N'Faly Dante leads Oregon to close-fought win over Utah on senior day

In what might very well be his final game at Matthew Knight Arena, N’Faly Dante carried Oregon to victory on senior day in Eugene to cap off a roller coaster regular season.

Dante scored 19 points — including 14 in the second half — and grabbed 12 rebounds as the Ducks topped Utah, 66-65 at Matthew Knight Arena on Saturday. In 35 minutes, the 6-foot-11 senior was 8-of-9 from the field and also racked up four steals.

“We missed (Dante) some the first half; they were doubling him every time he caught it,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “We didn’t make plays out of the double team. Guys were standing. It wasn’t Dante’s fault, guys were just standing there watching him. … The last two games, he’s gone 18-for-19. I know I’m not very smart, but you’ve gotta get him the ball.”

After the game, Dante, Jermaine Couisnard, Gabe Reichle, Keeshawn Barthelemy, Kario Oquendo, and Mahamadou Diawara at midcourt for senior day.

It’s possible that Saturday’s contest will mark the last time any of them play a home game in Eugene.

Oregon will need to win the Pac-12 Tournament next and secure an automatic bid in order to reach the NCAA Tournament. If it fail to do so, Ducks could potentially be back at Matthew Knight Arena later this month to host an NIT matchup. But that isn’t necissarily sure thing, either.

“I know fans are disappointed that we’re not in the big dance unless we win the (Pac-12) Tournament,” Altman said. “At this point in the season, you wanna be in the big dance and know you’re going to the conference tournament just to improve your seed. I know all that.

“But our guys never quit. We never gave into it.”

The Ducks went scoreless over the final 4:06 on Saturday, and their last field goal of the night came with 4:50 to go. Utah had a chance to win the game at the buzzer, but Ben Carlson’s go-ahead three-pointer was off the mark.

“On a night we didn’t shoot it at all — 4-for-20, didn’t shoot free throws well — I told them at halftime, ‘If we can hold them under 70 (points) and get the rebounds straightened out, we’ll be in good shape,'” Altman said. “Did just enough to get a win.”

For the second game in a row, Jackson Shelstad propelled the Ducks to a fast start. Early in the first half, he scored eight points over the span of 77 seconds to help UO to a 15-5 lead at the 15:30 mark.

But as the game wore on, Oregon struggled to cope with the size of Utah’s all-conference 7-footer, Branden Carlson. Neither Dante nor Jadrian Tracey had an answer for the Utes’ senior center, and he scored 12 points within the first 10 minutes.

So, Altman opted to roll the dice and check 6-foot-10 freshman Kwame Evans Jr., who already had two fouls, back into the game with 9:09 left to try and stymy Carlson.

With 2:46 left in the half, though, Evans picked up his third foul while guarding Carlson and was forced to head back to the bench.

The Ducks trailed 37-32 at the break after looking out of sorts at both ends of the floor throughout the first half.

Early in the second half, though, Carlson left the game with an apparent left arm injury and did not return.

After Carlson exited, Oregon immediately went on an 8-2 scoring run to take a 48-47 lead with 13 minutes remaining. But Utah’s Hunter Erickson responded with three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to silence the Matthew Knight Arena crowd.

But then, in the span of 30 seconds, Dante produced a dunk, a layup, and then another layup on three straight possessions to provide a major spark for Oregon.

“I’ve got teammates who trust me and we just had to get it done,” Dante said when asked about the sequence. “I felt like that was a moment that we just had to get it done.”

Evans pushed Oregon’s lead to 62-55 with a smooth one-footed fadeaway jumper with 6:57 left in the game. Then, after taking a brief breather on the bench, Dante re-entered the game as the Ducks looked to put their foot on the gas for the stretch run.

With 4:39 to go, the star big man threw down another two-handed alley-oop on another lob from Couisnard to make it 65-59.

But Utah refused to go away quietly.

Gabe Madsen drained a three to cut Oregon’s lead to 66-63 with 3:39 left in regulation. Neither team scored again until, with 38 seconds to go, Deivon Smith buried a pair of free throws to make it a one-point game.

On the Ducks’ final possession of the night, Couisnard drove hard through the paint for a layup but was unable to convert. Evans gathered the rebound but his putback attempt missed, too.

Utah rushed up the court and kicked the ball out to Ben Carlson for a corner three that was narrowly off the mark as the buzzer sounded.

With the win, Oregon ends the regular season 20-11 and 12-8 in Pac-12 play and will now set its sights on Vegas.

The Ducks secured a first-round bye in the tournament earlier this week. The final seedings for the tournament will not be cemented until late Saturday night after matchups throughout the conference have gone final, but Oregon is slated to play on March 14.