Dana Altman explains reason for star freshman Kel'el Ware's reduced role

Dana Altman has been candid this season when discussing the struggles of Oregon’s 5-star freshman, Kel’el Ware.

This week, Ducks’ head coach delivered the clearest indicator yet that things aren’t exactly clicking for his blue-chip center during his first season with the program.

While meeting with reporters on Tuesday, Altman was asked about Ware’s effort and lack of consistent production through the first 20 games of the season. During Oregon’s loss at Stanford last Saturday, Ware played a season-low six minutes and did not take a shot.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations,” Altman said. “They haven’t gone as well and haven’t been as constructive as we want them to be. I was disappointed in his effort. I let him know that. He’s gonna have to make some adjustments or I’ve got to make some decisions. His time has been reduced. That doesn’t help us, because he is talented.”

This isn’t the first time this season that Altman has publicly criticized Ware’s effort.

Following Oregon’s home win over Oregon State on Dec. 31, Altman paid a backhanded compliment to the freshman, noting that Ware had played with energy in that game and “at least acted like he wanted to be here tonight.”

Since that moment, though, Ware has not played more than 15 minutes in a single game.

“He hasn’t blocked any shots lately. He hasn’t gotten any hands on balls,” Altman said. “He’s not using that length. We’ve still got to try to put the best team out there that gives us the best chance.

“If he’s playing hard, that helps us. But if he’s not, that hurts us.”

Before the season began, Ware was considered by many to be a “one-and-done” type of talent. The former 5-star recruit was the No. 6 player in the class of 2022 and the No. 2 center, according to the On3 Consensus. A flurry of reputable NBA Draft analysts projected him as a lottery pick in their preseason mocks.

But to date, he is averaging 7.6 points and 4.2 rebounds in 19.0 minutes per game.

Meanwhile, Oregon’s other former 5-star big man, Nate Bittle, has seen a recent surge in playing time.

Altman opted to shift Bittle into the starting lineup earlier this month for Oregon’s showdown with No. 9 Arizona. The move paid immediate dividends as the Ducks delivered a blowout win over the Wildcats.

The decision to start Bittle has come at the expense of senior forward Quincy Guerrier, who has come off the bench in each of the past three games.

“(Bittle) played well against Arizona. He played well against Cal. He did not play well against Stanford,” Altman said. “There’s no starting lineup etched in stone. We just wanted to try to free Quncy up a little bit. It was no major change of Quincy not getting done, or Nate making any drastic changes. We just changed some things up.

“Quincy has handled it well. he’s all about the team. He’s just not playing well.”

Following a disastrous loss at Stanford over the weekend, Altman and Oregon are running out of time to find a rotation that produces consistent results.

The loss to the last-place Cardinal might have ultimately ended any hopes the Ducks still had of nabbing an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament.

Oregon (11-9, 5-4 Pac-12) will look to get back on track Thursday evening when it hosts Colorado (12-9, 4-6) at 6 p.m. at Matthew Knight Arena.

“Obviously I’m disappointed with the inconsistency that we’ve shown. There’s no excuse for it now; earlier in the year I could have given them an excuse. But now there’s none. We’re still inconsistent. We’ve just got to keep grinding. We’ve got a third of our schedule left.”