Dana Altman calls Oregon crowd 'a great atmosphere'

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

Nobody leaned on the crowd’s great atmosphere more than center N’Faly Dante, who scored 17 points and logged five rebounds, three steals and three blocks in the contest.

“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 crowd 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.