LAS VEGAS — Stick around the Oregon men’s basketball team for any period over the last three seasons and it’ll be clear, quickly, what head coach Dana Altman wants to do.
“We’ve got to go inside to [N’Faly] Dante,” Altman reiterated Thursday.
That message, which the head coach in his 14th season has drilled repeatedly, didn’t come across to the Ducks in the first half of their Pac-12 quarterfinals game against UCLA at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
In the second half, though, it clicked. Dante, the Ducks' veteran big man, had 22 points overall on 8-of-11 shooting, and when Oregon made it a point to involve him in offensive actions positive results followed. The Ducks recaptured the lead and held on to beat UCLA, 68-66, despite sputtering through the final moments.
RELATED: Watch the postgame press conference with coach Dana Altman and players
Similar to the last 5 minutes of their win over Utah on Saturday, after controlling the pace, the Ducks (21-11) let their opponents inch back. It wasn’t because they strayed from the blueprint — feeding Dante and forcing Bruins guard Dylan Andrews into tough mid-range jumpers — but a few loose balls took UCLA bounces and, suddenly, Andrews had 4 seconds and a chance to decide the Ducks' fate.
“We didn’t know if he could score enough to beat us,” Altman said about Andrews, who had a career-high 31 points on Wednesday vs. Oregon State and led UCLA with 24 Thursday. “We wanted to see if he could hit enough 2s and he dang near did.”
Trailing 68-66 with 4.4 seconds remaining, the Bruins inbounded the ball on the other end of the court. Andrews dribbled, unimpeded, for 90 feet and lofted a floater.
As the buzzer sounded and the ball soared, Altman stood, for once, immobile for four ticks of the clock, unlike the other 2,396, until it was safe to exhale.
Throughout Thursday’s back-and-forth bout, he and UCLA head coach Mick Cronin shared animated exchanges with officials and their players.
In fact, 11 minutes into the game, there was Altman barking at guard Jermaine Couisnard: “Get the ball inside.”
Couisnard obliged, throwing a soft entry pass to Dante that Kenneth Nwuba intercepted.
But, hey, at least he listened, because for the first 6 minutes, Dante barely received a look, let alone a touch.
“We rushed,” Altman said. “Everybody did. Jermaine rushed (a 3), Jackson [Shelstad] rushed one, [Jadrian Tracey] had to take one, K.J. [Evans] took two, before Dante ever touched the ball.
“We just went braindead there on where we were supposed to throw the ball.”
The Ducks trailed 34-29 after what was a nightmarish first half for a team that prides itself on activity. Oregon wasn’t talking on defense and had been outrebounded 19-14. It failed to exploit the fact that Adem Bona and Nwuba were both in foul trouble, which could have been done by, well, it’s not hard to answer.
“It’s just on us to establish scoring the ball in the paint,” Couisnard said.
Not only does that entail firing the ball into Dante and letting him go to work, but probing the lane with drives and letting the big man draw double teams.
Couisnard seemed to understand that much. When the second half began, he and his fellow Ducks guards acted upon it.
On the opening possession he drove for a floater. Shelstad, then, scooped home a layup, before Couisnard delivered an entry pass to Dante that he hooked in.
A few possessions later, Couisnard found Kario Oquendo for a transition 3-pointer that gave Oregon a 40-38 lead, part of a 13-4 stretch authored by Dante’s paint touches -- the big man unable to internalize his personality.
With 10:12 left, Dante sat in a squat, flashing Bona a devilish glare after a spinning and-1 layup gave Oregon a 3-point lead and resulted in Bona’s fourth foul. Two minutes later, he leaked out on a long rebound, like a wide receiver running a 9-route, Shelstad finding him for a dunk and a little salsa dance.
Bona’s foul trouble forced the Bruins to stagger him with Nwuba and Aday Mara. When the latter was in, UCLA doubled Dante.
“When two people go, someone’s got to be open,” Dante said. “It’s a team sport, so I just go find them.”
He dished an assist to Brennan Rigsby and another to Shelstad that gave the Ducks their largest lead, 63-53.
“We regained our composure, played a lot better, until the last 4 minutes.” Altman said.
Four minutes that never seemed to end. Four minutes that mimicked the first 6, where each of Oregon’s possessions ended in forced shots or turnovers. Four minutes in which Dante wasn’t the focal point and everything Andrews touched turned to gold.
The Bruins went on a 9-0 run and Altman called timeout.
With 35 seconds to go, he breathed easy because the ball was cleanly entered to Dante, who turned to his right shoulder and hoisted a hook shot that bounced in off the left side of the rim.
But after Shelstad split a pair of free throws that opened the door for UCLA to tie with a 2 and win with a 3, that breath shortened. Altman, a coach who tries to control the game with his words, was at a lack for them.
All he could do was watch as Andrews traversed the court and nestled into a spot.
But after willing his team back, the shot sailed long and Oregon won.
In addition to Dante's key production, Shelstad finished with 12 points and Couisnard, Tracey and Oquendo added 10 each.
The Ducks advance to play top-seeded Arizona in the Pac-12 semifinals at 5 p.m. Friday, their chances at earning an automatic bid alive but not if any part of that first half from Thursday repeats itself.
