Dana Altman’s reactions rarely lack theatrics. 

When the Oregon men’s basketball head coach is displeased with his team’s effort, the players are fully aware. In the Ducks’ game against Washington State on Thursday, Altman banged his fist against the scorers table a number of times after center Kel’el Ware missed a dunk late in the second half. And when the Ducks were applying full-court pressure later on, he made his way up to half-court to encourage his players with loud clapping gestures.

On Sunday, however, his dramatics were uncharacteristically subdued as Oregon (4-5, 1-1) let its game against No. 19 UCLA (7-2, 2-0) slip out of reach in the final five minutes. 

Despite a pair of forced three-pointers from forward Quincy Guerrier, both coming with 20-plus seconds on the shot clock — the first barely glancing the side the backboard — and a turnover by guard Will Richardson on a crucial possession with 1:45 remaining, all Altman could do was stressfully put his hands on his head.

“There are no moral victories for our team,” he said. “But these last four games, we really competed.” 

The Ducks lost 65-56, dropping a game they had control of for the first 30 minutes. Yet, rather than showing discontent towards his shorthanded unit, Altman offered an optimistic take. Yes, the Ducks have gone 2-4 over their last six games, but they’ve faced a gauntlet consisting of five ranked opponents, with just one game at Matthew Knight Arena. 

Fatigue is surely a product of a stretch like that.

Not only was that present in their collapse during those final five minutes — where they stopped penetrating the zone and dumping it down to the bigs — but it showed in the minus-11 rebound margin that gave the Bruins 13 second-chance points. 

Against Washington State, Oregon scored 50 points in the paint, and they corralled 11 offensive rebounds, which turned into 12 second-chance points. They established a presence in the paint that the Cougars couldn’t match. On Sunday, however, that strength turned into a liability. 

“We put ourselves in a position to win,” Altman said. “We just weren’t tough enough on the boards.”

Ware had just one rebound in 28 minutes.

Guerrier had just three in 32 minutes. 

And with 5:15 remaining, he let the Bruins’ second-shortest player on the court, guard David Singleton, sneak backdoor to grab an offensive rebound and putback layup which put UCLA up 55-50. 

It was plays like those that let UCLA creep back from the six point deficit it faced at halftime. Plays like those that gave guards Tyger Campbell and Amari Bailey — who shot a combined 0-for-12 in the first half — extra looks to find their rhythm. 

“[UCLA] had 15 more shots than we did because they got 11 more rebounds,” Altman said. 

If you give a shooter enough looks, his shot will start to fall.

Campbell hadn’t seen one drop all night, until the 17:30 mark of the second half, when his missed three pointer bounced right back into his shooting pocket. The Bruins’ point guard went on to score 10 second half points. 

Likewise, after going scoreless in the first 20 minutes, Bailey’s offensive resurgence in the second half gave UCLA the edge. He went 6-of-8 from the field, and scored six of the Bruins final 12 points. 

Still, Altman stayed true to his previous notion: nobody could match Bailey’s output, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. 

“We had some good looks,” Altman said, glossing over the two errant threes from Guerrier. “They just didn’t go down.”

The Ducks went 1-of-8 in the final five minutes. Richardson, who’s played every minute of Oregon’s past four games — a wearing task that’s seldom asked of any player in the first 10 games of a season — lacked intention on his drives, and awareness with his passes. 

A struggling Richardson rarely equals a winning formula for Oregon, who showed up in the win column when he had eight assists against Washington State and Villanova, and challenged a ranked Michigan State team behind his career-high 28 points. The Ducks are getting healthier with guards Brennan Rigsby and Tyrone Williams coming back on Thursday, but they’ll need performances like these past ones from Richardson to find continued success down the road. 

Richardson didn’t seem overtly phased, last Monday, when asked about the extra miles that he’s had to take on. He said he wasn’t doing anything drastically different. 

Odds are they’ll catch up to him. 

That’s why losses like Sunday’s — where the Ducks had control of an in-conference game and unraveled late — will be the ones to point to as the season unfolds. One where they had a chance to establish poll position in the Pac-12 and inner confidence by beating the conference’s second-highest ranked team.

Instead, they sit at 4-5 — nine games in while the margin of error grows ever thinner.