After it was announced that Oregon would be without its star center and team leader in points, rebounds and blocks, N’Faly Dante, many were unsure where the scoring load would fall during Friday’s 92-76 win over Tennessee State Scoring seven of the Ducks’ first 13 points on Friday, Nate Bittle stepped up when his team needed him most.
While they are both very effective big men, Bittle and Dante are different players and have very distinctive talents to offer, which is why they complement each other so well. Dante is a dominating big who makes his presence felt through physicality and elite rim protection.
Bittle is more of a stretch five with his consistent mid-range jumper and ability to shoot threes and stretch the floor. Against the Tennessee State University Tigers, however, Bittle had to figure out how to play more like his frontcourt counterpart. Bittle commanded the interior in this game on both sides of the floor while also getting his shots and working to stretch the floor.
TSU’s strong and powerful bigs weren’t a factor in Friday’s game, as the Ducks had little trouble getting to the rim for easy buckets and maintaining an advantage on the boards. The Tigers also scored the majority of their points outside of the paint, speaking to the strong defense of the Ducks in the low post.
The dominance of the Ducks and Bittle on the interior only lasted one half, as Bittle went down with what looked like a wrist injury towards the end of the first half. Five-star freshman Kwame Evans Jr. started the second half at the five with Jadrian Tracey at the four.
Evans provides another big 3-point threat to stretch out the floor more, but also has high-level slashing ability, which combined with his 6’9” frame, makes it very hard to stop him driving to the rim. That frame also helped him to grab eight rebounds, which was the most of any player in the contest.
“I liked his second half because he got more physical,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said about the freshman, “He just needs to play the game lower, but I thought he did some good things.”
Tracey provided the biggest impact from the bench. The juco-transfer led the Ducks in scoring with 15 points in his 19 minutes and proved to be a very capable three point shooter, going 3-4 from deep on the night. As a defender, he provided a very large boost while also being able to guard TSU’s bigs, which was important given the lack of frontcourt options.
“I’m glad my teammates were able to find me tonight, like I said last week, we have a lot of dudes on our team who can do a lot of things, and it can be anybody’s night,” said Tracey after his standout performance.
Fifth-year transfer Mahamadou Diawara also saw significant minutes for the first time as a Duck. He gave Oregon much more of a strong paint presence as it aimed to really put the game away in the second half.
The versatility provided by the replacements spread out the floor very well for Oregon’s guards like Jesse Zarzuela and Keeshawn Barthelemy, who had no trouble getting shots at the hoop. Zarzuela finished with 14 points and four assists while Barthelemy finished with 13 points and six assists, leading all players in dimes.
TSU had no success trying to commit to guarding the big men close on the perimeter because that left the paint wide open, but they also had trouble committing to staying in the paint because they couldn’t leave any shooters open.
Oregon shot the ball very well, so there were no right answers for the Tigers on defense. Altman’s adjustments without Bittle were extremely effective in the win, as Tennessee State had a very difficult time attempting to match Oregon’s athleticism. This athletic advantage proved to be a key reason why the Ducks exploded for 92 points and why their opponent only put up 67.
The pivot from losing such an important piece to both Oregon’s defensive and offensive identities was seamless. Altman made sure his guys never lost sight of the task at hand and that they finished this game strong, which will be important down the stretch if guys get knocked and need to take games off later in the season.
