Dana Altman opens up on Oregon's inside production

The Oregon Ducks dominated the USC Trojans on Thursday night to the tune of a 78-60 beatdown, thanks in large part to the way they dominated the paint. The Ducks’ big men took over, connecting on 14 of their 20 combined shots from the field.

It was a dominant display from N’Faly Dante (17 points, five rebounds), Kel’el Ware (eight points, three rebounds), and Nate Bittle (11 points, six rebounds). Following the game, Oregon head coach Dana Altman was impressed with the production of his three big men.

“[N’Faly] Dante is really a force in there. These are pretty good. 8-for-11. 17 points, five rebounds. You know Nate [Bittle] was 3-for-5, 4-for-4 from the line. And then Kel’el [Ware] was 3-for-4, so 6-for-9 there and 8-for-11. Yeah. We’ll take that kind of production inside, anytime,” Altman said.

Dante posted a complete game and he’s one of the better big men in college basketball. He added three blocks and three steals in the victory for the Ducks. Ware had two electrifying alley-oop dunks in the win.

Dana Altman was impressed with the Oregon home crowd

Oregon scored a key win over USC at home, using the crowd’s great atmosphere as fuel and energy.

“I thought it was really good,” coach Dana Altman said. “I thought the students were good. They always give us the best lift there. I thought they were good. I thought we had a great atmosphere tonight, and when we got it going I thought they really got into it.”

The Ducks needed the win, too.

The current bracketology from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi lists Oregon among the ‘First Four Out’ teams, needing to do a little more to get into the Big Dance come tournament time.

Oregon has a big one coming up

If the crowd and great atmosphere were a real difference-maker in the game against USC on Thursday night, they’ll have a chance to be even more impactful on Saturday.

In comes No. 7 UCLA.

“We’ve got to give them something, but when we give them something they’re pretty good,” Altman said of the home crowd. “Saturday I hope we have a bigger crowd and more energy. We know how tough a game it’s going to be and it’s obviously a big one for us so we’re going to have to play really well.”

UCLA currently sits in the lead in the Pac-12 standings, a half-game ahead of Arizona.

Oregon is currently 2.5 games off the conference lead, so a win on Saturday would be a huge swing and make a run at the conference title feasible. A loss would pretty much end the Ducks’ chances, dropping them 3.5 games back with only five games remaining.

The game against UCLA is scheduled for a 10 p.m. ET tip with a broadcast on ESPN.

On3 Staff Reports also contributed to this article.