You never quite know what to expect when watching a Dana Altman-coached team’s first game of the year.

As usual, many new faces from the transfer portal and through recruiting make up a team that looked good enough to merit its initial No. 23 ranking, posting an 80-45 win over visiting Florida A&M in the season opener Monday night at Matthew Knight Arena.

The squad is far from full strength to start 2022. South Carolina transfer Jermaine Cousinard’s Oregon debut will be a ways away after Altman confirmed he’d be “out for a while” with an injury.

The first starting rotation of the year included four returners, with fifth-year senior Will Richardson running the ship. The longest-tenured Duck had a slow opening half to begin his fourth-straight year as a starter and ended with 11 points.

But Oregon ran through its trio of big men on Monday to defeat Florida A&M (0-1) 80-54 in the Pac-12/SWAC Legacy Series matchup at Matthew Knight Arena.

N'Faly Dante, who is said to be fully healthy this year and ready for a larger role, showed it with 16 points and 10 rebounds on 7-of-11 shooting in 26 minutes. He added 4 steals.

Sophomore center Nate Bittle chipped in 10 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks, and five-star freshman big man Kel-el Ware had 8 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks in 19 effective minutes.

Colorado guard transfer Keeshawn Barthelemy added 13 points in his Ducks debut.

There were a lot of clear holes for the Ducks in their first game, but at home and against a team with one player over 6-foot-10, it was an easy win.

The game serves as the first of six straight at home in Eugene.

Oregon shot 6 for 25 from three-point range and only converted on 57.1% of its free throws, but it used a noticeably improved defense compared to last year’s team to hold the Rattlers to an even worse night offensively.

One thing that was made clear on Monday is Dante is indeed back and healthier than ever. His collegiate career has been plagued with injury, dating back to his freshman season when he played in 12 games. Last year was his most active season, with 30 games played, but on Monday night he looked different.

The Mali native had the second-highest scoring total of his career after going 5-5 to start the game. It was also his fourth career double-double.

Ware, meanwhile, came off the bench and became an instant impact on defense. He picked up 3 blocks and was one of only four Ducks with a 3-pointer.

Along with Crousinard’s absence, Brennan Rigsby was seen on the bench wearing a walking boot. The woes continued when Rivaldo Soares fell awkwardly after converting a contested layup. He limped off the court afterward and returned to play in the second half, but again limped off when he was subbed out.

The Ducks' lead got cut down to 11 after being as high as 16 in the first half, but it was more defense to help secure the win. The lead grew to 25 after going on a 14-0 run led by a stingy interior defense that forced Florida A&M to take shots further away from the basket, something it did not do well, shooting less than 40% from beyond the arc.

The length and athleticism of Altman’s roster were on full display as they forced Florida A&M to commit 21 turnovers.

No Rattler player finished in double-digit scoring in the offensive struggle. The clear height differences between the teams played well for the Ducks on defense and on the boards, as the Ducks ended with 5 blocks and a 44-26 rebounding advantage.

The game was closed in dominant fashion, with Bittle coming alive, rejecting two shots, connecting from 3 and finishing an alley-oop slam off a pass from Richardson. The bench scored 28 of the team's 80 points.

The next game is on Friday against a familiar foe in UC Irvine. The two teams matched up in the Sweet 16 in 2019, and for another early-season victory, it’ll be the 3-point shooting that needs to drastically improve for Altman’s roster as the Ducks made just 6 of 25 from long distance in the opener.