It’s March and Dana Altman’s Ducks are rolling
Jackson Shelstad’s go-ahead three gives Oregon its sixth consecutive win.
EUGENE — Dana Altman has done this long enough to know how the grind can take its toll. When the first practice of the season falls on Oct. 1 and games can extend deep into March, the 66-year-old Oregon coach is well aware of the peaks and valleys of a season.
“I know how hard that is,” Altman said on Saturday after a win over USC.
What would help, of course, is if the Ducks didn’t have to take the scenic route. Specifically, Altman has wanted better starts to games for an Oregon team that, on its current winning streak, has had to come back from first-half deficits of 11 points against USC and 17 points against Wisconsin.
There was none of that against Indiana.
Instead, Oregon’s 73-64 win was a track meet from the gun that turned into a rock fight that evolved into the Ducks building a moat in front of the Hoosiers’ hoop.
Sure, the flash of this game will be the three-pointer from the parking lot Jackson Shelstad hit with 1:30 to play that gave the Ducks a 66-64 lead. But the nuts and bolts of this win — Oregon’s sixth in a row following a five-game losing streak — was a hounding defensive effort that allowed two buckets from Indiana in the game’s final eight minutes.
“The defense was really good,” Altman said. “We were struggling offensively. We didn’t shoot the ball well from three. We needed some stops and needed to get our defense going and I thought [TJ Bamba] set a really good tone on the perimeter and the rest of the guys picked it up.”