TruTV broadcast offers update on N'Faly Dante's progress with knee injury

Oregon center N’Faly Dante fought through a knee injury this preseason and was able to play in the season opener Monday against Georgia. The Ducks’ leading scorer from last season, Dante missed a significant amount of practice but still figures to play an important role.

The big man has made his presence felt on the glass early in Monday’s contest with 13 rebounds in addition to 10 points. Sideline reporter Allie LaForce joined the TruTV broadcast in the first half to provide some additional information on the work he did to get himself ready for the season.

“I know you guys have been talking about him dealing with the knee soreness, which kept him out 6-7 weeks and obviously conditioning being one of the biggest issues,” LaForce said. “One of the things that he did was work on that underwater treadmill, which is really helpful because it took a lot of the impact off of his knee but allowed him to get that cardio up.”

Dante averaged 13.4 points along with 8.4 rebounds while shooting 61.4% from the floor. He also made a big impact on defense with 1.4 blocks along with 1.1 steals per game.

That being said, most of his shots came close at the rim, and improving his range has been a key area of focus for him. Dante has never attempted a 3-pointer through his four years of college and is a career 57.9% free throw shooter.

LaForce explained that he isn’t planning to start taking shots from beyond the arc yet this season, though he has spent time on his jump shot. He’s also working on his handles, but it’s all still coming along slowly.

“He also said he’s really been working on his shooting but not jumping into the threes,” LaForce said. “Working on the 15-foot and then going back to the 17 and his ball handling as well. I asked him, ‘what’s your comfortability bringing it up and dribbling that thing?’ He said, ‘about a three’ (out of 10). It’s a work in progress, but he’s on it.”

This isn’t the first time in his career that N’Faly Dante has battled with injury. He also tore his ACL in the 2020-21 season that caused him to miss all but six games. He returned and played a combined 63 games over the past two seasons and Oregon will hope he can stay healthy this season as it aims to get back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021.

Oregon currently leads Georgia by a score of 40-30 at halftime.