Sunday, March 8, 1998
By BRANDON FRINK
Enterprise staff writer
Jason Cox's body has been back about three weeks from the stress fracture in his foot that sidelined him in early January. But his smile has been missing.
Cox's smile was back this weekend, along with his Dennis-the-Menace demeanor that always seems to bring the best out of the 6-foot-6 sophomore.
Friday, it was Cox's runner along the baseline that would give the Aggies the lead it would need to hold off a talented Cal State Los Angeles squad.
Saturday, his hot start and team-high 20 points were more than enough for UCD to gain its first birth to the Elite Eight.
``We're a much better basketball team when Jason Cox is playing the way he's capable of playing, because we're finally a whole basketball team,'' UCD coach Bob Williams said. ``We've been a team that's been hitting on four or five cylinders, because we've had guys injured.''
While UCD managed to make it through the Northern California Athletic Conference undefeated despite missing Cox, it needed the sophomore desperately this weekend.
Quite simply, a healthy and mischievous Cox was the difference between winning the NCAC and winning the NCAA West Region.
Ever since Feb. 13, when Cox was given the green light to return, the team has waited for the wise guy to arrive.
``What I was more afraid of than playing with pain was re-breaking it,'' Cox said. ``But once they told me I had next to no chance of re-breaking it, I told myself I would go out and jump my hardest and just play loose.''
Playing loose took time. Williams was careful not to overwork Cox and wouldn't let him practice on consecutive days. He didn't want his big man reinjured. He didn't want him lost for the playoffs.
But heading into this weekend, Cox practice all week. His foot felt even better, and his smile began creeping back onto his face.
And by this weekend, the old Cox was back, smiling, hitting shots and yucking it up with whoever would listen.
Even in recalling his jumper on Friday, you could tell Cox was back to his old self.
``That was so lucky. There was no beauty to that,'' Cox said. ``I wasn't sure what to do, time was running out, so I threw it up. I'm glad it went in. It made the difference.''
As fun as Friday's game was, it couldn't touch Saturday's contest. Cox set the tone in the first half, hitting from both the inside and outside.
His 3-pointer with 5:08 remaining in the first half gave UCD a 32-17 lead. Cox would later hit from the outside, the free throw line, and even take some special time to joke around with the Aggie Pack.
``I feel real healthy right now. The healthiest I've felt all season,'' Cox said.
When asked what he said to the Aggie Pack, Cox's light-hearted side again came out. With Williams looking at him, like someone who just broke a rule, Cox looked back at his coach without his trademark.
``I didn't talk to the Aggie Pack at all. I don't know anything about that,'' he said with as straight a face as possible, smile just trying to burst through.
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