, 2.0 rebounds in two losses), WSU’s T.J. Bamba (13.0 points in two losses) and Utah’s Pelle Larsson (9.0 points, 2.5 rebounds in a split).
Meanwhile, Colorado’s McKinley Wright was named the Pac-12’s Player of the Week after averaging 20.5 points and 10.0 assists in the Buffaloes’ home sweep of UCLA and USC.
Wright is the seventh player in Pac-12 history to win at least six Player of the Week honors.
OSU’s Gary Payton holds the record with nine Player of the Week awards, while Arizona’s Chris Mills and USC’s Harold Miner won it seven times. Arizona’s Sean Elliott, Stanford’s Adam Keefe and UCLA’s Don MacLean also won it six times.
Quiet COVID-19 days
Pretty quiet afternoon in Eugene. pic.twitter.com/XEqrtdFM76
— Bruce Pascoe (@BrucePascoe) March 2, 2021
Downtown Eugene took on a mellow flavor late Monday afternoon, with food trucks only open for lunch hours, a few people dining or drinking on tables outside businesses despite pleasant weather and the normally busy “Sizzle Pie” pizza joint with nobody inside the ropes to line up for take-out.
Even the Eugene branch of the famed Voodoo Doughnuts, where the offbeat inside atmosphere is part of the show, is now offering curbside service. And while a downtown tea house claimed to be opening soon, the normally thriving Original Pancake House — known to be one of Oregon’s recruiting tools — remained closed.
“Due to the most current mandates set forth by Governor Kate Brown and the OHA (Oregon Health Authority), we will be temporarily closed until further notice,” the pancake restaurant’s website said. “We cannot wait until we can reopen our doors and serve you! Stay strong and healthy!”
But feelings of the era still made themselves known at least over at Sizzle Pie. On its windows was one white sign screaming in black letters “I CAN’T BREATHE,” while another said “Black Trans Lives Matter,” and yet another said “Rise and Resist.”
It’s Bill, right?
Can’t get close enough for a better photo but cutouts of Dave Pasch and Bill Walton are in the stands above the shooting Terrell Brown. pic.twitter.com/9C3uQ8GozX
— Bruce Pascoe (@BrucePascoe) March 2, 2021
Oregon scattered its cardboard cutouts around the three-quarters of Matthew Knight’s sections that could be seen on TV cameras and it isn’t a surprise to see who was sitting courtside.
Among the most prominent faces were Bill Walton and Dave Pasch and a duck, of course.
Café flies under radar
Business is down to about 20 percent of normal at Wild Duck cafe across street from Matthew Knight Arena. pic.twitter.com/CtjwgW99to
— Bruce Pascoe (@BrucePascoe) March 2, 2021
Located across the street from Matthew Knight Arena, and away from Eugene’s downtown core, the Wild Duck Café is a sports bar and restaurant that owes a large part of existence to fans coming and going to Oregon athletic events.
It’s not hard to guess what has happened this season. With no fans attending games and Oregon classes online, Wild Duck general manager Jonathan Overbeck said business has been only about 20% of normal when people have been allowed to eat inside.
“We’re here for students, athletes and faculty,” Overbeck said. “If there’s no students, there’s no families and no faculty.”
Actually, the cafe hasn’t even been open during much of the pandemic. Overbeck said the café was closed entirely from mid-March through August last summer and again from late November until last Friday, when Lane County allowed restaurants to serve up to 25% capacity inside again because it went from “Extreme Risk” to “High Risk.”
While a few fans have entered the café to watch Oregon games they can’t attend in person across the street, Overbeck said they mostly arrive when they can’t watch the game on their own televisions. Only two men sat inside the restaurant about an hour before Thursday’s game.
For that reason, Overbeck said the café actually did well showing the Chargers, featuring former Ducks quarterback Justin Herbert, when their games weren’t available in the Eugene area.
Travel on the fly
Normally, Arizona’s operational team locks down travel arrangements months in advance, shortly after the Pac-12 and its television partners determine exact game dates sometime in September.
Obviously, that hasn’t been possible this season and it was even tougher before Monday’s game, which wasn’t even announced until a week ahead of time by the Pac-12.
But Ryan Reynolds, UA’s director of basketball operations, said Arizona was able to quickly assemble charter flights, hotel rooms, buses and meals well enough for what he’s been calling “regular COVID trip.”
That means a charter plane that can give the players extra space, two buses instead of one so as to keep everybody six feet apart, enough hotel room so nobody has a roommate and meals that are delivered in a bag, box or room service tray.
While Reynolds has found travel businesses have plenty of availability these days, it has been a tight timeline turning around contracts. Reynolds and Mike Ketcham, UA’s senior associate AD for men’s basketball and football, iron out many of the logistics while athletic trainer Justin Kokoskie handles food.
After arriving at about 8 p.m. to their hotel on Wednesday, the Wildcats had Olive Garden delivered while subsequent meals were through room service. They were expected to leave immediately after Monday’s game and return to McKale about 1:30 a.m.
— Bruce Pascoe
