With N'Faly Dante, Oregon men's basketball has 'a chance' to win Pac-12 Tournament

Oregon begins the Pac-12 Tournament Thursday with what it hopes will be a three-day stay in Las Vegas with three straight wins.

Coach Dana Altman conceded the fourth-seeded Ducks are “a long shot” after a 20-11 finish to the regular season and a 12-8 record in conference play.

But, Altman followed, “With Dante, you always got a chance.”

Oregon’s fifth-year star big man, who missed nearly half the season after November knee surgery, is playing better than he ever has.

On Tuesday, his efforts were acknowledged by conference coaches when he was named first-team all-Pac-12 for the second straight season. For the first time in his career he was named to the all-defensive team.

Senior guard Jermaine Couisnard was also named to the all-conference second team and point guard Jackson Shelstad was named to the all-freshman team.

But it’s Dante who leads the way.

In 17 games, the 6-foot-11 center is averaging career-highs across the board — 15.4 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.9 blocks, 1.5 steals and 1.5 assists in 30.4 minutes per game.

And he’s doing it on a surgically repaired knee. He played in the season opener then was out for the next 14 games.

But injuries aren’t new to Dante, who came to Oregon as a freshman in 2019 and was limited by tendonitis in his knee. He then tore his ACL early into his sophomore season and was out for a year.

“You judge people by how they overcome adversity,” Altman said. “Dante never complained ... just tried to come every game and give us everything. … It’s a valuable lesson to learn for any of us. You don’t give in to it.”

Dante is playing at the top of his game heading into the postseason. He has seven double-doubles this season including in each of the last three games when he’s averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds. He also shot 86.7% from the field in those games and goes into Thursday’s 2:30 p.m. game against either No. 5 UCLA or No. 12 Oregon State — who played Wednesday afternoon — having made 18 of his last 19 shots from the field.

UPDATE: The Ducks will play No. 5 UCLA at 2:30 p.m. Thursday in the quarterfinals

In the last six games, Dante’s shot 78% from the floor (43-of-55) and is averaging nearly 16 points and just over 10 rebounds.

“I wish I could’ve done more than what I did,” Dante said last Saturday after the Ducks’ win against Utah to end the regular season. “A couple of injuries really got me out of it, but I had a great time here and there’s just hope that we get it done and I can do more in the tournament and help my team.”

Couisnard, who has started all 31 games for Oregon this season, leads the team in scoring 15.5 points per game. He also averages 4.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.6 steals. He recorded a career-high 39 points against Arizona two weeks ago — the most by an Oregon player since Luke Jackson scored 40 on March 17, 2004 against Colorado.

Shelstad is averaging 12.7 points, 3.0 assists and 2.7 rebounds. He's started 25 straight games.

Those two will have a hand in how successful Oregon is this week, but the Ducks' ability to utilize Dante will be critical for them to have any chance of advancing to Saturday’s championship game.

“The last two games he’s gone 18-for-19,” Altman said. “I’m not very smart, but you gotta get him the ball. We need to get him looks. He’s a difference maker.”

Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com. For more sports coverage, visit registerguard.com. Want more stories like this? Subscribe to get unlimited access and support local journalism.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: N'Faly Dante leads Oregon Ducks men's basketball into Pac-12 Tourney