Dana Altman Talks Omaha Win, Injury Update

Sunday night Oregon men’s basketball finished with a big home win over Omaha. The Ducks won 80-57 to move to 7-6 on the season.

Oregon will now head back East to play Maryland on Friday and Rutgers on Monday in Big Ten play. The Ducks are currently 0-2 in conference play so wins are now at a premium.

Leading the way was a 25-point, 9 rebound performance from Nate Bittle. The Ducks also got a strong performance from Sean Stewart who led Oregon with 13 rebounds and 8 points.

Here is what Altman had to say about the win and the upcoming road trip.

On Devon Pryor:

“I mean, he went through warm-ups. Yeah, no, he hasn’t done anything live yet, but, you know, he’s been doing shooting, warming up, you know, but he hasn’t. We haven’t had him in live. Tomorrow’s our NCAA required day off, and then we’ll practice Tuesday, Wednesday before we take off.”

On Sean Stewart:

“Oh, he’s got to use his athleticism on boards and defensively. He’s a good defender. Like a lot of our guys, everything’s predicated on, I’ve got to score a basket. Like I told him, it starts at a really young age. If you score, you play good. If you didn’t score, you play bad. And you guys perpetuate that. And so everything’s geared on, you know, if I score, I play great. If I didn’t score, I play bad. And we need Sean to be, you know, the best defender out there and go get 13 rebounds, which his athleticism allows him to do.

But if you’re worried about scoring, you know, instead of – the points will come if you’re just out there. You know, you’ll get an offensive rebound putback. You’ll get to the free throw line, you know.
You’ll make a couple plays. But if you go out there worrying about scoring and you don’t score and you’re not doing the other things, pretty hard for us to play you. So, again, I left him out there for 29, 28, 29 minutes because he got 13 rebounds, you know, and he was able to guard. When they went small, you know, he was able to guard some of their guys.”

On Team’s Progress:

“Our activity was really good. Offensively, we just took bad shots that, you know, led to easy baskets for them and didn’t take away some of their strengths. But no, I mean, we made a step. We’re probably where we should have been in the end of November rather than the end of December.

You know, Jackson, you know, you see being out six weeks, you know, he hadn’t found his flow yet. I thought maybe he’d get going by now, you know, but he’ll give us a big boost when he starts shooting it like he’s capable of, you know, get Dev and KJ, Nate healthy, you know, those three starters, you know, the three guys we started with, you know, I mean, but we got to get healthy.

You know, if we’re going to make any progress, any damage, you know, especially those three guys with experience. Nate, KJ, and Jackson are the three guys with experience. You know, we lost five fifth-year guys, five-year guys, you know, Brandon, TJ, Key, Supreme. They were all five-year guys, you know, and we lost five of them.

Raheem was the fifth one, you know. So we lost a lot of experience, a lot of maturity, a lot of just basketball savvy, you know, and, you know, I’m making excuses. But Wei and Big E, they get here to start practice October 1. We didn’t have them in the summer. You know, it’s been a culture shock for them and, you know, a shock trying to play college ball rather than just going up and down and firing up shots.

So anyway, it’s a work in progress. We got to grind. We’re way behind where we should be. First thing is hopefully get healthier. And then secondly, you know, get tougher and much more disciplined.”

On Starting Big Ten Play:

“Well, I’d be really eager if we’re a little healthier, you know, just to see what we could do. But it’s here, you know, and, you know, we lost at UCLA, can’t lose at home. And we did the USC. So, you know, we got an uphill climb. You know, we’re behind where we should be, obviously, with our record. We’re behind where we should be, progress with the team. So we’re just going to have to grind some things out, figure out a way to win some ball games. But it’s not going to be easy. You know, anxious to see, you know see how quick we can get KJ back and Dev back and Nate full speed is going to be a big key.”