Dana Altman critical of Oregon's execution

Oregon has gone 1-2 in the last three games, but that could easily be 3-0. Before picking up a 69-67 victory over in-state rival Oregon State, the Ducks lost back-to-back games in the state of Washington by a combined four points to the Huskies and Cougars. During Tuesday’s shootaround, head coach Dana Altman blamed his Ducks’ lack of execution in critical moments for the losses.

“(We’ve) been really working on execution,” said Altman. “I told the guys our last three games have been one-possession games. And in all of them, our offensive execution hadn’t been good enough. Whether it’s turnovers or not executing a play and you can’t have that in February. We haven’t tightened up our execution nearly as well as we should, and that’s on me.

“This time of year, a lot of games come down to one or two possessions, and our execution offensively hasn’t been good. Defensively, we’ve been getting some good efforts, but we fall asleep at times. So it’s not any one thing, but I thought execution of the offense was one. Two would be our defensive lapses, where somebody falls asleep. And the last thing block outs. We have been beating people on the boards, but we’ve been giving up some very untimely second shots that have really hurt us.”

On Feb. 15, Oregon lost to Washington 72- 71 in overtime. The Ducks had ample opportunities late in the game to secure the victory but couldn’t get a stop when they needed it the most. However, Washington was able to as Koren Johnson blocked Will Richardson’s attempt at a game-winning layup. Oregon followed up that loss with a 68-65 defeat at the hands of Washington State.

Given Oregon’s current record of 16-13, a berth in this year’s NCAA tournament might be out of reach. Still, the Ducks have a chance if they can make an impressive run in the Pac-12 Tournament. But that will require better execution down the stretch from Oregon, as Altman highlighted.

Altman calls N’Faly Dante’s performance ‘a heck of an effort’

Senior center N’Faly Dante has been holding down Oregon’s paint all season long. Now, after another dominant performance from the 6-11 big man, Dana Altman is running out of things to say about how impactful he has been for the Ducks.

Altman applauded Dante for 35 minutes of hard work following Oregon’s 69-67 win at Oregon State. He gave him credit for doing what he needed to do down low in order to help his team get out of Corvallis with a victory.

“It was a heck of an effort…In 35 minutes, he gave us great effort,” said Altman. “We got it in to him, he made some good plays. He had a bad turnover too. But I thought he played really hard and gave us an opportunity.”

Dante finished with the eighth double-double of his season, and third straight, with 16 points and 18 rebounds. He led Oregon in scoring by shooting 7-13 on the night and, over the Duck’s last three games which all came on the road, he has averaged 15 points and 14 boards on 57.5% shooting.