Why Oregon's opponent arrived at the arena in a stretch limo

Northwest Christian may be the only college basketball team this season to arrive at a game in a stretch limo.

Coach Luke Jackson hired a  Cadillac Escalade limosine to transport his team to its exhibition game against neighboring Oregon on Tuesday night. Oregon's Matthew Knight Arena is less than a mile from Northwest Christian's campus.

"I just thought it would be a fun way to reward the guys for their hard work," Jackson, a former all-Pac-12 forward at Oregon, told Yahoo Sports. "A game like this, we're just trying to keep it close and give Oregon a chance to fine tune things as they get ready to play some better competition. We thought this would be a good way to keep it fun and loose and treat the guys to something fun."

While the limo ride and the chance to challenge themselves against a high-profile opponent may have been exciting for Northwest Christian, the game itself was humbling for the nation's 12th ranked Division II NAIA team. Oregon overcame the absence of its starting point guard and center with ease and rolled to a 92-44 rout of Jackson's Northwest Christian team.

To Jackson, the game served as a teachable moment. His team had its weaknesses exposed by superior competition, which should provide motivation in practice in the coming days. And Jackson was reminded that pregame limo rides are perfect for exhibition games but too distracting for contests that count in the standings.

"I think it might have caused them to forget about the game plan," he quipped. "I don't think we'll take a limo to any other games this season. We'll be taking the team bus."

(Thanks for the photo, @roxybernstein)

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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